# Sad times



## Krinchley (Dec 8, 2019)

Bit of a sad question today, but what's the correct way to dispose of a deceased snake?
This is my first loss


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## Sdaji (Dec 8, 2019)

It's up to you. Assuming there is no quarantine issue, you can do anything you would do with any other pet. If it's a beloved pet many people choose to bury it in the garden or any other appropriate place. If it's just an animal without sentiment involved, many people just unceremoniously throw it into the garbage. Some people taxidermy them or feed them to other animals or even eat them (I'd strongly suggest against this unless it was healthy and died of an accident not involving poisons, disease or any form of slow death). It doesn't seem too common with pets but some people cremate them.

Sorry for your loss. I hope your snake had a good life.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Dec 8, 2019)

If it were mine and I was attached to it, I'd simply coil it up in a big glass jar and cover it with pure mentholated spirits and preserve it. That's what I do to any of my turtle eggs each season that aren't fertile... preserve them in metho.


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## Sdaji (Dec 8, 2019)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> If it were mine and I was attached to it, I'd simply coil it up in a big glass jar and cover it with pure mentholated spirits and preserve it. That's what I do to any of my turtle eggs each season that aren't fertile... preserve them in metho.



It's a very personal thing. I used to have quite a collection of pickled critters, but most people would be as horrified by the idea as they were concerned about and sometimes scared of me when they saw my collection. Imagine most people keeping their pet cat pickled in a jar. I still have a few of those pickled critters packed away in storage. If it was logistically and legally more convenient I'd still have all of them.


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## GBWhite (Dec 9, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> It's a very personal thing. I used to have quite a collection of pickled critters, but most people would be as horrified by the idea as they were concerned about and sometimes scared of me when they saw my collection. Imagine most people keeping their pet cat pickled in a jar. I still have a few of those pickled critters packed away in storage. If it was logistically and legally more convenient I'd still have all of them.



Hi Sdaji,

I remember when there was a time when everyone I knew had some sort of preserved collection. Either road kills or specimens that had died.

My good mate Richard Wells (Wells & Wellington) used to have that many pickled reptiles when he lived in Sydney that they filled 2 double garages. He used to swap live specimens for dead ones and also for jars (especially large ones big enough for large pythons and monitors). I remember spending hours at his place going through his collection of critters which were all numbered and cataloged. He had some other very interesting pickled stuff as well that were dumped by a hospital at a local tip that he came across while searching for jars but I won't go into that here. In the end the local council deemed the garages to be a fire hazard and he ended up donating all his specimens to the Australian Museum. Turned out he had that many that it more than doubled their original collection. 

Spent many a collecting trip with him and friends (sometimes for a week or two at a time) when we would pick up every road kill we came across and Richard would end up sitting in the back of the car or Kombi pickling them while we were driving. At times the smell of the formaldehyde would become so overwhelming that when he was in the back, unless it was something exceptional, we would look at each other and keep driving rather than have to put up with the smell....hahaha.

Cheers,

George.


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## Sdaji (Dec 9, 2019)

GBWhite said:


> Hi Sdaji,
> 
> I remember when there was a time when everyone I knew had some sort of preserved collection. Either road kills or specimens that had died.
> 
> ...




I can't say I ever had a garage full let alone two, but I had more than some museum displays. It certainly used to be a lot more common. The laws are different these days and the type of interest people have in reptiles has shifted too. People are often completely puzzled that I want to bother to stop and look at roadkill, and I find it bizarre that they can't understand why I want to examine it. You can learn more from roadkill than live specimens, but most people now only seem to be interested in playing with them rather than learning and understanding as well. Anyway, this is really off topic from the issue of how to dispose of a deceased pet.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Dec 9, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> It's a very personal thing. I used to have quite a collection of pickled critters, but most people would be as horrified by the idea as they were concerned about and sometimes scared of me when they saw my collection. Imagine most people keeping their pet cat pickled in a jar. I still have a few of those pickled critters packed away in storage. If it was logistically and legally more convenient I'd still have all of them.


