What do you do with your sheds?

[nitrogen15]

http://i.imgur.com/z2UrNl.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/C1j7tl.jpg

I made an attempt at framing one. Has anyone tried anything similar?

[guidofatherof5]

I have enough that I can give them to local schools for science classes.

[Stefan-A]

As a rule, I throw them away. I usually save the latest sheds of my 3 largest snakes for a while, if they're intact. I also have my first snake's first shed in a glass bottle on a shelf.

[katach]

After I check them for completeness I throw them out.

[guidofatherof5]

I'm still trying to turn on right-side out without it tearing.:D

[EasternGirl]

I hang the more impressive ones in my garage to dry out and then save them in a zip loc bag. Sometimes my son takes them to school for show and tell.

[tress29]

I found one last week and when I took it out of the tank, it was in great shape. We put it in a ziploc with a puff or two of air, and the boys took it to school. Their science teacher was very impressed and gave them both some (much needed!) extra credit. Wait until they tell her I don't need it back...

[kibakiba]

I have every single intact shed that any snake has ever had in one of my drawers. I enjoy saving them, and when I only had Snakey... I enjoyed seeing the sheds getting bigger every time.

[EasternGirl]

Yeah...I like comparing them and measuring them to look at growth rates.

[Eight]

I did the same with my first snake but after a few years and a few snakes later I became over loaded with them so started to just throw them away. These days I just check them for retained shed. Saying that I may keep all of my new garters sheds until he's fully grown :)

[Selkielass]

Keep a few of the nearly perfect ones around for schools etc. Throw out the ripped up or wet ones.
I've thought about trying to weave them into the stripes of a wall hanging, or something, but inspiration hasn't really hit yet- they are cind of papery and dull colored, and would just disappear into the wool or linen in a tight weaving, and if loosely held to the surface with widely spaced floats would collect dust and be near impossible to clean.

[nitrogen15]

A glass bottle sounds like a nice way of displaying one, Stefan-A.

So far I've only kept the best sheds and gave a few of those to some artist friends. I should find out what they came up with!

[Eight]

I would imagine they would work rather well in a textured painting :)

[guidofatherof5]

Clear glass Christmas bulbs are also very cool.;) Seasonal but still cool.

[kimbosaur]

Well, this topic got me googling ideas to display sheds and I ended up coming across this :eek::

http://thesuiteworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/snakeSkinManicure.jpg

(http://thesuiteworld.com/blog/snakeskin-nails-fashion-the-suite-world/)Creative, but gross. Agree?

[guidofatherof5]

Seem a bit gross.

[kibakiba]

I think it's kind of cool... Buuuuut... I'm weird like that.

[EasternGirl]

That's an actual snake shed?

[suklaamumina]

Cool! But seems sort of.. unhygienic, if that's an actual shed O_o

[gregmonsta]

I have a box of sheds. A lot get sent or given to friends. I tend to only keep complete sheds and any ripped offerings meet their doom in the bin. I did get creative and covered one of my basses with shed skin. It looks pretty cool but does wear off over time. Real snake-skin would probably do better ... but I'm not going there.

[infernalis]

For me the novelty wore off some time ago, I just toss them out now.

[EasternGirl]

I'm just saying "ewwww" to the fingernails. Great way to get salmonella if you ask me...lol. At first I thought it was texturized nail polish...that would be cool...but real snake shed on your nails...that's just gross.

[nitrogen15]

Gotta agree, the snakeskin fingernails look cool but are unhygienic. Imagine eating with them.

[kibakiba]

It'd be covered by a clear coat, so it's not like snake skin would actually be touching anything.

[ConcinusMan]

I have every single intact shed that any snake has ever had in one of my drawers.



EEewww... creepy. :p

Mine go in the garbage along with dirty substrate.:cool:


.but real snake shed on your nails...that's just gross.

Why? the snake skin and your fingernails are made of the same thing. Keratin.

I guess I'm like Wayne. The novelty wore off years ago and there's just so many of them... I can't really think of a good use for dead keratin. I mean, that's like keeping your fingernail clippings. Why on earth...

But there was a time when I tried to keep the "impressive" ones. The fact is, they don't keep at all. After so long, they just disintegrate, probably due to microbes feeding on it, and oxidization.

