Skull Preparation

[Moose57]

What do you do with the skulls so you can mount them (the skulls)? I have heard some say to boil. Some say boiling ruins them. Some say to use the demestid beetle. I don't have access to them and don't want to buy some. Some say to bleach the skull. Others say to use peroxide.

So what do you say? The reason I ask is that I have a badger skull I want to preserve.

Thanks for the help.

Paul

[Duane]

What I do is clean the skull as best I can before boiling,like removing the tongue,cheek meat ,eyes and whatever meat I can cut away.Then I'll boil it checking it ocassionally to see if the meat is coming off the bone when it seem like it comes off fairly easy take it out and let it cool a bit.Then take knife and scrape cartilage and meat off,a small wire bristle brush works good too.For the brain take a piece of wire and poke it in the brain cavity and stir it around to break it up,then take and use a garden hose with a spray nozzle and flush it out.Now you can do two things right now if its white enough for you bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30min. to cook the grease out.Or get the skull good and wet and cover the skull with biz powdered bleach and let sit somewhere until its dry than take your wire brush and bruch off the bleach which is crusted on and it should be good to go.Also setting it in the sun for a summer will whiten it up too but keep it out of the rain or it could turn black.Any teeth that fell out can be glued back into there sockets with a little dab of shoe goo glue.The jawbone may need to be glued back together at the chin also where it seperates.The fresher the skull is the easier it is to get white because the longer the meat stays on the bone the more chance it has of staining the skull because of the blood in the meat.Also try not to boilit to long because it can make the skull fall apart,as long as you check it ocassionally you should be fine.I have boiled coyote,deer ,bear ,coon ,fischer,foxand cattle skulls this way and it works pretty good.Good luck!

[HeadHanger]

Moose,

I am a Taxidermist in Texas and I'm gonna give you the straight scoop on skull preparation. DO NOT BOIL! or even simmer. Cooking the skull will weaken it, separate the sutures, and cause it to turn chalky. Also, it's near impossible to dig all the meat from the delicate nasal bones without destroying them in the process. First, remove the large portions of meat from the skull, being very careful not to scratch the bone with the knife, NEVER SCRAPE! Next, place the skull in a plastic container and fill with water. Place a lid over the container to keep critters out of it and place the container outside, as far away from your home as you can ( Note: the lid needs to have air holes in it, oxygen is necessary for this process ). This process is called maceration and it smells terrible but works great. This process is the next best thing if you don't have access to a beetle colony. You should expect to leave the skull in the water for a couple of months to get it thoroughly clean. Remove the skull from the water and gently rinse off all debris. Be careful not to lose any teeth, they will be very loose at this point. Dry the skull in the sun. Once dry, place the skull in a container of coleman fuel for at least a week. This will degrease the skull, which is very necessary on a carnivore. After a week, remove the skull from the degreaser, rinse and soak in Dawn dishwashing soap and water overnight. Remove, rinse thoroughly, and dry in sun. Once dry, you'll need to whiten. To do this, purchase some 'Basic White' powder from your local beauty supply store. Mix this with hydrogen peroxide to form a sloppy paste. Apply the paste to all parts of the skull and allow to set overnight. The next morning, rinse thoroughly, soak in Dawnwater overnight ( to remove all the peroxide or else it will continue to eat on the bone and eventually turn it chalky ), rinse again and set in the sunlight to dry. Your skull will be whiter than white at this point. Using Superglue, secure all the teeth in the skull by applying it to the inside of the mouth area. As a final step, apply a very light coat of Krylon clear satin to the skull. You'll need to spray it from a distance, you're only interested in the overspray contacting the skull. This step will give your skull a slight luster and help to seal the bone. I hope this information will be helpful and good luck.

HH

[Duane]

Headhanger,
I'll have to try that,Ivve been doing taxidermy since I was 12,I'm 39 now ,do alot of tanning and european mounts,I know if you boil skulls to long than can fall apart, but I have done many skulls by boiling,and there still hanging on walls after 20 yrs.,mostly deer and bear.Never had a complaint yet.I'll have to give your recipe a try though ,I just have to figure out where to let it sit far from the house where stray dogs wont get into it and drag it away,or bears that are constantly a pest around here ,and so my wife doesnt complain about the smell,for deer heads do you use a big plastic garbage can and would a clear container work better to allow light in,water ,sunlight and oxygen ,is what causes the breakdown process,just wondering because you need all 3 to decompose.

[HeadHanger]

Duane,

Yes, a large plastic trash can is exactly what I use. You can place several skulls in there at once. As far as transparency goes, it doesn't seem to make a big difference in the decomposition process ( that i've noticed ). I don't see where it could hurt anything though. If you'll try the maceration process as I described above, you'll never go back to boiling again. You see, it turns out a better product and lets mother nature do most of the work which frees up alot of your time to get on with bigger and better things. Good luck.

HH

P.S. If your northern weather is cold and hinders the decomposition process, add a packet of yeast to the water. This will jump start the bacteria growth.

[Duane]

Headhanger,
Thanks,I'll give it a try.Have you vere tried bronzing,thought about trying that some time,I think vandykes sells what a guy needs to do it,I just never tried it and would like to sometime.
Duane

[jdickey]

???Hey Headhanger... what about larger skulls such as ELK? I did boil the one I had in Borax had to use a turkey fryer, since it was the largest pot that I could find

Most of the meat came off, I flushed off the remaining meat and cartilage with a hose. I let it dry for about a week then spray painted the head with white enamel paint.

So far, haven't had any problems and that's been two and a half years now!

[Bobcat]

Hey HH,

Welcome to the Posse! You snuck in the back door on us! Thanks for the assist on the skulls. That just makes too much sense!!

Good Hunting,

Bob

[Moose57]

Thanks for the info, HeadHanger. That's just what I was looking for. Guess I'll have to go the yeast route. We just got another 21" of snow here in the last 72 hours. Today was nice though. Got up to near 40*.

Thanks again,
Paul

[HeadHanger]

Glad to be of assistance guys. Good luck on the skulls.

HH