[Nhcoll-l] Storing snake skins

[cjschmidt at fhsu.edu]

Rod,

We have several snake skins that are cataloged into our collection. I 
typically store them in a vial of 95% EtOH, for a number of reasons. 
First, they are protected from pests. Second, modern molecular techniques 
are good at extracting meaningful DNA from shed skins stored in this 
manner. There are some where I have kept the diagnostic portions of the 
shed in a dry, sealable container, and the remainder went into ethanol.

Hope this helps.

Curtis
______________________________

Curtis J. Schmidt
Zoological Collections Manager
Sternberg Museum of Natural History
Fort Hays State University 
3000 Sternberg Drive
Hays, KS  67601
(785) 628-5504 (collections)
(785) 650-2447 (cell)
______________________________



From:   "Pellegrini, Rodrigo" <Rodrigo.Pellegrini at sos.state.nj.us>
To:     "'nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu'" <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Date:   09/10/2012 08:34 AM
Subject:        [Nhcoll-l] Storing snake skins
Sent by:        nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu



Dear colleagues,
 
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?
 
Thanks for any info.
 
Sincerely,
 
Rod 
 
Rodrigo Pellegrini, MA, MS
Registrar, Natural History Bureau
New Jersey State Museum
PO Box 530
Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
USA

Voice: (609) 292-5615 (office)
       (609) 826-3924 (laboratory)
       (609) 826-5449 (storage)
Fax: (609) 292-7636
E-mail: Rodrigo.Pellegrini at sos.state.nj.us
www.newjerseystatemuseum.org
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