skull

azhunter79 · Oct 20, 2003

i found a mountain lion yesterday that had been dead a while, but still had a lot of dried, crusty flesh around the front of the face and in the eyes and mouth. id like to clean it up and get it down to just bone. what is the best way of doing this? the front teeth are already cracked but still intact so im kinda scared to boil it cause i know it does a lot of damage, especially to teeth. i also dont have money to take it to a taxidermist and have them put beetles to it. but id be willing to buy a few beetles myself if i knew how to get them, and the price was right. any help would be appreciated, its a pretty cool looking skull..or it will be once its cleaned up a little.
thanks
az79

dakotakid · Oct 20, 2003

You might check these guys out. Looks like for about $70.00 you can be in the Dermestid beetle business.

http://www.skulltaxidermy.com/kits.html

Mike

maximus · Oct 20, 2003

If you're in AZ I'm assuming the weather is still warm. If that's the case place the skull in a bucket of water. Enough water that evaporation will never leave the skull dry. If its warm wait around 2 weeks remove the skull spray with hose clean and refill bucket with water. IMPORTANT note teeth will become loose/fall out and need do be glue in later becarefull not to loose them. Repeat above 2 weeks later. This should leave you with a almost clean skull. The remaining material will just be ligaments in the natural holes and are easily removed with small sticks/tooth picks. When you have nothing but bone left. Place skull in bucket with one cup liquid dish soap for every gallon of water needed to cover for at least 24 hrs (takes the grease out of the bone). Remove rinse. Place skull in bucket with one cup vol 40 peroxide CLEAR witch can be bought at any beauties salon per gallon of water needed 24 to 48 hrs. For best results on the last two steps place skull up side down in water and shake to get air out of brain cavity. Remove rinse place in sun to dry.

This takes longer than boiling but with a much better out come. No shrinking cracking or discolor from the extreme heat. IMO it is not as messy but a little more stinky at first. Place bucket out of sun and where dogs can't get it. It will smell but not to bad. If its cold it will take longer and real cold it in the freezer until summer.

Hope this helps. A old timer passed it on to me. I only wish I knew sooner I would have never boiled one.

maximus

azhunter79 · Oct 20, 2003

thanks max, ill give it a try and let you know how it turned out.

maximus · Oct 20, 2003

Right on and good luck.

mooseman · Oct 20, 2003

hey maximus i asume that this will work with elk or deer skulls? other than i guess you don't want antler to be the water and such? thanks

azhunter79 · Oct 21, 2003

i put it in the water last night, this morning the water was...well the color youd expect if you put a rotten fleshy skull in it! i was wondering, does it matter if the "meat" on the skull is all dried out, and jerky style?