How Many Snakes Does It Take to Make a Sport Coat?

Most days after the sun, and sons, go down. Matt and I can be found on the couch watching tv. And since our favorite scripted network shows either can't be counted on to air every week, or end their season waaay too early (I'm looking at you Grey's Anatomy and Parenthood) we find ourselves watching a lot of the reality television that litters the airwaves.

And when I say reality television, I don't mean stuff like Survivor or The Biggest Loser. We're not watching Real Housewives of anywhere, and we can only stomach The Bachelor in clip form on The Soup. I know America loves that crap, but not us. We go for different, stranger versions of reality. Not that an angry Italian woman, who may or may not be a transvestite, flipping a table isn't strange- it's just not our kind of strange. Nope, we'd rather watch a be-spiked exterminator fight a rat infestation, or salty fisherman battle the Bering sea, or a bunch of buffoons try their hand at gold mining. Basically if it comes on Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, or the History Channel, we're in. Forget The Amazing Race, we want hoarders, pawn brokers, and freaks! And sometimes watching these slices of a life you know nothing about will raise questions. Luckily, we generally have an ipad or iphone nearby, and dear old Uncle Google can answer our question. But a while back, we came up with one that even stumped Google.

I can't remember exactly what we were watching, but based on the question, it had to be either a taxidermy show, or a snake hunter show. We started to wonder how many pythons it would take to make a jacket, perhaps a reptilian sport coat. Matt thought you could probably do it with one good-size snake. My guess was ten. "To the cloud!" we declared, but alas, our query could not be answered. Google could tell us exactly where to buy a snakeskin sport coat, but not how many snakes would be required to make it. So we did the next best thing- sent this email:

My husband and I were trying to guess how many snakes it would take to make a snakeskin blazer. Oddly enough, that appears to be the one question Google can't answer. So we're hoping you can enlighten us. He guesses one good-size (8 feet or so) python. I think it has to be more- I'm guessing 10. So can you settle our bet? Or at least tell us who is closer? Thanks!

I figured they'd brush us off, or perhaps mutter curses at us for wasting their time, and I pretty much forgot about it. But lo and behold, a couple of weeks later, I found this in my inbox.

Okay we are talking Python not any other snake skin. There is no set answer, but you are closer than your husband. There are many variables. 

Skin Width

Skin Length

Skin Pattern

How good the tailor making it is.

Most importantly what size the jacket needs to be made is.

Awesome!! Not only was I happy that I won the great snake debate, I was totally impressed that they took the time to answer our silly question. I always like a company with a sense of humor. And while I'm not in the market for a python blazer (those things are EXPENSIVE!) if I was, I'd totally buy it from East of Eden Leathers. http://eastofedenleathers.com/ And should you be looking for snakeskin apparel or accessories, I'd highly recommend them. (Buy me those shiny gold loafers on their homepage while you're there, please!)