I was told to get aholds of you by Tom since he was not sure of the problem I have. Here it goes, I am trying to help out a local school with some of thier projects. One of the projects that they want me to do is tan a 18' reticilating python. Yes I said 18', it was donated to them and the biology teacher put it in a solution of formildahyde. I was wondering if it was able to be tanned?, or is it best to just tack up and let it harden up. I was hoping to tan it so that the students could actually touch and feel the skin. I know that I have to de-scale it before I do anything, but I also know that once it dries from the formildahyde, it will be hard and lose color. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Larry
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You should be able to retan the skin. Simply treat it much like a raw skin and run it through the process. Pay particular attention to the PH of your pickle! The Formaldehyde may bump it up and you may have to compensate for it by using more acid to keep the PH at about a 1.5 level - if you are using Saftee Acid for your pickle.
One other thing - since its a reticulating snakeskin - the scales should be removed. Otherwise they will dull and discolor - ruining the esthetic value of the skin. That may become the hardest part of the process - since to remove them you have to actually snap them off at their base. Someone once told me he used sticky packing tape to do it - much like ripping hair from your body when you remove a bandage.
I will e-mail you seperately our instructions for tanning snakeskins - however it involves using EZ-100, and the Formaldehyde is now involved.