[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Skulls (Page 4 of 5)
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Nope - I whitened them in place. After the whitening I worked one loose (harder than it sounds) because I wanted to see how far it went in. Those teeth won't bleach out; that color is built-in!
BTW, that beaver skull, a bobcat skull, and a gray fox skull are now sitting at my buddy's medical office. He's an orthodontist and thought it would be cool to show animal teeth to his patients. In the future I'll give him some more species, and in trade he'll x-ray any skull I want him to. Would've been handy with that crazy bear skull that I did earlier this year! |
Here's a question for you guys. How do you feel about doing this process on a family pet? My wife thinks I am crazy. Let's say for instance when my dog dies, I perform this process on him and I will have his skull on display forever. Seems better to me than cremation or burying. Wife disagrees because the body will be without a head. Now I admit it would be tough to carve up my dogs head..........
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Good deal!!! My beav's teeth are already loose from degreasing. Is that bear skull still accessible? Would be cool to see that xray!! Yeah degreasing will loosen up teeth - one of the downsides to cleaning up fat and greasy animals. And I wish I still has access to that big bad bear skull, but once I cleaned it up it went back to the hunter who killed it in Oregon. Quoted:
Here's a question for you guys. How do you feel about doing this process on a family pet? My wife thinks I am crazy. Let's say for instance when my dog dies, I perform this process on him and I will have his skull on display forever. Seems better to me than cremation or burying. Wife disagrees because the body will be without a head. Now I admit it would be tough to carve up my dogs head.......... I've cleaned a skull from a barn cat and also did a skull for a german shepherd. My taxidermist has made quite a few bucks doing full body mounts of pets that have died - people do it more often than you may think. |
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I love this thread. It reminds me of a woodchuck skull I saw with overgrown teeth.
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd54/RayHead/pic2-lg.jpg |
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My beetle colony appears to have failed. I have two main issues. The first issue is that the only place I have to keep them outside the house is just too hot. The second issue is that I cannot keep flies out of there regardless of what I do. Feeding is a chore as well. If I had a constant supply of heads and a cooler location I think they would do great.
You got any skulls available Glen? |
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My beetle colony appears to have failed. I have two main issues. The first issue is that the only place I have to keep them outside the house is just too hot. The second issue is that I cannot keep flies out of there regardless of what I do. Feeding is a chore as well. If I had a constant supply of heads and a cooler location I think they would do great. You got any skulls available Glen? Too much heat = dead bugs. I sold a colony to a guy who put them in his garage in Phoenix. Must have been 200 degrees in there! Flies are tough to manage if you leave the colony outside with no cover at all. Even building a small shed would help greatly, and would be an inexpensive option. You can also put them in a garage or basement and then make a vent system that ventilates the smell outside; it's pretty easy to do, actually. Feeding shouldn't be too bad because you should be able to feed them scraps from your table, or leftover meat that gets freezer burned and such. Are you asking if I have frozen heads or cleaned skulls? Because the answer is yes. |
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My beetle colony appears to have failed. I have two main issues. The first issue is that the only place I have to keep them outside the house is just too hot. The second issue is that I cannot keep flies out of there regardless of what I do. Feeding is a chore as well. If I had a constant supply of heads and a cooler location I think they would do great. You got any skulls available Glen? Too much heat = dead bugs. I sold a colony to a guy who put them in his garage in Phoenix. Must have been 200 degrees in there! Flies are tough to manage if you leave the colony outside with no cover at all. Even building a small shed would help greatly, and would be an inexpensive option. You can also put them in a garage or basement and then make a vent system that ventilates the smell outside; it's pretty easy to do, actually. Feeding shouldn't be too bad because you should be able to feed them scraps from your table, or leftover meat that gets freezer burned and such. Are you asking if I have frozen heads or cleaned skulls? Because the answer is yes. Well, I have a carport with a storage room at the front of it. I have them in that room. I thought that room stayed cooler than outside but I was wrong. 100+ degrees since march doesn't help much either. As far as flies, the container has a lid and all holes have been filled. I do have a screened section on top that I thought they were dropping eggs through but I still got flies in there after covering it. For some reason I have trouble finding them food. If the food isn't dry then it attracts flies and I end up with maggots. I need to find out how others do this. Skulls. |
