How do you preserve a rattlesnake head?
My dad recently killed a rattlesnake and we've had no trouble skinning it and are going to try and salt it soon. What we don't know is if we should try and preserve the head, or just toss it. Is there anyway we could just get rid of the flesh and just keep the snake's skull, or would there still be danger issues what with the venom?
Comments
To get the skull and teeth intact , just set it outside in the shade. Flies will lay eggs on it and the maggots will clean it slick as a whistle in a short time. If you want to avoid the maggots, wrap the head in a damp cloth and bury it . Not to deeply now. In a week or so dig it up and rebury if needed.
rinsing or soaking the head in water will sufficiently dilute the power of the venom immediately.
You can preserve the skin by rubbing it down with borax after you skin and flesh it. Use clay from a local potter to fill in and round out the skull if you are going to use it in the skinned head. Send to one of the Taxidermy catalog's you'll can find on the internet or back of a lot of men's magazines to get some really nice eyes to finish off your snake. The skin will stay in place once the borax dries it. The clay shrinking under the skin won't show. A Taxidermist would use a two part epoxy in place of the clay. He/she would pin the hide into the epoxy and it would hold the eyes even better.
Rattle Snake Head
You can boil/bleach it to remove tissue. Just make sure you take precautions to use tongs and gloves...and rinse thoroughly.