what are you doing that 9 ptr you got over by outlawJTs property? i used to know someone who had those beetles, if i remember who ill be sure to post it. also if you find out i'd like to know where i can purchase some.
PS try after boiling and scraping add borax to the skull and scrape it some more...
While doing European skull mounts most people boil skulls until the meat literally falls off. While cooking, the melted fat soaks into the bone. This results in greasy yellow skulls. Using beetles eliminates this problem.
The dermestid or carpet beetle belongs to the family Dermestidae. Dermestids feed on dry-moist animal material. There are many species of Dermestid beetles that are native to N. America and will invariably show up at a carcass. Domestic colonization of wild species has proven to be very difficult at best. The species most easily colonized is Dermestes maculatus. These beetles undergo complete metamorphosis; that is, egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages. The complete life cycle lasts about 45 days per generation. Adults (beetle looking), lay eggs which are too small to be seen with the naked eye. A few days later very small larvae hatch out which begin looking for their first meal. The larvae continue eating and molting 8 times before they reach about ¾ of an inch in length. This growing/molting period lasts about 30 days. It is the larvae that do the majority of the cleaning. The large larvae then find a quite spot and pupate. As they pupate their last outer larvae skin falls off leaving them somewhat yellow in appearance. 7 days later out comes an adult. Within a day or two the adult is laying 4-5 eggs a day and the whole process begins anew. The adults live for about 3 months
thank you i left a skull/rack in the shed one fall and forgot it till spring well some flys found it and laid some eggs in it well the the hair was they only thing left and it fell right off
what do you mean jt's property? it's my property now. lol
i'm going to do a european mount. i boiled and cleaned it today. but there is still some meat and crap i can't get off. i'm not looking to buy beetles but find someone around who might have them and i'll pay to get them to clean it up.
i need to take a pic of the nose. i don't know how much to clean it out. it is hard to get in there.
i was told to soak in coleman fuel for 2 weeks before i whiten it. it supposedly gets the oils out.
put it in the bucket with the rest of the fork bucks
(i gotta break ur chops after your last post on the other thread....... "bump")
hey, by the way, your buck skull, ........ it looks good from my house[smirk]
honestly i think if you just put it in some peroxide/water mixture it would clean up nicely. you can throw some borax up in it and possibly stuff moth balls in its nose to kill the smell, then just screw it to a stud and your good[up]
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