Removing Salt from a Snake Skin

[DesertDisciple]

Hey guys,

I collected a dead gopher snake the other day. It got hit in the parking lot of our local market and I overheard the workers talking about it. Needless to say I grabbed him on the way out.  I was so excited I forgot the TP.

Anyway, being my first skinned snake and given my excitement having found it, I did not consult the forums and ended up salting the freshly scraped skin. I had read that it is not necessary, but now after having checked again, I read that it is actually not RECOMMENDED.   
In defense of my naivety, I was concerned about insects and such getting to any flesh I may have missed.

I would like to know any suggestions as to getting the salt off before I roll it up. Should I soak, rinse and re-tack it or should I sand it?

Thanks!

[Eric Krewson]

Rinse under luke warm water over and over and over, then tack it up on a board to dry if you are not going to use it soon. You can also roll it up, put in a zip lock bag and fill the bag with water and freeze. Skins frozen in water last forever, make sure you get all of the air out of the bag.

[Pat B]

What Eric said.

[DesertDisciple]

Thanks Eric and Pat,

Worked like a charm. He's out drying sans salt now. I've learned my lesson. 

[mullet]

Be careful freezing thin, snake skins. They tend to fall apart after freezing them a long time.

[Eric Krewson]

I just unthawed a timber rattler that had been frozen in water for 5 or 6 years, it was I pristine shape. Perhaps a thin skin like a copperhead wouldn't fare so well.

Here is the timber in place, Donnie's first selfbow, hickory, 50#@28", he finished 8th with it at Twin Oaks, quite a feat for a newbie selfbow shooter.

 

[DesertDisciple]

Eric, is that one skin backing that bow or two? I'd hate to have been the one to face off with it if it were that big!

[Eric Krewson]

That was a snake in the 50" range. The beauty of timber rattlers is they have three side by side patterns on the skin, one down the middle and two off to the sides. If you split a timber skin down the middle you have a matching set of skins for each limb. The bow in the picture has one skin split down the middle on it.