Cleaning skull question.

[RAF]

I've read here that you can use beetles. I don't know where I would get them here and certainly wouldn't have a use for them after. I thought about using maggots. Tackle shops here sell them as bait. Thought I'd buy a couple dozen, put them in a bag with the skull and they'd clean them up. Will this work. Any other suggestions

[jnrbronc]

Not sure if fishing maggots are the type to eat decomposing flesh.

There is a guy on another forum I follow who started a Dermestid beetle colony. Sounds like you have to feed them for some time to get the colony built up. Also, the colony gives off an odor (stinks!).


Also from that forum, others have said that they skin the head, try to fish the brains out the back of the head, then gently boil the head until the meat is readily scraped off. You want to keep the antlers up out of the water.

One guy says he uses a high pressure power washer to strip the heads clean, but says you might want to wear a rain suit while doing this.

I teach a graduate college class and during student presentations Monday night, one student said that she placed cow bones in a pot of water, added Biz laundry detergent, then heated the water just under boiling. I guess Biz has enzymes in it that aid in the digestion of tissue. Just so you don't have to ask, she was interested in studying the alligator tooth marks on the bones so that they could look at fossilized bones and try to establish if marks on the fossils were caused by a predator or human tools. I meant to email her asking for the protocol. When I do, I can share it.

I'm sure there are tons of other tricks out there. I think I heard that you can use hydrogen peroxide to whiten the skull once you get it clean.

Good luck.

[RAF]

I tried the maggots and it worked, some. The maggots went to their next stage before they finished the job. Had to finally boil it and scrape it. I suppose if I had left it in the open more fly would have come along, made more maggots and that might have worked but who wants all those flys

[hsorta]

I did my one by boiling for the first time last year and it turned out great. I got everything cut off that I could and boiled it in a big pot on an outdoor propane burner like you use for camping, etc. I had to boil the skull for about 8 hours adding water along the way that kept evaporating off. You have to keep the antlers out of the water also. Every hour or so, I would pull the skull out and scrape it some more and I had to rattle the brain out and boil it along the way to get it out. Once I felt that the skull was clean I got a bunch of hydrogen peroxide and some borax from Wal Mart and boiled the skull for about 35-30 minutes in this stuff making sure the antlers did not get in it. I used a ladle to keep pouring the mixture over the skull. The skull was clean and white and looks great but it is alot of work. I have about 10 hours invested. My only cost was my time, a cylinder of propane, and about $25 for peroxide and borax. The base of the antlers got a little bleached where stuff kept splashing up on them, but I used a little bit of dark wood stain on a rag and rubbed it around the base of the antlers and you can't even tell.

[pete ochs]

Hi, I did my mz season buck head this year and it turned out good. Here is a link that you should go to and type euro-mount in search and there is a tremendous amount of info .
www.taxidermy.net/forums/
I simmered and cleaned mine then used peroxide bluing to whiten the skull. Be careful not to boil to long as teeth will loosen and skull seams could part. Do not use any bleach products as it destroys bone even after rinsing. Good Luck.

[Tenbears]

demisted beetles are by far the most effective method of cleaning skulls. however for the individual who will be only doing one or two skulls, They are not practical. Maggots will eventuality do the job. however they do not actually eat the flesh. they eat the rotting flesh. and as you experienced they mature ahead of total decomposition.
For the individual boiling just may be the best option. but a slow simmer does nicely. then whitening can be done.

[youp50]

20 years ago my son and I did a science project involving boiling skulls of native furbearers. We did beaver, muskrat, they smelled good enough to add potatoes and carrots to. Mink and otter were not appetizing. Fox smelled like a wet dog. Coyote was bad enough to gag me. All boiling was done outside over an open fire.

I do recall setting shark jaws on a certain type of ant hill in the southeast. We would put a weighted wood box over them to keep the critters from stealing them.

There are a number of places advertising using beetles to clean skulls.