Keeping sheds?

[Solid Snake]

I was wondering is it ok to keep the skin the snake sheds out from? It looks really cool and i want to hang it up.

[gonesnakee]

Its fine as long as it is clean. Some snakes have a habit of peeing/pooping as they shed, other than that I keep them all & give them to kids as I have lots of snakes. Mark I.

[T.O-SK8TER]

The best way to perserve a shed is to soake it in water for a few seconds, then lay it out flat on a piece of plywood and put another piece of plywood on top of the shed. An hour later you have two options 1. you can spray the flat peice of shed with hairspray( this will keep its form and will last a long time) or 2. you can use a LITTLE bit of glue and glue it flat to a piece of wood and later give it a coat or two of shalack or varnish( this gives the best presentation of your snakes shed)
GOOD LUCK!

[Gregg M]

I have a tone of sheds all balled up........ I only have a few layed out flat...... They are the realy good ones.......

[stevesemerko]

I keep all my sheds I have them hanging in a closet. Everyone who comes to my house says it is creepy, but I like them.

Steve

[drewlowe]

i only have 2 corn snakes that are 2 years old. So i keep ALL of their sheds in a little critter cage. But i'm sure when they get older i will start to flatten them out.

[SerpentLust]

I used to keep Montey's sheds...but then I just stopped.

Jenn

[Invictus]

I keep as many sheds as I can. My daughter wants one badly to show her friends at school. And like T.O-SK8ER said, use the hair spray method. That'll preserve the shedding forever!

[RachelS.]

I usually keep all the sheds that come out full. I like to unroll them and hang them ontop of something to dry then just keep them behind my cages. I rarely ever show people... it's more for my enjoyment, and I always just get rid of the ones that don't come out close to perfect after I've unwravled them.

Btw, I really like T.O-SK8TER's ideas and I think I'm going to start trying that out for presentation and stuff instead of just keeping them "secret" and hiding them... there's really no reason to keep them if they're just gonna be locked away, I guess.

[Linds]

Originally posted by stevesemerko
I keep all my sheds I have them hanging in a closet. Everyone who comes to my house says it is creepy, but I like them.


LOL me too! I have loads of the larger sheds hanging over two closet doors :p

Originally posted by Invictus
use the hair spray method. That'll preserve the shedding forever!

Hair spray is more of a fixative than a preservative. I used to use it to set any chalk/charcoal drawing I did. As far as I know, hair spray doesn't mave much in the way of preservative values...

[Invictus]

Hair spray is more of a fixative than a preservative. I used to use it to set any chalk/charcoal drawing I did. As far as I know, hair spray doesn't mave much in the way of preservative values... [/B]

Well, not preserving in the way that, say, formaldehyde preserves, but since hair spray dries into a plastic-like substance it can prevent oxygen, dirt, and other contaminates from getting to the organic material of the shedding.

[LdyDrgn]

Ones I want to keep I will split at the belly and lie flat until dry. Using a piece of clear Contact paper I lay the skin out carefully on the adhesive. Using a second piece and lining it up carefully, I sandwich the skin. I can then use a ballpoint pen to write the snake's name, the date of the shed and any other information I deem appropriate. :) I now have the skin from my 8' female hanging on the wall above the stack of Boaphile cages.

[Lisa]

We used to keep sheds. but now that we have a few snakes, most of them sub adult, we don't bother anymore.

[Solid Snake]

will the skin be able to be measured or is it stretched out or curled too much?

i have a hard time measuring my snake.

[LISA127]

measuring the shed will not give an accurate measurement. u have to measure the snake.

[LdyDrgn]

yoeun905 - if you have access to a digital camera download the program Snake Measurer (http://www.serpwidgets.com/cornsnakes/Apps/apps.html) . It is very simple to use. :)

[fateamber]

I keep all my snakes sheds! :)

[SCReptiles]

Occasionally you will see posts of researchers asking for snake sheds. They have complete DNA strains of the snake. If nothing else, set them aside and save them for these researchers.