What do you do with your sheds?

[Zoe]

Just curious as to what everyone does when a snake has a complete shed... I keep all of mine, I have 6 or 7 complete ones now, all over 4 feet long. Only two have intact heads tho.

Thanks
zoe

[LdyDrgn]

I usually split them up the belly and lay flat to dry, then preserve them between 2 sheets of clear Contac paper. Then I can use a ballpoint pen to mark the name and date of the shed on the plastic. :)

[Zoe]

hehe... that's pretty elaborate! mine dry whichever way i throw them onto the shelf.

Does your quote/signature mean that the immortal don't learn?

[Scotty Allen]

I feed mine to my colony of giant mealworms, they love em'.

[eyespy]

I give mine to little kids so that a new generation can see how cool snakes really are. It also helps convince their parents that snakes aren't slimy.

[jay76]

I've only got 2, and I keep them to see how much he's grown since the last shed :)

[Ed_r]

I save my good ones for when I do Herp Shows. The kids go absolutely nuts over them, even more than the snakes sometimes.
Also FYI if you have a few good sheds, you may want to check with your local zoo. Now I have Brookfield Zoo calling me every few months if I have any new sheds to donate. Most zoos do a lot of education for kids, and they use shed skin. But when you handle dried out shed too many times it crumbles up, and they need new shed constantly. just a thought.:D

[Alicewave]

I gave my last one to my Aunt who wanted it for the biology class she teaches. Never thought about feeding it the the mealies! I have some new babies growing, i'll have to try that next time.

[Tarzet]

I give them to kids that come over, or to one of my sons class rooms when i take critters in to see them.
I straghten them out as much as I can and then hang them over a hanger, hanging in the closet in my reptile room.
The only ones I keep are from my full striped Ball Pythons.....you can see the perfect strip in the shed! Very neat :P

[Pixie]

I used to keep all of mine but with so many juvy snakes, my shelf was loaded with shed skins. At one point I had at least 30!

Some I threw away, others I gave to people interested in examining them and keeping them. Now, I only tend to keep the bigger one peice sheds, 3' or more, but it's hard because my bp's never shed in one peice!!!

Pixie

[Nanashi04]

I used to have a bunch, but most I've given many away by now... or my cat has ate them.. o.o; I usualy set them on my desk and forget about them.

[Linds]

I used to keep 'em all, but well, now with 17 snakes and they pretty well always have completely intact sheds (usually the only tears are the ones I put in them unrolling them...lol :p), they just pile up too fast. I still keep some however, but many get tossed now as well.

[Big Mike]

I'm curious...do you wash the shed skin? It seems to that the same hygenical precautions should be needed for the skin that are required for handling the animal itself.

[Tim_Cranwill]

My wife hates the old skin so I have to thow them away. I might look into donating some to the zoo though, that's a good idea. :)

[Stalabros]

I throw mine away. Simple. I don't see any reason for collecting them.

[drewlowe]

i've always gotten full sheds and i leave them out to dry and then i have a contaner i put them in. i know i have around 20-30 from my corns in the past 1 1/2

[The_Omen]

I usually keep a few in my car, just in case the service at restaraunts is crappy.... or for work, so they will stay on their toes.. :)

[CraigC]

He He,
I keep male sheds to throw in with pairs I'm trying to breed when the male shows no interest. Boy do we get a reaction outta that! Almost like a "breeding pill"! LOL OOPS, one of our breeding "tricks" is now out of the bag.
CraigC

[marisa]

I toss them. I think they are gross. I love snakes and all, but something is weird about the shed. Almost like handling another persons fingernail clippings of soemthing. *blech*

Marisa

[stormyva]

I dip then in a bread crumb and italian seasoning mix, fry them up, and then eat them.

BAM.... not that's good eating :D

[Scotty Allen]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM !!! Fingernail clippings. Yum.

[XxRachxX]

since i only have one snake, ive kept them so i can see how much he grows over the years:) and i can freak out my grandma with them:)

[marisa]

Maybe someone could make themselves a snake skin suit.

Marisa
*gagging*

[norman]

i like the_omens ideas...hmmm... i usually just throw mine out, right now i have one from my female rainbow, but thats it. That one will probably be thrown out once i get more garbage bags.

[reptilez]

I also just throw them in the garbage, i think there grosse.

[Beejay]

I have a gold elastic cord stuck on my livingroom wall and I just drape them over that. It's just something else to look at and a lot of kids come through my place, so it's fascinating for them (and their parents).

I think my cat ate one too.

Bj

[snake_lover]

I have all the sheds from all my snakes they never shed in two pieces they always shed in one piece i save them so i can see how big the shed is getting and believe me when i took mitch her first shed and put it next to the other it's A BIG dif!

[BoidKeeper]

I give most of mine to my students. Some I keep for when I take a group of snakes to school so I can show growth and size potential of some snakes.
Cheers,
Trevor

[Burmies]

since my burm does not shed in one complete strip I can not keep them. Now Mt carpet python and boa constrictor are different. Their sheds are almost complete (95% of the time). I just keep one every once and a while, due to the fact that they are both full grown.

Thanks Burmies

[snakemann87]

i put mine in a bag, with the date on it. even though the shed measurment isnt the true length

[ReptiZone]

no but it is a good way to watch the groat progres.

[Scales Zoo]

We keep our intact sheds from the smaller snakes for educational purposes. The larger ones (9 feet +) are split down the belly and laminated. Our best ones so far are a 10 foot African rock, 11 foot albino burm, and 16 foot normal burm. We hang these on the walls for display. Kids like thw smaller ones for show and tell.

[Lisa]

We used to keep them... but it got to the point where there was snake shed everywhere... all our colubrids shed one piece and most of our boids.

[Phantom]

I usually give the complete ones to my brother. He hangs them on his wall in order from smallest to biggest! Lol! It's his own "special" decoration in his room!

Phantom

[Edwin]

There is actually someone selling 70+ sheds on eBay.. is it one of us?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2917071293

[sara]

lol... that's really messed up.
I only keep sheds if the snake has a skin problem I need to keep track of.
That reminds me, a few seasons ago someone asked me to hold on to all of their hatchling b.p.'s sheds until it could be taken home, it was so weird... how do people come up with this stuff?

[paolo_28]

I keep them. Dry them up and then put them beside one another and measure them to see how much my boy TITAN has grown.

Paolo.

[marylyn101]

i keep all my skins and let my sisters take them to school. also you could donate some to an art school or to an art therapy practice. my mother is an art therapist and can't get enough of them!

[Hamster of Borg]

I just hang all mine on the door to my bathroom. I donate a few to schools, or groups that want them for educational purposes... the rest just end up becoming a curtain. :)

http://www.ravnos.org/photos/misc/sheds.jpg

Ham