How to preserve a shed?

[Luvyna]

Just went through my first BP shed with my new 4 month old albino mojave and he had a perfect shed! Woke up this morning to find it 100% intact with head, eye caps, and tail under one of his hides. I was wondering what is the best way to straighten out, clean up, and preserve the shed. It is already kind of dry and scrunched up.

[Bogertophis]

It's best to straighten it out when it's freshly shed & still damp...then if you're careful, you can flatten it out to dry. Without actually touching your lips, you
can also blow air into the open-mouth part of the shed to inflate the shed...that helps by opening it up so you can flatten it. If it's already dried in a scrunchy,
try misting it with water first, before trying to separate & unroll it.

I routinely save good sheds (intact & no snake poo) for "meet & greet" snake programs*...but I've not tried to preserve any long-term. (*I give them away)
You could probably spray them with shellac (or similar product)? Might want to experiment on the "duds" first...let us know what works best?

I do know from experience that there are moths that will eat stored snake sheds, so if you save them for long, & without any sort of unappetizing coating,
be sure they are in a tightly-closed plastic bag, one without holes. (I'd bet that some ants would find them to be delicious too?)

[Luvyna]

That's great advice, thank you! I managed to get it stretched out, it won't lay flat like a skin that's unrolled when it's fresh though. I totally did not think about the fact that some crawly critters might like to eat the skin! That sounds pretty gross lol. I'll see if I can find something that works to spray it with. In the mean time I'll put it in a spare plastic container most likely.