I found a rattler and was following instructions I found aon the net. I lost the instructions and have gotten this far : skinned,soaked in water and borax over night, laid out straight and dried on a board for two weeks. Head and rattles are stil attached I hav some glycerin and alcohol but I cant remember whether I am supposed to soak the skin in the solution or just apply it to the under side? I would appreciate any input. Thanks.
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The steps should have been as follows
1. skin and flesh skin
2. wash in dawn or other detergent
3. tan the skin by use of Rittels snake tan kit
4. after tanning, tack the skin down and give a coat of the iol portion on the meat side and repeat aftre a day or so. Then you are done
If you are using the glycerin alcohol mehtod, it will preserve and not tan. You should have washed after fleshing and tacked down and applied the mixture. NOT soak in water/borax which i have never head of doing as it will leave a disty layer of borax on the skin. where did you come up with that idea?
Thanks for your input I understand now that most people do use the Rittles kit and I to will next time. I got the process I followed from the web, I understand there is some controversey that what I have done will preserve the skin and not tan it? but for now I dont think it would hurt to apply the glycerin and alcohol I just dont know how to apply the solution? The skin dried just fine and Ifound something pretty cool the snake has three fangs two on one side and one on the other! I dont think this is noormal? What would you recomend ?thanks again.
Brush ther mixture on and see what happens. Nothing to lose at this point. Asa for the fangs, they all ahev a number of them on each side and as one breaks, they rotate them down similiasr to what a shark does when a tooth is lost
I have a very old skin my father had killed when it was about to strike my grandfather, it has been rolled up for many years and I would like to place it on a piece of board, the scales are starting to come apart,can I use some sort of schalk? to preserve it.
any help would be apreciated,
Thank-You, Kelly Cronn