How To Tan and Mount a Snake Skin

Where I live, we have snakes, lots of them, and unfortunately, they end up dead from time to time. From Copperheads, Timber Rattlers, Diamond Backs, and Corals to the entire gamut of nonvenomous snakes. In the spirit of not letting anything go to waste… I started tanning snake skins for belts, displays, and other crafts and projects. The process is super easy, takes a little over a week, and in the end you will have a pretty cool conversation piece. Check below and good luck! Leave us a comment or a picture and let us know how your snake skin turned out.

Things You Need:

A good snake skin. If your dead snake has been blasted by a shotgun at point blank range…you might want to find another.
One bottle of Vegetable Glycerin (hey, just to let you know…I am an Amazon affiliate, I can earn $$ if you buy from my links, so thanks in advance!).
One bottle of Rubbing Alcohol.
A glass mason jar with lid.
Some paper towels.
A stick…yes…just a small branch from a tree, find one in your yard.
A piece of wood, I used some reclaimed pine. You can use anything you want, just make sure it is at least 8-10 inches longer than your snake skin.
Some furniture tacks. I use black ½ inch, 12.7mm, decorative tacks (check Hobby Lobby or Home Depot).
A pencil, small hammer, and a tape measure.

The Process:

First things first. I take my snake out of the freezer and let it thaw. Remove the head and throw away in a secure place. Dead snakes can still envenomate you if you get pierced by the fang (plus I don’t want my dog getting a hold of the dead snake head).
I use scissors to cut straight down the belly of the snake. I like to stop when you get close to the tail. If you have a Rattle Snake, make sure you stop and be careful to preserve the rattles. They look really cool when this is all finished up and mounted.
Grab a hold of the skin and carefully pull the skin away from the meat and backbone of the snake. You will be surprised; this is easier than you think. Just be careful not to break or rip the skin. If you know that there are holes in the skin, slow up before you get to them and be careful as you work through this area.
Once the skin has been removed, take a dull knife (I use a butter knife) and scrape any and all remaining meat off the skin. You want ZERO meat on the skin when it goes into the tanning solution. If you leave meat on the skin, it will rot…and smell….and you don’t want that.
Once your skin is scraped clean, loosely roll it up and place the skin in a mason jar. You can have more than one snake in the jar, I usually do 2 or 3 at a time.
Add your rubbing alcohol and glycerin in equal parts to the jar. Half alcohol and half glycerin. You should have enough to cover the skin.
Secure your lid, give it a good shake, and store it in a cool dark place.
I leave it for 5-7 days. Once a day I will give the jar a shake to make sure that the alcohol and glycerin are mixed properly.
After 5-7 days, remove the skin and pat dry with paper towels.
Here is where your “stick” or “branch” comes into play. Start at the “head” part of the skin (not the tail) and roll the skin onto the stick. The bark on the stick will help the skin hold onto the wood. I stretch the skin from left to right and front to back as I roll it on the stick see our video below). This is a crucial part of the process here, by stretching the skin you will really increase the size of the skin. You are actually making it longer and wider. The snake skin is unbelievably stretchy…just think about how much they can eat and increase their body size.
Keep rolling until you get to the tail. I try not to pull the tail too tight as it is smaller and a little more delicate. Also, if you have rattles, just leave them hanging loose.
I leave the skin stretched on the stick for 3-4 days. Again, cool dry place.
Ok, now to mount it. Unroll the snake skin and measure it with your tape measure. You want to cut your mounting board 8-10 inches longer than the tanned/stretched skin.
Once you have your board, I mark the center of the board with my pencil and lay the snake out on the board so the center of the snake skin is on the center mark of the board.
You want the skin to be dead center from top to bottom and from left to right.
Take two tacks and nail the center of the snake skin to the center mark on the board. I stretch the skin, tap a nail softly into the board (not all the way in), then stretch the bottom of the skin and tack it again. These first two tacks start the mounting process. The snake is now centered, from here I go every 2-3 inches, pull the skin toward the end of the board, stretch it from top to bottom and secure a tack (see the picture).
As I get closer to the tail, I decrease the distance between the tacks. I go to a tack every inch or so. The important thing is to make sure you stay consistent. The tacks should all look uniform and equally distant from each other. Once you have the whole snake secured to the board and stretched, go back and tap your tacks all the way down.