Simply Skinning A Snake

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Oak snakes hang out at our place. There is a fine assortment of tasty treats available for them to eat, so they find it a delightful place to live. And it’s Florida. We've got snakes. The kids love to catch the oak snakes and play with them for awhile before we release them somewhere far away from the coop with eggs.

Yesterday, Amelia spotted an oak snake slithering along and hollered for capturing assistance. We grabbed our oak snake trash can and headed to assist. Lucy, our dog, came along for the adventure, but what we didn’t know is that she is a snake attack dog.

Before we could do a thing, she had that snake by the neck – or something like that – and was whipping it around and around. It was wild! We all sat there and stared wide eyed as Lucy took that snake down.

Dead snake. George encouraged Amelia to skin the snake and tan it. After a few Google searches on skinning a snake and tanning the “hide”, Amelia, George Wilder, and William got to work. A few hours later, I found a soaking snake skin in a jar on the counter in the kitchen. Apparently I only have to leave it there for three days and the hide will be ready to dry and place as bands on cowboy hats.


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