Here are my skulls being cleaned by the beetles

smallblockfuelie

smallblockfuelie

New member
Switch got the skulls from the hunt that Jeph and I did in TX (in February) in yesterdays mail. He did a little prep work before putting them in with his dermestid beetles to start the cleaning process. Here are pictures of 2 fox skulls and a bobcat skull that are being cleaned. I was amazed to hear that these skulls had only been in there for a few minutes when Switch took these pictures!


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There are still 2 bobcat skulls that Switch is drying out a little more before dropping them in for the beetles to clean. I hope to add more pictures here of the process later on for anyone else who is interested in the process. I think its another neat way of having a trophy to remember those great hunts.
 
Wow! please post the finished pics as well ,Ive heard about them but never seen them at work.
Ps. just saw the polar bear pics on cal. forum Oh!MY GOD!!!!
 
Amazing, one of the most interesting topics and pictures in a while. I have never actually seen pictures of them working. Really cool. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.
 
As a wildlife biologist I've heard about dermestid beetles for skull cleaning for years now. A lot of museums maintain a colony for cleaning specimens to be added to their collections. But I've also read where you have to keep these little buggers fed, or they just die off. That's one reason (the other reason is my wife) I've never kept a colony of beetles. They also don't need to get loose in your house.
 
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Yeah! I dont think my wife would go for having flesh eating beetles around. She would have nightmares of waking up to find that the beetles had gotten out and made a meal of one of her toes. Well maybe not a nightmare if it was one of my toes. I think I'll have to ask her thoughts on that one? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Happy Hunting!!
 
Now this brings a question to mind. With as big as them buggers are, how in the heck (or do they) get in the teeth sockets to remove all the flesh in there? I mean, they've got to, right? Or do you take care of that through boiling after the beetles are done?

I'be seen the wild versions at work once. Left a skull out in a pot of water for a week at a camp. Came back a week later and they were covering the thing. Unfortunately I couldn't wait for them to finish their job and had to finish by boiling.

Do you have any idea just how bad week old coyote head that's been sitting in a pot of water in the August sun smells?
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My next skull will be frozen and shipped to someone with beetles. A skull trophy can be a nice thing, but not worth a do-it-yourself job IMO. Well worth the $40 to ship that stinky sucker out to someone else!
 
Where would I be able to get these frenzied beetles? A pet shore?

I would like to try this in the near future only if they dont bother antlers.
 
Big Jim, if you keep them in a fish tank with a screen lid over the top you can keep them in the tank and they wont do any damage.

You can get some at http://www.dermestidbeetlecolonies.com

This is the guy I am having clean my skulls and he has been supurb to deal with. I've got some more pictures from him that I am going to get added today so you can see the progress so far. They are looking good!
 
Big Jim,
They only eat flesh, so bones and antlers are safe. There used to be a couple of websites that would sell you a "starter" kit of adult beetles. Feed them a little, and they start reproducing like, well, like bugs. Just do an Internet search for "dermestid beetles" and you should find something.
John

I'm too slow. smallblockfuelie beat me to the punch
 
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I got some more pictures from Switch along with a little description about what we are seeing. Here are the pictures which will be followed by Switches description. These skulls are looking good!

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Hey Guys, I left the skulls alone today and checked on them tonight. All I can say is WOW! My big colony made short work of your bobcats. They are pretty much cleaned. I put all three in yesterday (Jeph's at 6:00 PM or so and the other two at about 11:00 PM). I provided you with some progress pictures. The titles of the pics tell how many hours they were in.

The foxes are also getting close. I put the foxes in with my kit colonies and as you can see, they have progressed nicely. Both were put in at about 6:00 PM yesterday I believe. Again the picture titles let you know approximately how long in hours they have been in.

You'll notice the bone is still pink. Not to worry, that goes away after air drying. I leave the skulls in for at least a week if not more just so that all the beetles and their young can vacate the skulls. It also ensures that the skull is completely cleaned.

Your skulls will be left in with the beetles for another week or so and then removed and put into the freezer. This kills anything else in the skull and gives them a chance to get out. I then air dry for about 2-4 days and then whiten. I may do a detergent soak if I determine any of them are greasy.

And that's about it.
 
Hey guys, glad to see you are enjoying the progess of SBF's skulls. I checked them today and the foxes are done (total clean time 33-hours) and the bobcats are about 98% done (same clean time so far). I will leave them in for another few days to air dry and to let any little hatchlings migrate off the skulls. I can't harrass the new workers.

Also, I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about the process. For me the coolest thing, is that when I give them new stuff, I can't stay out of the garage to see them work.

Switch (Tim)
 
Switch,

I asked a question above you may not have seen.

Are these little meat shreaders able to get into the teeth sockets on the skulls and get all that tissue cleaned out? Seems such a tiny space for anything to work it's way into. Or, is that last little bit taken care of by boiling?

I have the understanding that if the teeth don't pull out and are still secure in the sockets, there's tissue still in the socket that will rot and stink.

And, where are you located and how do we contact you for skull cleaning?

Finally, how "clean" does a skull need to be when you get it. I'd really love to just be able to send off a frozen skull less hide, but with eyes, tongue and all. Is that how you typically receive them? I'm not much into removing eyes, tongues, etc. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Did it on the ones I boiled, but I didn't enjoy it!
 
How bad is the smell? (could one do this in "suburbia")
How hard is it to establish and maintain a working colony?
 
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