[Didymus20X6]

I can't really think of a good use for dead keratin. I mean, that's like keeping your fingernail clippings. Why on earth...
Sounds like a bad Nintendo Power advertisement.

[ConcinusMan]

I don't watch advertisements (except for perhaps, Super Bowl commercials once a year) of any kind so you lost me there.

[Didymus20X6]

A printed advertisement. It was a giant jar of toenails. Not really the kind of thing to entice me to buy anybody's product, I must say.

[d_virginiana]

Last Christmas I found a box that we had kept all of Houdini's old sheds in (before it got old) and found his first few sheds. I taped the first four or five onto some scrapbook sheets so they wouldn't disintegrate or anything. I'm actually surprised they made it a decade sitting in a shoebox in my desk...



Why? the snake skin and your fingernails are made of the same thing. Keratin.


They may both be keratin, but my fingernails don't spend a month being dragged across the bottom of my snakes' cages without being washed off :)

[ConcinusMan]

A printed advertisement. It was a giant jar of toenails. Not really the kind of thing to entice me to buy anybody's product, I must say.

Perhaps not, but you remember it and here you are talking about Nintendo. I think their advertisement was quite successful.;)

[Didymus20X6]

Except that I own an XBox 360, and no Nintendo products.

[EasternGirl]

Yeah...for one, I don't poop on my fingernails. My snakes often poop in their sheds. :eek:

[kibakiba]

You take a clean shed, on a clean area. My snakes rarely poop in their shed or have any sign of poop on it.. Dunno whats up with your snakes :p

[d_virginiana]

You take a clean shed, on a clean area. My snakes rarely poop in their shed or have any sign of poop on it.. Dunno whats up with your snakes :p

I was just thinking that it's been on their bodies for awhile, so anything they crawled through even before shedding would potentially be on it. Probably overanalyzing the idea of snake-shed fingernails. :)

I'm kind of a germaphobe though, so the idea of having snake shed on my fingers for an extended period kind of freaks me out in and of itself lol

[kibakiba]

Well, mine avoid slithering in poop... So I dunno. I suppose you would lay one flat and mist a little anti-germ stuff on it if youwere to do it :p

[EasternGirl]

Apparently Chantel has prissy snakes. :D Mine are just pigs...they roll around in their poop and poop all over themselves...ha ha.

[kibakiba]

Hey, a few of them let loose and poop all over themselves... But I do keep my snakes pretty clean... The others act like poop has a plague in it and wont go near it. Haha.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, same here. Some just don't give a darn and will poop then turn around and wallow in it but for the most part, mine have always seemed to go to another part of the tank, (or the water dish for cryin' out loud) do their business, wipe their butts, then return to their favorite sitting spot.

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

I let my cats play with them before they get thrown out... 4832

[kibakiba]

Poor cat! :D

[d_virginiana]

He looks like he's having... fun. Yeah...

Cute picture :) My cats play with ours too sometimes. Though it's more when they fish them out of the bathroom trash can than us giving them skins as toys.

[EasternGirl]

Cee Cee will come out of her hide and go to the other side of her enclosure to poop and then go back over to her hide. Seeley will crawl right through poop. I often look in and he has it all over him. Hermes and Possum have this thing about getting up in their trees and pooping on the top of their hides! I'm like...will you please stop pooping on the coconut! Of course, Cee Cee and Seeley also love to poop in the water dish right after I have put fresh water in. My family always laughs at me because I'm always yelling "Okay! Who pooped in the water dish?!?"...:D

[Didymus20X6]

4841

[katach]

That's funny!

[reptileparadise]

If damaged (small tears and such) we throw them away, all pretty ones are used by Claudia during her classes/ teaching :)

[EasternGirl]

I really love albino sheds...they are so white! Possum always has perfect sheds. I usually only keep Cee Cee's sheds though...because they are so huge I can't get over it!

[scorpion0151]

I used to keep all my sheds but when the drawer got full I threw them away, but I have given some to friends children before if they wanted some.

I know the fingernails were gross but these are kind of cool even if it would take a few sloghs to make one :)
JKR Gear - Cell Phone Cases - iPhone 4 Biomeld Case (http://www.jkrgear.com/cases.php?cat=Cell%20Phone%20Cases&id=00022)

[ConcinusMan]

hey, i just discovered a new use for skins. filling up an annoying niegbors mailbox. quite effective at producing that "what the frickle...frackn..." response:D