Hey Flocken👋🏾 I've tried this glycerine method, but honestly I'm not a fan of how see-through snakes turn out. It's good for snakes with keeled scales like Rattlesnake or Puff Adder, so that's why it's what you find most people doing on TH-cam. Not so great with other specimens. Something else I've had success with is tanning with Alum after acid pickling, and finishing with fatliquor. (Basically a scaled down version of a mammal hide tanning recipe). I do an alkaline soak to easily descale, and then neutralise before tanning. This will leave you with an end product that is essentially snake leather. It works well for thicker skinned snakes, but anything as thin eg. a Cobra (or a freshly moulted snake) I reckon wouldn't justify the effort.
This is for anyone willing to go the extra mile for leather projects, but if you just want the skins preserved, Glycerine & Alcohol is easiest and cheapest🙌🏾 They do sell snake "tanning kits" on taxidermy sites but IMHO that's a rip-off. They're selling you the same chemicals just packaged with a recipe and instructions for using it on snakes.
Yes! But tanning like that is almost a whole hobby in of itself! That's why I use the beginner method, because most people can find these chemicals easier. Maybe in the future I'll try a true blue leather tan like this!
Woohoo for part 2! Great vid as always! I used this method without the extra glycerine on a corn snake and it turned out great - though I do live in a colder climate. Have you ever skinned any older pythons? For the life of me, I cannot flesh the really tough flesh off the dorsal of an adult royal python and I can't think of how I could even tackle it without a fleshing wheel like they do with ducks. So for now, he sits half finished in a jar of methylated spirit and glycerine, where he's been for nearly 2 years hahaha
I found 3 dead squirrels yesterday and really want to collect there bones. They are all still in tact, will my beetles eat through the fur and skin if I just put them in there inclosure?.. do you have a recommended video on how to properly go about preparing a semi bloated stinky squirrel(x3)? Mind you I live in an apartment and I’ve got a colony of 1,000 ish skin beetles in doors but have only used snakes and skulls only so far. I can’t have that smell inside but I really want the whole skeleton and fast!
In your situation, I would try and beetle them unless you were ready to get your hands dirty skinning, gutting, and drying them out to reduce smell. I would probably try macerating, check the video I did recently (how to clean a skull with only water)
Hey Flocken👋🏾 I've tried this glycerine method, but honestly I'm not a fan of how see-through snakes turn out. It's good for snakes with keeled scales like Rattlesnake or Puff Adder, so that's why it's what you find most people doing on TH-cam. Not so great with other specimens.
Something else I've had success with is tanning with Alum after acid pickling, and finishing with fatliquor. (Basically a scaled down version of a mammal hide tanning recipe). I do an alkaline soak to easily descale, and then neutralise before tanning.
This will leave you with an end product that is essentially snake leather. It works well for thicker skinned snakes, but anything as thin eg. a Cobra (or a freshly moulted snake) I reckon wouldn't justify the effort.
This is for anyone willing to go the extra mile for leather projects, but if you just want the skins preserved, Glycerine & Alcohol is easiest and cheapest🙌🏾
They do sell snake "tanning kits" on taxidermy sites but IMHO that's a rip-off. They're selling you the same chemicals just packaged with a recipe and instructions for using it on snakes.
Yes! But tanning like that is almost a whole hobby in of itself! That's why I use the beginner method, because most people can find these chemicals easier. Maybe in the future I'll try a true blue leather tan like this!
Woohoo for part 2! Great vid as always! I used this method without the extra glycerine on a corn snake and it turned out great - though I do live in a colder climate. Have you ever skinned any older pythons? For the life of me, I cannot flesh the really tough flesh off the dorsal of an adult royal python and I can't think of how I could even tackle it without a fleshing wheel like they do with ducks. So for now, he sits half finished in a jar of methylated spirit and glycerine, where he's been for nearly 2 years hahaha
I've only done one older python. And it was before I learned to deflesh skins first, so it turned out stiff as a board.
hey man, just wondering on how long you've left the skins in the mixture thanks! nice results!
I've heard people argue three days, I've heard people argue six months. I think I do about a week unless I forget about it 😬
I found a beardy with the skin almost perfectly intact as road kill. Now I know how to tan it I can prep the skin to be a onesie for a taxidermy rat 😁
Do you live in Australia???
@@FlockensNekroparlor I sure do 😁
@@evelynvslife glad to have fans around the world 🙌
I found 3 dead squirrels yesterday and really want to collect there bones. They are all still in tact, will my beetles eat through the fur and skin if I just put them in there inclosure?.. do you have a recommended video on how to properly go about preparing a semi bloated stinky squirrel(x3)? Mind you I live in an apartment and I’ve got a colony of 1,000 ish skin beetles in doors but have only used snakes and skulls only so far. I can’t have that smell inside but I really want the whole skeleton and fast!
In your situation, I would try and beetle them unless you were ready to get your hands dirty skinning, gutting, and drying them out to reduce smell. I would probably try macerating, check the video I did recently (how to clean a skull with only water)
@@FlockensNekroparlor do you have any videos on that process on how to properly skin gut and dry out something this size for beetles?
@@spookiehallows check out the "Part 1" of this video, in the description.
💚🐍