Here are my skulls being cleaned by the beetles

Here are the two fox skulls 31 hours after they were given to the beetles.


foxB31hrs.jpg



fox31hrs.jpg



Heath, attached is one of the fox skulls. They are essentially cleaned, but as mentioned I like to leave them in for a few extra.

This is after 31 hrs with the beetles. I may soak all five in detergent just to drop the grease stains. The two smaller bobcats have some pretty heavy staining around the eyes...or what use to be eyes.

The next picture I send will be the finish skulls. I've had a blast watching them tear through it.
 
I also have a colony that i started about 2 years ago , and might be able to answer some of your questions as best i can.

BadKarma - The smell can get pretty bad if you dont preclean the skulls (clean out the brain, cut out eyeballs and big chunks of meat).If you dont the brain and eyes will ooze out some nasty stuff. You have to dry out the meat on the skull to a jerky like texture before you put it in the tank. it is still going to smell , but wont be like something is rotting to high hell.

I started my colonie inside my appt. and just kept them in my closet. You couldent tell i had them from entering my place but it still smelled to some degree.

they are real easy to take care of .Just keep them fed and spray them with water every other day. When i dont have any skulls to feed them with i just use any kind of lunch meat.

Daver- I cant tell you for sure if they can get into the tooth cavity or not. The small hatchings are REALLY REALLY small , the size of a small grain of sand or smaller . I think that when you degrease the skull it takes care of whatever is left if any. You should not ever need to boil your skull when the bugs are finished(boiling will cause the teeth to crack and the nose cartilge to fall out. I have never had any of my skulls rot or smell when i was finished degreasing and bleached.

when i get my skulls i like to have them just frozen with no decay .i take care of them from then on

trappertodd
 
Thanks for the info. I'm going to give it a try the next one I take. I think the skulls make such great trophies when done right, but I sure didn't enjoy the process by any means! It's a great way to grab a trophy out of a summer coyote as well. That is the main time I get to hunt with my kid, so that's when we hunt, despite the terrible pelts.

Here's the one I did for my boy's first coyote a couple years ago. He really enjoys this thing. You know boys, "skulls are cool".

Skullmountcopy.jpg
 
Davr, that's a nice looking mount. I like the picture frame at the bottom. It looks like the skull was painted.

As far as smell, you have to deal with a bit, but as was stated, if you dry the meat out and take out all the big pieces (eye, brain, tongue), it is a lot less, the beetles work quicker, so the less time it smells.

Beetles are a lot easier than boiling and it doesn't damage the skull.

SBF's skulls are essentailly cleaned now at 36-hours. The next pics will be finsihed skulls
 
Truely a great post! Thanks! Oh and congrats...nice trophies!

Switch: Can we get some contact info? Also, like Davr posted, how do you like to get the skulls? I've got a Texas hog hunt coming in January and if I get lucky I would like to do this. Also, will you do any skulls? My son is a Prairie Dog hunting freak and I think it would be cool to have one done for him. Thanks
 
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I ask people to freeze the skulls prior to shipment. I also ask that they mail them to me Express mail or next day mail. Whatever gets it to me quickly (I live in California).

That's essentailly it. I do request that they skulls be fresh and free of decay. I cannot clean decaying skulls because they will introduce mites into the colonies, which is not good.

Just put it in the freezer as soon as you can and the rest is easy.
 
Switch, would there be any problem doing a gator skull. I'm working with a second rejection notice on the state quota hunt and looking to get pulled this year. That pedastal mount with the picture is exactly what I had in mind if I can stick one.

Nick T
 
Quote:
It looks like the skull was painted.




Nope, not painted but it is quite white. Boiled the heck out of it with washing soda, finished off with a soak in peroxide. After it dried out, I gave it a couple coats of satin finish clear acrylic, and glued the teeth back in. Really looked nice, but the cracked teeth (though barely noticeable) bug me a little, so that's another reason I'm anxious to try the beetle method.
 
My question is how in the heck do you get the brains out of that little hole. I have struggled with that many times and just gave up and cut the antlers off.
Cleve
 
I was just looking at the posts before I went on break. No need to break now, I lost my appetite! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Well I decided to make the plunge and ordered some beetles at http://www.dermestidbeetlecolonies.com after I bought my tank, heated adhesive pad, heat lamp and the screen to keep them from getting out. My beetles are going to ship out Monday so I hope to see them Tuesday or Wednesday! Here's their new home out in the garage ... I will get some more pictures after it's occupied.

I walked out the door of Petco for $70 for everything you see here. I elected to get the heated pad which adhere's to the bottom of the tank (which was the most expensive item) because my tank is out in the garage which is not climate controlled and can get pretty cold out there at night. I'd be willing to bet if you could establish the colony in a better climate controlled area you wouldn't have to buy the expensive adhesive heater.

The tank was about $15, the screen for the top was $10 and the heat lamp was $12 plus the light bulb that was about $10.

DSC_2820.jpg
 
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