How To: Skull Cleaning

[tmrschessie]

Welllllllll not sure we want to start that one....so lets keep it in this thread, just so we don't loose anyone along the way...LOL
I will have to agree with you that the "Rotting fee" is something to be considered. LOL But then you would lose some business.....gotta love opening a plasic bag to find a skull that has set in the sun for a few days though...Tom

[skullclnr]

So the coyote has been in the colony for 24 hours give or take, and is looking pretty clean, there is still a little flesh left on the bottom so I am going to let it sit another 5 hours or so. Beetles have become my preferred method of cleaning for two main reasons, they are fast and they do a impeccable job. There is some work associated with keeping the bugs, they have to be at a fairly constant temperature and need daily food and a watering now and then, but they take good care of themselves and do the dirty work for you.

Tomorrow the skull should be ready, and well look into what I think defines a good European mount...getting the whitest possible bone you can get! Ill share my whitening procedures that I use to get supper white skulls. Here's the coyote almost done in the bugs, a before and after, in 24 hours:
raw1.JPG to this Clean1.jpg

Any one who wants to throw into this feel free, I always like to see and hear what others do. How do you whiten your skulls: bleach, peroxide, paint?

[tmrschessie]

Those bugs really do a good job. I have painted a couple small skulls with a watered down white glue mix...Tom

[Husker1911]

If I were to bind and gag my boss, could I borrow a batch of those beetles?

[skullclnr]

LOL Husker, I don't know if they can eat that much, and it may give them heart burn!! Tom, thats a great way to seal them if they are going to a smokers house or a home with kids and dirty hands. Keeps them nice and clean. Were you happy with the results?

Update: the coyote is done, clean as a whistle....so to speak. I put it in the freezer over night so any hide away bugs inside are killed, don't want any hitch hikers. Ill post some pics tomorrow and well start degreasing and whitening.

[tmrschessie]

Yes it worked well, and I also used it to put the teeth back in my bear skull so I would not loose them.

This is a great thread and I want to thank you again for taking the time and making the effort to keep this going...Good Job. Tom

[skullclnr]

I pulled the coyote out of the freezer this morning, ready to clean her up! It looks really dirty, and it is, but soon well make it snow white, but this is the part of the process where patience is a virtue. Here are some pics, more to come later:
clean2.JPG

clean3.JPG
Here are the nasal bones I keep talking about. Traditional methods like boiling make it very hard to keep these in-tack, but some of the bugs are so small they eat right through these passages. Once these are whitened up I think it is the best part of a well done European.
clean4.JPG

Any one ever boiled a coyote and have some pics of the finished head?

[skullclnr]

K, so if your following this for a personal specimen by now you have cleaned all the meat off your skull, either by bugs, bacteria, or simmering. The skull should be fairly clean by now but there is still a bit of work ahead to get the skull real white. There are many different ways of doing this, I will show you my routine.

There are three main steps to whitening a skull; degreasing, whitening, and sealing. Of the three the most important step is degreasing. All skulls have some residual grease in the bone. This grease, left in and not removed, will eventually work its way to the surface no matter how white you get the skull. Thats why degreasing is the most important step in finishing a skull. Some skulls like bear and hog are real hard to degrease, taking months others are fairly easy taking only a week or so. The method of flesh removal will also change the time associated with degreasing, simmering will take longer than with beetles, by far the quickest is maceration, having already been somewhat degreased by the bacteria.

To start degreasing I soak the head in a peroxide bath for a few hours to clean any of the old blood, beetle scat, and dirt off. This is something new I have started after learning from someone else and really makes a difference. This doesn't get any of the grease out and is only to clean up the bone for degreasing. I use a very high strength peroxide but you will have similar results with the brown bottle 3% stuff from the supermarket. Here we go into the peroxide to soak.

peroxidebefore1.JPG peroxidebefore2.JPG

[WarPig]

Skullclnr, So where does a guy get these beetles?

I've thought about trying to do a scull by submerging it under my buddy's dock and letting the bacteria, crawdads and turtles clean it up. Will that work?

[tmrschessie]

I would think you would loose some bone to the turtles and possibly the crawdads. Tom

[skullclnr]

WarPig good bugs that are mite free are hard to find. I got my first set of bugs from a gentleman out of Kodiak Alaska, he sells them at a good price and guarantees no mites or flies. If any one wants info on starting a bug colony pm me or post here and I will get you all the info you will need to start. Once you have a small number they explode in population if you feed them right.

I agree with Tom on the submerging, I think you may loose some pieces. Usually the teeth fall out toward the end. If you could rig up a screen basket to put them in it may work better, or maybe in a sealed minnow bucket, one of the plastic or metal ones that you can hang over the edge of your boat.

I have heard of people just taking them out back and burying them in the dirt. Then in a few months dig them up and they should be clean. You may want to rig up a screen basket again to catch any loose teeth.

[cnelk]

Here are 2 pics of a beaver skull.

Does anyone know why the front side of the front teeth are dark and the back side white? All other teeth are white too.

I don't why.

beaver1.jpg

beaver2.jpg

[skullclnr]

They smoked too many cigarettes LOL. But really I think it has to do with the density of the cuttng edge part of the tooth. Nice, skull cnelk! Real white, and the nose bones appear intact, lots of time when doing beaver skulls the teeth will turn almost black, but the beautiful orange comes out later. Good job, I should put you to work!

[tmrschessie]

Originally Posted by skullclnr

They smoked too many cigarettes LOL. But really I think it has to do with the density of the cuttng edge part of the tooth. Nice, skull cnelk! Real white, and the nose bones appear intact, lots of time when doing beaver skulls the teeth will turn almost black, but the beautiful orange comes out later. Good job, I should put you to work!

Being a none smoker, I will have to take your word for it ....LOL Tom

[Scott G.]

That is a very cool looking skull. I think the yellow adds something to it.