African Tortoise!

I gave a copperhead snake I had to a taxidermist friend who needed one for a competition, and in return he gave me a big python and a BEAUTIFUL African tortoise that he had in his freezer. Both of them died in pet stores. 

I haven't quite decided what to do with the Python yet, but today I put the tortoise in a tub of water to begin maceration, which will likely take 6-8 weeks even in this heat. I'm going to keep checking on it and remove the shell from the water when everything detaches so I can save it from discoloration. 

Will update on this little guy later! 

Framed Bones

Made this with some extra deer parts! I love it, definitely making more like this. 

Cat Skull GRAPHIC WARNING! DEAD CAT!

My husband's cat Church died last Fall/Winter, we found her under his moms house after she hadn't been seen in a few days. I've wanted to get her and articulate her skeleton since we found her, and I thought waiting a few months would be best so that nature could help me out. Well that was NOT a good idea, because like most dead bodies in cool, dry environments, she mummified. My husband bravely crawled under the house and fought off a vicious black widow attack to get Church's body for me, and I brought her home and put her in a Rubbermaid tub with some fill dirt. 

I thought maybe having her in soil and out in the open would attract some insects to clean the bones, but after a few days in tub, nothing had happened. I could have macerated the whole body right then, but I didn't want cat soup cooking in my backyard for a week in the heat, and there are just too many tiny bones I couldn't risk losing since I plan to articulate. The body was so badly mummified that I couldn't remove any bones, so I had choice but to macerate (which is currently happening), but I thought I could do the skull by hand. I pulled off what I could by hand, and then used a pai of sewing scissors to get most of the rest. 

Soft tissue like eyes and brain are always the first to go. 

Removed what I could by hand! Bad photo quality because it was getting dark. 

Removed the rest with sharp scissors, but it wasn't all coming off. 

I quickly realized that this incredibly mummified tissue wasn't going to come off while it was dry. I put the skull in a small, tightly closed container full of water and left it on my front porch for a little over 24 hours. The direct sunlight and 95 degree temperature helped speed up the process a lot. By the time I removed the skull from the water, all the rehydrated tissue had fallen off and I had a clean skull! 

When bones come out of water, they smell. Bad. I soaked the skull in a container of about 50/50 water and laundry soap, which did the job of getting the smell out completely. Normally, this is where I would degrease the bones, but since this mummified, there was no moisture at all in it and therefore no grease. I had to be very careful with the incisors, cats have VERY tiny front teeth in their top and bottom jaws, and the fall out very easily. I removed them all before soaking and when it was dry I used tweezers to put them back in, with superglue of course. 

Those tiny teeth!

This skull went right from the laundry soap bath to the sink for a rinse, and then into a water and peroxide bath to whiten. Normally I'd leave bones in peroxide for two days to completely whiten, but I left this skull in for about 12 hours. It's not as white as it could be, but I like it. After it dried, I glued the bottom jaws and put everything together! 

This skull turned out beautifully, and I love it even more because it belonged to a cat that I knew when she was alive! I have the rest of the body macerating now, and I will pour the water through a strainer to be sure I get all those tiny bones. I plan to articulate the skeleton, so stay tuned for that adventure! 

Dog and cat

Dog skeleton

A friend of mine, Rob, lives out in the middle of nowhere on a nice chunk of land, and he takes care of animals he finds or who wander into his yard. He's had quite a few dogs that he's cared for over the years, and most all of them live long and happy lives. This dog he had got sick, and while Rob was away working two 12 hour shifts, the dog died, and he found the bones a few days later. He said it didn't feel right to bury him, so he graciously gave the bones to me! 

The bones were amazingly clean for only being outside three days. They had no tissues left, so I just soaked them in soapy water in my kitchen sink overnight. 

Turns out I have an almost complete dog skeleton! I am only missing the tiny bones from the feet, a few tiny tail bones, the axis, and one lumbar vertebra, which were likely taken by small animals. Wild animals like rabbits and squirrels have front teeth that grow forever, so they have to have things to chew on to file them down, and bone perfect for this. 

(Here's an example of what can happen to a squirrels teeth if they do not have appropriate things to chew on. Not fun! People who keep animals with teeth that grow as pets have many options for things their pets can chew on, both store bought and natural. Example from www.na2ure.com)

I put the bones together like a giant 3D puzzle, which was actually really fun, I think I could get into skeletal articulation! I'm thinking about wiring them together, but for now they're still layed out like this on my living room floor. 

The skull is my favorite part! The two jaws and skull were beautifully intact, and no teeth were missing at all. You can barely see it in the photo, but I glued the jaws together in front where they come apart and used a tiny rubber band to hold them together while the glue dried. I set the jaw in place and let it dry upside-down overnight. 

Finished skull! I love it and it couldn't have turned out any better! 

Precious respirator

I heart my respirator! I can sometimes be a big baby about bad smells, and with this I can take my time and get things done right instead instead of rushing it because it stinks! 

Deer bones!