I'm no expert but will try to offer some help here: -

The real skins are subject to humidity and temperature changes, so if you live in a hot climate I suppose you may need to dampen them to fit the hoop on the drum. This would only make a difference on the wood flesh hoops (some are mounted on metal rings) Wettening a head loosens it and as it dries or heats up it tightens. I haven't mounted and tucked a calf head for drumset, but redo my own for hand drums. The skins are soaked for mounting on the rings leaving folds as it is stretched when wet like paper and as it dries under tension it will tear if not given leeway. The drumset heads are already mounted on hoops and are not always a good fit for every snare of a said diameter. If it doesn't look like it will fit easily on the drum probably best to try another. It is good to dampen with water and a cloth to clean the head and check for blemishes which show easier when wet. If you can drink the water it can't be too bad! You can apply a thin layer of drum leather conditioner to the inside of the skin. I use one made by Mance Grady (Ace bodhrans) A wipe of thin oil on the edges will soak in and leave them supple and less likely to tear. Loosen the tension off after playing to protect the skin. Premium quality skins are best as they have less blemishes (weak spots) - but more expensive. Old calf reso heads were a thinner grade and quite hard to find now. There are plenty of good simulated calf heads which should do the job for you and could be kept at tension. Calf heads take more looking after, last a long time if looked after, have a wide tuning range, have nuances in sound across the head as some parts of the skin are thicker than others. I love the warm sound thay have but not to everyones taste. I was a hand drummer for years before taking to the kit so know the benefits of real skins. Hope this is of some help?

The first few heads I did, I was concerned about the head being wet and screwing up the bearing edge ply. The reality is that by the time you get to that point the head is far from dripping wet - it's hardly wet at all. The conclusion I came to was that there's no reason to be concerned about it. I don't use any oil on the bearing edges. It's not a problem although before you do it you will think it might be, or at least that's how I was.

For the bottom heads, the heads are called "slunk". When the slaughter cattle for the meat industry (where all the drum heads come from) they have some cows that are pregnant. Those fetuses are the source for bottom heads. Since those fetuses have never seen light the skins are see-through. The reason Remo snare bottom heads are clear is to look like that. The whole thing is incredibly gross. The best source for slunk heads is used off of eBay, although they are somewhat rare. I bought a few 15's and cut them down to 14"s, that seems to be the poor man's best angle. Jeff Stern sells them new, and so does Rob Cooke, so they aren't hard to find, just hard to find cheap!

I haven't found that calf heads need any care whatsoever. I don't loosen the head after playing. If I went into a really muggy environment and had to tighten the heads, I'd loosen them back down when I went back to the normal environment I'm normally in, that seems to make sense. But, as a matter of course, loosening them after playing - no way. I just play them and don't do any maintenance. My kick head is from the 1940's and it's had no maintenance.

Using tap water is normal, that's all you need. Hawaiian water is probably slightly better though... :)

I have a really hard time changing the plastic bags in my kitchen garbage can. I cannot open those stupid bags. I can't get them started. Often I give up after awhile and get my wife to do it. Opening those tall white garbage bags is way, way harder than tucking calf heads.

Thank you for the replies! My questions were precisely answered:D