Yeah no doubt.... I've got quite a few inverts and arachnids preserved, fish, reptile eggs, etc.... birds and mammals however I just get professionally taxidermed.


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## Krinchley (Dec 10, 2019)

Does anyone know of any taxidermists in the south east of vic that break with snakes?


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## Chumana (Dec 11, 2019)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> If it were mine and I was attached to it, I'd simply coil it up in a big glass jar and cover it with pure mentholated spirits and preserve it. That's what I do to any of my turtle eggs each season that aren't fertile... preserve them in metho.



I thought preserving something would be more complex that just metho. Is it that easy? I am curious as I had a disaster in my incubator over the weekend & lost everything.I cut open a few of the more developed python eggs & put 2 in the freezer until I can work out the best way to preserve them.I would love to keep some as they were my first ever python clutch.


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Dec 11, 2019)

Chumana said:


> I thought preserving something would be more complex that just metho. Is it that easy? I am curious as I had a disaster in my incubator over the weekend & lost everything.I cut open a few of the more developed python eggs & put 2 in the freezer until I can work out the best way to preserve them.I would love to keep some as they were my first ever python clutch.


Sorry to hear of your losses... were they temperature related?? I myself currently have several clutches in my incubator.. they've been incubating since October 27, November 1, and November 24 and I've had 2 separate blackouts due to electrical storms... the first one lasted 4 hours in the 1st week of incubation in which my incubator dropped from 28 degrees to 22 degrees and the second blackout in week 3 lasted 7 hours in which the incubator temp fell to 17 degrees so I myself have unfortunately lost several eggs already that I know have stopped developing and will not hatch now. 
Metho is all I've ever used and it works fine.


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## Sdaji (Dec 12, 2019)

Chumana said:


> I thought preserving something would be more complex that just metho. Is it that easy? I am curious as I had a disaster in my incubator over the weekend & lost everything.I cut open a few of the more developed python eggs & put 2 in the freezer until I can work out the best way to preserve them.I would love to keep some as they were my first ever python clutch.



Metho isn't the best way, but if you're not planning to do anything more than pickle it in a jar and look at it, metho does the job. Pure ethanol is a bit better, and formaldehyde is better again, but it has been getting more and more difficult and expensive to get hold of ethanol (until the regulations tightened up I used to get medicinal grade ethanol which was intended for human consumption, it was something like 50c per litre, which worked out to the equivalent of about 15c for a 700ml bottle of vodka if you wanted to dilute it and drink it. Some of my friends loved me for that one when I was a teenager, haha!) and after that I used to get it from work when I was working in the research labs (I've seen people drink that stuff too but I wouldn't do it). Formaldehyde is more toxic and probably not worth bothering with for most people, but if you're serious about preserving specimens it's what you'll use.


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## Chumana (Dec 12, 2019)

Flaviemys purvisi said:


> Sorry to hear of your losses... were they temperature related?? I myself currently have several clutches in my incubator.. they've been incubating since October 27, November 1, and November 24 and I've had 2 separate blackouts due to electrical storms... the first one lasted 4 hours in the 1st week of incubation in which my incubator dropped from 28 degrees to 22 degrees and the second blackout in week 3 lasted 7 hours in which the incubator temp fell to 17 degrees so I myself have unfortunately lost several eggs already that I know have stopped developing and will not hatch now.
> Metho is all I've ever used and it works fine.



Thank you.I am also saddened to hear of yours.We have had quite a few blackouts in the last couple of months as well.One lasted 24hrs & was before my snakes had laid but has prompted me to ask for a generator for xmas.100% temperature related but in my case they were extremely overheated.I am 90% certain that it was due to human error not a malfunctioning incubator. (Long story but I am only blaming myself as I forgot to attach my thermostat to the incubator when I set it up.) I came home to find them at 58deg!!
Regardless what happened I will be investing in a better/decent incubator next season.Would love to let 1 or 2 maternally incubate as I really felt bad taking their eggs.They put up such a good fight to keep them.
On the upside my geckos & dragon will continue to lay for a few more months so all is not lost.
[doublepost=1576097364,1576096244][/doublepost]


