What to do!

[guidofatherof5]

As you all probably know my best buddy Krickleback passed away a few days ago. I put him in the freezer for safe keeping and his eventual burial.
I'm now having second thoughts about burying him. I've never seen a snake with such a bad case of scoliosis and especially one as big as he was. I'm very curious to see what his spine looks like and feel he can still do some good even though he's dead.
I think being able to display his skeleton would be a great educational/interesting item.
I love him but feel putting him in the ground ends his contribution.
Now, how do I end up with only his skeleton?

[jitami]

As you all probably know my best buddy Krickleback passed away a few days ago. I put him in the freezer for safe keeping and his eventual burial.
I'm now having second thoughts about burying him. I've never seen a snake with such a bad case of scoliosis and especially one as big as he was. I'm very curious to see what his spine looks like and feel he can still do some good even though he's dead.
I think being able to display his skeleton would be a great educational/interesting item.
I love him but feel putting him in the ground ends his contribution.
Now, how do I end up with only his skeleton?

Fine mesh container outside somewhere where you and the kids won't have to see it? There have to be more sterile ways, tho?

[Barak666]

Well I already do something like that with a blue lobster that die few years ago (I work as aquarist). I wanted to keep the shell, so I found a nice ants hive and put the lobster directly on it, then I put an empty reversed bucket on it with a rock on top of the bucket to prevent stealing from wild animal. Let's it for some weeks waiting for them to eat all the flesh. I assume it would work on a garter giving the time. The next step will be to mount that skeleton, nice puzzle with all these same looking bones

You might boil it to, but you will start with a pile of bones, with the ants you could put the garter on a perforate plate so if the ants don't move the bone to much, you will be able to remove it while keeping the global pattern of bones.

Good luck

Mathieu

[infernalis]

Are garter snake skeletons "soft" like fish skeletons??

It may be quite difficult Steve, Not really sure.

[ssssnakeluvr]

Are garter snake skeletons "soft" like fish skeletons??

It may be quite difficult Steve, Not really sure.

nope, they are bone, not cartilage. I have a complete red sided garter skeleton I found out in Kansas...under a rock... that would be my suggestion is put the body under a board on some bare soil and mother nature take care of it...insects wil eat the flesh and hopefully will leave the tendons to dry and hold it together...

here's photos....its now mounted in a nice black shadow box

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

What I would do, is let him sit outside for a day in the heat so that flies will lay their eggs on the carcass. I think the maggots would clean him up pretty well.... but I believe the best thing you could use would be carrion beetles, which taxidermists and people who put together dead skeletons use to clean carcasses. I used to be friends with a guy who would collect dead reptiles and put together their skeleton. He said he kept a bucket of carrion beetles always waiting and then put a dead carcass in there. He always told me that they did a fantastic job of cleaning something right to the bone.

[Stefan-A]

Yeah, I tried to research different methods of cleaning a snake skeleton a year or so ago. I wanted a method that would stop the teeth from falling out.


Step one in all cases is to skin the snake first.

Boiling won't work for anything that small, you're likely to end up with a pile of vertebrae you won't be able to reassemble.

Carrion beetles and flies might work. The problem is that if you leave the snake out in the heat, it'll probably end up a completely mummified. I've dried pike heads that way as a kid. If you can set up suitable conditions, it might be worth a try. If you just leave it outside, some mammalian or avian scavenger might take the whole damn thing.

I've used ants for animals up to the size of a mink. The most important thing using this method, is to prevent the bones from getting lost. I've used mesh, but it might be hard to find a mesh size that keeps the bones in, but lets the ants pass through.

There's supposed to be some detergent that works using some sort of enzymes. It's supposed to be able to dissolve the fat and flesh. Again, you might end up with a pile of bones.

Then there's maceration, but that will definitely leave you with a pile of bones.




I see I'm repeating some of the same things other people have been saying, but that doesn't matter.


edit:
http://www.qm.qld.gov.au/features/sn...ring/index.asp

[Stefan-A]

nope, they are bone, not cartilage.

The bones of bony fish (Osteichtyes) are bone.

Snake bones do seem pretty flexible.

[ssssnakeluvr]

The bones of bony fish (Osteichtyes) are bone.

Snake bones do seem pretty flexible.

ok, got me on that one....

[Snakers]

i think w/e choice you make will be right , sorry to hear about krinkler you gave him the best life a snake like that could ask for