If a snake gets killed in camp or elsewhere can you bring the skin back to the US?

It depends upon the kind of snake, as some are guarded under CITES just like mammals believe it or not. Still, if you want to have a non-protected snake hide tanned or a snake mounted it can be done legally. Check with your PH for local regulations.

Check with your PH, but also check with someone like Life Form Taxidermy in White River, South Africa, as they will know whether or not it is exportable. They are up to date on all the regulations, what animals are exportable, etc.

Usually a killed snake is so beat up that the skin would not be worth keeping - at least that's happened with my Black Mamba and Puff Adder. I've never seen one but I think that the Gaboon Adder would make a handsome trophy.

the only good(poisonous) snake is a dead one in multiple pieces. difficult to mount or skin.

Amen +1

It would probably not even be worth the trouble to try to bring a snake skin back. Consider all the reasons previously mentioned, as well as the difficulty of getting it properly tanned in the bush, and the method that it was dispatched might not lend it to display in your trophy room.

The puff adders certainly would make great hat-bands:

quote:

Originally posted by SGraves155:
The puff adders certainly would make great hat-bands

They sure would! And a Gaboon Viper would make an even better one! Don't know how to post a picture of one, maybe someone will help me out??

As requested, hatband on the ground, you skin it!!

These things make my scin crawl. We used to have to keep out eyes open for them (blunt nosed vipers similar to the puff adder I suppose), in Cyprus when huntng in the mountains, an by the time a couple of tubes of lead went their way they didn't lend themselves for taxidermy...

I shot two in one day that I nearly trod on in the short grass, not something I'd care to repeat in a hurry.

I'm not sure about mounting the skin but I have seen a couple of skeleton mounts of vipers that looked really cool. I'll see if I can find some picture of what I mean.

FB