Sdaji said:


> Metho isn't the best way, but if you're not planning to do anything more than pickle it in a jar and look at it, metho does the job. Pure ethanol is a bit better, and formaldehyde is better again, but it has been getting more and more difficult and expensive to get hold of ethanol (until the regulations tightened up I used to get medicinal grade ethanol which was intended for human consumption, it was something like 50c per litre, which worked out to the equivalent of about 15c for a 700ml bottle of vodka if you wanted to dilute it and drink it. Some of my friends loved me for that one when I was a teenager, haha!) and after that I used to get it from work when I was working in the research labs (I've seen people drink that stuff too but I wouldn't do it). Formaldehyde is more toxic and probably not worth bothering with for most people, but if you're serious about preserving specimens it's what you'll use.



I probably would have drank that too when I was a teenager & don’t know why I never thought of it.Cheap & effective!
I really do just want to “pickle it” but might look into it a little more first.
I think this whole experience has sparked up an interest in taxidermy.
I am sure my friends & family thought I was “Norman Bates type of creepy” when I mentioned that I found it fascinating opening the eggs.


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## Sdaji (Dec 12, 2019)

Chumana said:


> I probably would have drank that too when I was a teenager & don’t know why I never thought of it.Cheap & effective!



Did you have a source of it? The regular public has never been allowed to buy it in Australia. I got it through a person who legitimately used it for production of medicines (and yes, I guess he was abusing his license). Don't think metho. Metho varies from time to time and place to place, and depending on what's in it, metho can be better or worse for pickling animals... and drinking. In Australia long ago they put poison in it to make it taste terrible to stop people drinking it, along with making you feel terrible it made people blind and sterile, and when people started going blind and sterile indicating that people were drinking it anyway (you can probably guess which demographic in Australia decades ago it was particularly popular with) they changed it to something which just made you throw up and feel sick without any nasty permanent effects... usually... I suppose it's probably better than sniffing petrol or glue or chroming etc... it's amazing how keen humans often are to poison themselves!

I'm not sure what's in it these days, but I strongly suggest never drinking metho or any other industrial ethanol. I'm guessing the distilled ethanol we had at work in the biology labs would have been safe enough to drink, but it wasn't produced with the intention of it being consumed so there wasn't a strong requirement for toxic contaminants to be absolutely eliminated. I suppose when I did see people drinking it I didn't see anything worse happening to them than you'd expect from scientists drinking too much regular alcohol.


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## Chumana (Dec 12, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Did you have a source of it? The regular public has never been allowed to buy it in Australia. I got it through a person who legitimately used it for production of medicines (and yes, I guess he was abusing his license). Don't think metho. Metho varies from time to time and place to place, and depending on what's in it, metho can be better or worse for pickling animals... and drinking. In Australia long ago they put poison in it to make it taste terrible to stop people drinking it, along with making you feel terrible it made people blind and sterile, and when people started going blind and sterile indicating that people were drinking it anyway (you can probably guess which demographic in Australia decades ago it was particularly popular with) they changed it to something which just made you throw up and feel sick without any nasty permanent effects... usually... I suppose it's probably better than sniffing petrol or glue or chroming etc... it's amazing how keen humans often are to poison themselves!
> 
> I'm not sure what's in it these days, but I strongly suggest never drinking metho or any other industrial ethanol. I'm guessing the distilled ethanol we had at work in the biology labs would have been safe enough to drink, but it wasn't produced with the intention of it being consumed so there wasn't a strong requirement for toxic contaminants to be absolutely eliminated. I suppose when I did see people drinking it I didn't see anything worse happening to them than you'd expect from scientists drinking too much regular alcohol.



Sorry,that first comment was not so serious.Although I did like a drink or 10 in my younger days.
I do recall my brother working for a pharmaceutical company when he was in his late teens (about 25yrs ago) & came home with something that he claimed was 100% alcohol & possibly used for cleaning purposes?? Although I don’t think he drank it.....more than likely used it to draw out oil from certain plants that his mates may or may not have been growing at the time.
So the best way to really preserve my little embryo properly is to find someone that can do it professionally?


