Pickling otter pelts

I want to try and make sure I get this done right. I've tanned about 20 beavers the following way and they've all came out good other than my last batch I tried. I'm using trubond 1000b.

Dry on a board, rehydrate in salt water, then pickle in a mixture of salt water, vinegar, and Citric acid. I aim to keep a pH of around 2.

The last batch of beavers all ended up slipping and I think it's because I got in a rush and forgot to add salt to the pickle. Does this sound probable? The 20 or so successful beavers I have left in the pickle for 5 days before neutralizing and tanning.

I want to avoid this mishap with these otters.

Anyways my questions regarding them is how long should they pickle? They don't have near as thick of skin as the beavers. Also can the solution being too acidic ruin them? When they were put in a few minutes ago my pH was 1.7, but I expect it to have a little rise after the pelts soak.

Thanks guys, I appreciate any input.

No salt could cause damage to the hide as the salt provides a buffer to the acid. Around 40% is what you're salinometer should read, maybe a tad more.

How long did you leave the hides in the rehydration, with just salt if you leave em in to long is where you could have issues. Plus it helps to agitate the hides often.

When you say batch, how many hides where you doing at a time and how often did you check your pH?

1 pound of salt per gallon of water. Keep your ph between 1 and 2 and stir every day. I leave them in for 3 days but I use mckenzie safety acid. Leaving in rehydration too long could cause problems in my opinion.

I was doing 5 pelts at a time, checking pH daily. I may have left the batch in the rehydration too long. I don't take them out of the rehydration until theyre as limp as they would be if they had just came off the animal.

I also will gently tug on the fur in different places each day to make sure there's no slippage. I'm just really not sure what went wrong last time.