[Nhcoll-l] preserved snake skin

[Gegick, Patricia, DCA]

Dear Listers:
We recently acquired a very large dried rattlesnake skin from 1955.  It is currently thread-tacked to a piece of fabric which is quite soiled.  Does anyone have any experience with first, how to keep the scales from coming off, and second, what would be the best way to re-mount this?  The threads could be easily cut, but I don't know if the holes in the skin are too fragile to re-use. If so , is there another accepted method to attach it to a supportive substrate?  The donor did not have any information on the preservation technique.  I have not yet tested it for arsenic.  Thanks all.
Patricia J. Gegick
Bioscience Collections Specialist
Department of Collections and Research
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
1801 Mountain Road, NW
Albuquerque, NM  87104-1375
Phone:  505.841.2867  Fax: 505.841.2808
email:  patricia.gegick at state.nm.us<mailto:patricia.gegick at state.nm.us>
"Every calculation based on experience elsewhere fails in New Mexico." Lew Wallace, New Mexico Territorial Governor from 1878-1881. New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment

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