Rod,<br>If the snake skins are dry, I would keep them dry and store them in glass jars with good lids (to keep pests away, and that way you can store them with your other snake specimens). Be sure the jar label says STORE DRY. You can fold or loosely roll the skins up to fit them in the jar.<br>
<br>Snake skins are mostly keratin, and according to an accelerated aging study done by David von Endt and colleagues, keratin is more stable dry than in alcohol. You can access the article here:<br><a href="http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/handle/10088/11195">http://si-pddr.si.edu/jspui/handle/10088/11195</a><br>
<br>Citation:<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt">Von Endt, D. W., E. R. Yourd and P. E. Hare.<span style> </span>2000.<span style>
</span>Spirit collections: accelerated aging studies concerning the stability
of keratin in ethanol and formalin.<span style> </span><i style>Collection Forum</i> 14(1-2):66-77.<span style> </span></span></p>
<br>--John<br><br>John E. Simmons<br>Museologica<br>128 E. Burnside Street<br>Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010<br><a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com" target="_blank">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a><br>303-681-5708<br>
<a href="http://www.museologica.com" target="_blank">www.museologica.com</a><br>and<br>Adjunct Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br>University Park, Pennsylvania<br>
and<br>Lecturer in Art<br>Juniata College<br>Huntingdon, Pennsylvania<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 9:32 AM, Pellegrini, Rodrigo <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Rodrigo.Pellegrini@sos.state.nj.us" target="_blank">Rodrigo.Pellegrini@sos.state.nj.us</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US"><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Dear colleagues,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">I just found a small box full of shed snake skins in our collections room. They’re just loose inside of it. I’m sure there must be a better way of storing these (I can think of one or two, like pinning to an acid-free board or coiling in a glass jar), but honestly have no idea what would be best practices. Does your collection have dry, shed snake skins? How do you store them?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Thanks for any info.<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Sincerely,<u></u><u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Rod <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:#1f497d">Rodrigo Pellegrini, MA, MS<br>
Registrar, Natural History Bureau<br>New Jersey State Museum<br>PO Box 530<br>Trenton, NJ 08625-0530<br>USA<br><br>Voice: <a href="tel:%28609%29%20292-5615" value="+16092925615" target="_blank">(609) 292-5615</a> (office)<br>
<a href="tel:%28609%29%20826-3924" value="+16098263924" target="_blank">(609) 826-3924</a> (laboratory)<br> <a href="tel:%28609%29%20826-5449" value="+16098265449" target="_blank">(609) 826-5449</a> (storage)<br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%28609%29%20292-7636" value="+16092927636" target="_blank">(609) 292-7636</a><br>E-mail: <a href="mailto:Rodrigo.Pellegrini@sos.state.nj.us" target="_blank">Rodrigo.Pellegrini@sos.state.nj.us</a><br><a href="http://www.newjerseystatemuseum.org" target="_blank">www.newjerseystatemuseum.org</a></span><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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