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## Sdaji (Dec 13, 2019)

Chumana said:


> Sorry,that first comment was not so serious.Although I did like a drink or 10 in my younger days.
> I do recall my brother working for a pharmaceutical company when he was in his late teens (about 25yrs ago) & came home with something that he claimed was 100% alcohol & possibly used for cleaning purposes?? Although I don’t think he drank it.....more than likely used it to draw out oil from certain plants that his mates may or may not have been growing at the time.
> So the best way to really preserve my little embryo properly is to find someone that can do it professionally?



Embryo???

The ethanol used for things like cleaning is often called pure alcohol but generally has about 4-6% water and contaminants. Generally safe to drink... kinda, sorta, generally... which really means don't drink it unless you're living in the gutter having lost literally all hope for the future.


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## Chumana (Dec 14, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Embryo???
> 
> The ethanol used for things like cleaning is often called pure alcohol but generally has about 4-6% water and contaminants. Generally safe to drink... kinda, sorta, generally... which really means don't drink it unless you're living in the gutter having lost literally all hope for the future.



Fetus?? Is there a better term for it? (Developmental) Biology is not my forte.(The eggs had been incubating for 4 weeks)

[doublepost=1576266280,1576265729][/doublepost]


Krinchley said:


> Bit of a sad question today, but what's the correct way to dispose of a deceased snake?
> This is my first loss



My apologies for jumping in on your post. I was looking for similar information when you posted this question. I hope you found the answer you were looking for? I am so sorry to hear of your loss.


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## Sdaji (Dec 14, 2019)

Chumana said:


> Fetus?? Is there a better term for it? (Developmental) Biology is not my forte.(The eggs had been incubating for 4 weeks)
> 
> [doublepost=1576266280,1576265729][/doublepost]
> 
> My apologies for jumping in on your post. I was looking for similar information when you posted this question. I hope you found the answer you were looking for? I am so sorry to hear of your loss.



Ah, I see what you mean now. An embryo is still at the microscopic stage, I didn't realise you were talking about something unborn/unhatched. Foetus would be a better term. Metho will be fine for something like that


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## Chumana (Dec 15, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Ah, I see what you mean now. An embryo is still at the microscopic stage, I didn't realise you were talking about something unborn/unhatched. Foetus would be a better term. Metho will be fine for something like that


 

Ok,foetus it is!
I probably didn’t explain that part too well.My incubator overheated killing all my eggs so I cut some open etc.
Now I just need to find a tiny jar or vial to put them in (I actually kept 2).

Thanks so much


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## Stompsy (Dec 15, 2019)

Sdaji said:


> Ah, I see what you mean now. An embryo is still at the microscopic stage, I didn't realise you were talking about something unborn/unhatched. Foetus would be a better term. Metho will be fine for something like that



I have two new born Pink Tongue Skink carcasses frozen in a bag in my freezer from last years litter. (Unfortunately they drowned in the water bowl before I even realised they were born)... if I put those little guys into metho, would they preserve? They’ve been frozen for a year now. And would I let them defrost first?


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## Flaviemys purvisi (Dec 15, 2019)

Stompsy said:


> I have two new born Pink Tongue Skink carcasses frozen in a bag in my freezer from last years litter. (Unfortunately they drowned in the water bowl before I even realised they were born)... if I put those little guys into metho, would they preserve? They’ve been frozen for a year now. And would I let them defrost first?


Yes they'll be fine, defrost them in the fridge overnight first.


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## Krinchley (Dec 15, 2019)

Chumana said:


> Fetus?? Is there a better term for it? (Developmental) Biology is not my forte.(The eggs had been incubating for 4 weeks)
> 
> [doublepost=1576266280,1576265729][/doublepost]
> 
> My apologies for jumping in on your post. I was looking for similar information when you posted this question. I hope you found the answer you were looking for? I am so sorry to hear of your loss.





Not really yet. Im not really one for jar preservation.


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