snake fleshing..?

[tuckertan]

i just skinned my first python, came off kind of hard, and there were two strips of fat and flesh left on either side of the skin going the length of the body. i tried using a spoon to flesh, and a knife and it proved to be extremely difficult. i put it back in the freezer and figured i would save it for a rainy day. my question is.. is it usually this difficult to flesh a snake skin? i think i may have cut a bit too deep when i was doing my belly cut along the length, which in turn may have allowed the flesh/fat to stay on the skin. is this the case? should i just be a bit more careful with the belly cut and ensure not to cut through too much of the flesh?

i'm not sure what to do right now with it, and kind of nervous that i [expletive deleted] it up by cutting too deep..

any thoughts on what i should do, and what's the easiest way to flesh a snake? i was going to take it to my fleshing beam but was worried about destroying the skin..

another question about skinning the snake.. when i did my cut, i pulled the skin off, but then noticed that some of the scales were distorted from pealing it downward. how should the skin be pealed away without any problems with the scales??

thanks!

[Kerby Ross]

Rattlesnakes skin easy and flesh easy.  Pythons do not.

Kerby...

[Redwolf]

I use a bent butter knife to flesh my snakes



Pythons are a lot harder than rattlers, but putting some borax on it will help. Just make sure you wash it good before pickling.Your gonna feel like your putting too much pressure on it but your not. lol
Flesh from the center out so you don't rip the belly scales.

another question about skinning the snake.. when i did my cut, i pulled the skin off, but then noticed that some of the scales were distorted from pealing it downward. how should the skin be pealed away without any problems with the scales??

When it comes to pythons there is no easy way to do it, but you need to use a blade more.

[tuckertan]

good idea with the bent butter knife, i'll fix one up soon. thanks for the info, i didn't realize that it would be so hard.. i'll get around to it when i have some time.. i put the carcass in to macerate, i'm excited to piece it all together..

Redwolf..

how have you been tanning your pythons?

thanks! 

[Redwolf]

I use Citric acid pickle and using lutan f. But just about any tan will work.