skin rot

[clintjs]

Hi,

I have a rattler skin that has some spots that didn't get fleshed/salted very well.Consequently, those spots had some "visitors". I rinsed the whole skin off with water and re-salted. The skin is fine ,except those spots. Is the hide worth trying to tan, or should I discard the thing.If salvagable, how can i remove the rotten smell? Thanks in advance for responses.



                                                                                                          Clint

[Evelyn Billington (Superpig)]

If I were you, I'd wash all that salt off and put that rattler in the freezer. Then I would go and order a snake tanning kit from either WASCO or Rittel. Follow the instructions. Depending on how big those spots are the skin should be ok. Now if your "visitors" ate the skin and actually chewed holes into it, then it'll be ok for a wall hanging, but most likely not for a mount. But that again depends on the size of the holes. Small holes can easily be fixed with a good finishing apoxie and paint after the skin has dried on the form.

[clintjs]

There were no holes in the skin. The spots were just real white on the belly side, but from top side are ok. I will follow your advice. Will the tanning process kill the odor? This will just be a wall mount for our hunting lodge.Thank you for your response.

                             

                                                                                                                         Clint

[Evelyn Billington (Superpig)]

If the snake is fleshed and tanned up correctly there should be no odor to it after wards. Don't forget the oiling step if it is done for a wall hanging

[Bruce Foster]

wow Piggy........I knew when they ran all the snakes out of Ireland, they went somewhere.......maybe towards Germany.........now is this that snake oil that dem Injun's talked about using on "visitors"?............"skin" rot .........maceration......=....."rotten smell".....kinda like cow pies