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Well, I have a carport with a storage room at the front of it. I have them in that room. I thought that room stayed cooler than outside but I was wrong. 100+ degrees since march doesn't help much either. As far as flies, the container has a lid and all holes have been filled. I do have a screened section on top that I thought they were dropping eggs through but I still got flies in there after covering it. For some reason I have trouble finding them food. If the food isn't dry then it attracts flies and I end up with maggots. I need to find out how others do this. Skulls. Have you tried using fly traps? Flies will always be your enemy when it comes to a beetle colony - I fight them all summer long. Also using lots of odor reducers like Renuzit will keep the smell down and therefore keep the flies away. Also the mesh you use at the top should have the smallest holes possible - overlap two to make the holes smaller if need be. You may also think about a vent from your container to blue sky, if you have an outside wall. Put a fan in there to keep the flies from coming in, and it will keep the smell down and the air a bit cooler. Right now the only surplus I have are a couple bobcat skulls and a beaver skull that I'm finishing up. Once the season starts I will have more, of course. |
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Well, I have a carport with a storage room at the front of it. I have them in that room. I thought that room stayed cooler than outside but I was wrong. 100+ degrees since march doesn't help much either. As far as flies, the container has a lid and all holes have been filled. I do have a screened section on top that I thought they were dropping eggs through but I still got flies in there after covering it. For some reason I have trouble finding them food. If the food isn't dry then it attracts flies and I end up with maggots. I need to find out how others do this. Skulls. Have you tried using fly traps? Flies will always be your enemy when it comes to a beetle colony - I fight them all summer long. Also using lots of odor reducers like Renuzit will keep the smell down and therefore keep the flies away. Also the mesh you use at the top should have the smallest holes possible - overlap two to make the holes smaller if need be. You may also think about a vent from your container to blue sky, if you have an outside wall. Put a fan in there to keep the flies from coming in, and it will keep the smell down and the air a bit cooler. Right now the only surplus I have are a couple bobcat skulls and a beaver skull that I'm finishing up. Once the season starts I will have more, of course. I've done all that. I even have a fly trap inside their container. |
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Wow. You have some persistant flies. You're sure they're maggots and not molted beetle larvae, right? Both of them are white, but you can tell the difference because of the way they move and also their heads.
It seems to me that your main enemy is heat, anyways. |
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Wow. You have some persistant flies. You're sure they're maggots and not molted beetle larvae, right? Both of them are white, but you can tell the difference because of the way they move and also their heads. It seems to me that your main enemy is heat, anyways. Oh it's maggots for sure. Nice skull Dave. |
I was out doing a little scouting today while it was raining, and I came upon this:
Just wild dermestids, you say? Well the reason they caught my attention is that they are eating hair. Old hair. In the rain! My dermestids must be spoiled because these days they have been turning their noses up at some of my table scraps. Elitist little punks - for a bug that has a 3 month life span, they sure are picky! |
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Here's a whitetail deer I just finished up. http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/rizzo1318/Skulls/skull_whitetaildeer1.jpg What happened to the nose of the white tail? |
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Here's a whitetail deer I just finished up. http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j137/rizzo1318/Skulls/skull_whitetaildeer1.jpg What happened to the nose of the white tail? The hunter busted it up pretty bad dragging it out after he killed it. |
I posted these pics in another thread and Rizzo suggested I post them here so here are my attempts at skull cleaning. I use the slow cook/peroxide whitening method and it seems to work pretty well. I don't do enough to support a colony of bugs. My first attempt was this little 6 point.
I tried it again with my first bobcat. 
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It's been awhile since I posted some pics, so here's some interesting skulls I just finished up today:
Gray Fox and Coatimundi (my first coatimundi skull) 
And the first rattlesnake skull that I have cleaned - came out pretty cool. Wish I had a better camera to show the detail a bit better. This one belongs to an ARFCOM member - BriggsRi. 
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Here's a buck from Mo, muzzleloader kill, Boone and Crockett Awards book.....This buck has more mass than any deer I've ever seen!!! Average mass measurement is 5.6 inches!!! http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey4.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey3.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey2.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey.jpg I love the way that is mounted. Very cool and movable mount...I like it! |
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Here's a buck from Mo, muzzleloader kill, Boone and Crockett Awards book.....This buck has more mass than any deer I've ever seen!!! Average mass measurement is 5.6 inches!!! http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey4.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey3.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey2.jpg http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b147/fireman_3311/ramey.jpg I love the way that is mounted. Very cool and movable mount...I like it! That pedestal can also be turned 180 degrees, and hung on the wall!!! |
Some bobcats I just finished up - the hunter told me that both of them took shotgun pellets to the head. Once I got them cleaned up that was easy to see! One of them took a shotgun pellet through the mouth and lost a canine, and the other took some broadside with a pellet through the nasal cavity and a pellet through the jaw.
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