What's the best way to go about getting a nice clean skeleton from a dead animal?
Been reading a lot of vulture culture stuff, been finding lots of dead critters lately, seems like it might be fun.
Dermestid beetles are the best way, period. Of you're gonna get into the hobby then dermestid beetles are definitely a good idea.
>>2144688
This >>2144689 if you dont mind keeping bugs indoors. But usually i burry my stuff i cleaned a coyote skull by just letting he elements do its work untill most of the flesh was gone. Then i soaked it in normal peroxide for like 3 weeks. Then i went and pulled off any fats i could see gave it a good rinse and then super glued the teeth back in and drilled tiny holes in the jaw and tied it with fishing line.
Givee a second i can take a picture of the skull. Most people think its fake or one i bought from a shop.
>>2144692
Here you guys go. It was roadkill and magically it only lost one tooth
>>2144692
how bad was the smell when you dug it back up? not that it matters, but just so I can expect something going in
>>2144697
woah that looks great!! do you scour around normally looking for roadkill, or did you just find it by chance?
there's not a ton of roadkill where I am, but then again I don't really look for it exclusively
>>2144698
I actually didn't smell it, i gave it a good long while before grabbing it. Usually if you wait till most of the organic material dissolves it won't smell all too bad. Its the gasses that are produced from bacteria breaking down soft matter is what smells. Burying something actually dampens the smell, just makes it easier to forget its out there waiting. Also it takes a bit longer than using beetles.
I could've used the high concentration peroxide to bleach the skull butvi decided the natrual fat stained look was better imo.
>>2144700
I drive alot for work, but this skull i got off the side of a pretty busy road. I watched it decompose for probably 6 - 9 months then i was forced (due to the property people doing maintenance) by people that drove over the skeleton i thought it was a lost cause. But i found the head that still had bits of skin and everything and put it in a bag and took it home at like 1 am. Too my surprise it was intact. I would've gotten the whole skeleton and lined it with wire of they didn't destroy it.
I have better pics, but they are over 4mb and 4chan needs to fix that.
>>2144701
I read somewhere that you can boil bones to melt all the fats off, is that recommended? I don't wanna stink up the whole house with that shit though, roommates would complain.
>>2144689
This.
If you don't want to get into dermestids yourself, you can always try to get in touch with someone else who does.
>>2144707
Would not recommend. It smells terrible also the mess isn't fun to clean. Only way to boil properly is outdoors with pots you dont care about. Also fire helps mask the smell alot.
>>2144708
what's the usual rate for a service like that?
>>2144714
No idea, since I'm not into it. I imagine a good friend would do it for free. If you contract someone, I guess it could become quite costly. It requires a pretty big colony to clean a carcass. It also requires a good bit of human labour, since you still have to cut off most of the meat, so that the beetles can finish it before it molds.
A quick google search gave me several companies that specialised in those services, but I didn't click on them, so I guess there's that.
>>2144713
Figured I'd post the right side too.
>>2144772
Oops, wrong image.
>>2144697
Why the hell is that nailed to your ceiling?
>>2144707
Doesn't boiling the bones essentially cook them, making them soft and brittle? Thus more likely to break apart over time?
>>2144708
Or you can just find a local ant hill and put them bones in a metal cage that is chained to a post you hammer into the ground. Toss the caged bones on the ant hill, and then forget about it.
Ants pick that shit clean, the wire cage and chain prevents any predators large enough from damaging the bones or dragging them off.
>>2144689
I fucking love watching the beetles do their shit. But I seriously couldn't care for the bones of an animal. I just like the beetles
>>2144843
I'm in vancouver, not sure if there's anything like that relatively closeby me
>>2144867
Is it warm enough that you have a lot of flies buzzing around? (we have a shit ton of flies already here in Nevada) If so, then follow those instructions, but instead of leaving them on an ant hill, just leave the bones under a plastic tarp that is weighted down around the edges, but with a section still open so the flies can get in and lay eggs. The maggots will pick those bones clean.
Just make sure it's far enough away from your home that the random fly doesn't get in.
>>2144706
Gorgeous skull m8.
