I had another Skulls thread that got archived, and there have been several people who have contacted me asking where it went, so I decided to make a new one. Since I am the most active in the Small Game & Trapping Forum I'll post this here, even though there are more than just small game skulls in these pictures.

I post these skull pictures for other people to see because I think they are interesting. Skull cleaning with dermestid beetles is a hobby and small side business I got into through chance when I decided that I didn't want to pay a taxidermist to do it for me, and boiling and other methods seemed too nasty and time consuming. It's fun because I get to see skulls from all over the country including animals I wouldn't otherwise probably see. It's gross because sometimes the smell is foul and spending your evenings cutting the eyes, tongues, and brains out of animal heads can be a bit odd for the casual observer. And it's amazing because I've been able to learn a lot about animals, anatomy, bone diseases, and bone structure. Skull cleaning has also enabled me to be grow an interesting skull collection that I use for display and educational purposes, as well as being to donate extra skulls to schools and Hunter's Ed programs which helps others to see them and learn more about the animals they came from.

Without further ado, here are a few of skulls I have cleaned over the years. I will update the pictures in additional posts as I continue this interesting journey.

Predators

Bears

Antlers and Horns

Javelina

Misc Animals

The Beetles






12 hours later

And as a side note, DO NOT HIT ANIMAL IN HEAD WITH SHOVEL TO KILL IT IF INTERESTED IN ABOVE.

Many thanks!

I think that at some point I will do a step-by-step photo process of how I clean the skulls, in case anyone else is interested in doing it or would like to see how it is done.

I'll look forward to step by step, I find this very interesting, thanks for the post.

This. I've always enjoyed your skull threads. You do amazing work.

Hmmm, beaver looks vaguely familiar, LOL.

Did a few beaver for educational purposes this year, but tossed a bunch.
At least fur prices were up. (I'm still macerating skulls, heck "stink buckets" are about 100 yds away right now)

Have 3 gators in freezers: if I don't get around to them soon, may just do their skulls.

Always enjoy your pics/work: now I need a rattler! (LOL, I SAW one get hit, time I found a spot to turn around, someone else was tossing it in their truck!)
Take care

Awesome post!!!

Hey that Rattle snake looks familiar


I have a Bobcat head in the freezer that needs your magic touch, I need to call you and send it out!!!

Finished up some bobcats and a coyote that took a round to the back of the head. Tried to make the photo look old and "artsy" since I have so done so many bobcats and coyotes!

Several people have asked me about the cleaning process, so here it is. If you have any questions, go ahead and ask away!

Skulls generally show up to me with the hide off (not always), but there is usually some fleshing to be done. The beetles will eat everything, including the hide, but it takes more time and makes the smell unmanageable. Fleshing includes removing any large sections of meat, the tongue, the eyes, and the brain. Here are the tools that I use:



Here's a fresh bobcat skull ready to be fleshed - it's really important to make sure that the knives are sharp before starting, especially the tip of the knife as that will be used the most:



I listen to music while I clean skulls (thanks Pandora!) so a skull this size should be done in about 2 country songs or less once you get the hang of it - the more you can keep the 'meat' in one big chunk, the easier is it to get off of the skull:



I don't always flesh down to this level, it just depends on the feeding cycle of the beetles and the size of the skull - after this I remove the brain with a brain hook made from a regular piece of wire, which for this size of skull is about another 2 country songs:



Eyeballs are surrounded by muscle so they are tough to get out until you know exactly where to cut (tip: remove the jaw and then cut the main muscle from underneath) - I like to play the "eyeball game" and try not to crush or pop them, and then they can be used as science projects for the kids!



The skull is ready to be cleaned so it goes into the beetles - there are already 2 cleaned bobcat skulls in there, and the new skull is resting on a bison lower jaw that is like an amusement park for the beetles:



12 hours later the beetles have made a big dent in the meat - notice how much the already cleaned skulls sank down in the beetle dander from all of the movement of the beetles:



24 hours later the skull is totally clean - the beetles are so ferocious (but gentle) that the lower jaw slid down into the dander:



I put some fresh meat in the beetles to pull as many as possible from the skulls, then shake the rest out of and off of the skulls, and then submerge the skulls in HOT tap water - this will make sure that all of the little ones and the beetle eggs are killed so they don't pop out later:



Now it's time to degrease the skulls - they are removed from the HOT water after only a few minutes and scrubbed lightly with my specialized high speed cleaning tool before being put into a mixture of Borax and water:



Here are the bobcat skulls degreasing, and they will stay in here for 3-6 days, depending on the animal - for bobcats it's only about 3 days:



Skulls are removed from the degreasing water (which is NASTY by now) and are ready for whitening - this is what they look like at this point:



I use 40 Volume peroxide (purchased from a beauty supply store) for whitening skulls - you can use lesser Volume, but 40 works the fastest:



The skulls go into a tub with about 75% peroxide and 25% water, and how long they stay in depends on the color of the skull and what kind of 'look' is desired after the whitening process is complete - the bubbles mean it's working!



After 5 days in the peroxide the bobcats are removed - here they are drying in the sun, which I like to do for 2-3 days before considering them "complete", as it gets rid of any smell and makes sure that everything it nice and dry:



A few quick hits with the air hose to make sure that any dead beetles are removed from tight spaces and Voila! - the skulls are ready for display:

Do you have to neutralize anything after whitening so the skull does not degrade in the future?

I have a skull project this weekend I need to work on, The biggest I've ever done before was deer, so I may have to re-adjust my set up.

Nope - depending on how well the degreasing worked, the bone may yellow a little with time, but the bones will not break down anymore than it normally would. If you wait at least 2 weeks after the whole process is done for the bone pores to close up, you can even seal a skull or paint it if you'd like. That will help with any future yellowing or darkening issues.




Awesome, keep us posted on how that turns out. A moose would be interesting to clean - did you find that one?

Do you freeze all your skulls before putting them in with the beetles?

Yes, for a couple of reasons:

1) There's usually already a skull in the beetles when I get something new, so I have to preserve the skull and keep the meat as fresh as possible
2) Freezing kills any funky bugs that I don't want to have in my beetle colony

Awesome, I just want to get to actually FINDING these critters, much less cleaning them off lol

Thanks. I have wondered about the process. I am in the just need to find them club as well.

MAHA

Thanks. I have wondered about the process. I am in the just need to find them club as well.

MAHA

Very nice work! What kind of beetles are those?

I use dermestid beetles. Many full service taxidermists, museums, and universities use dermestids to clean all kinds of bones for display and study.

Just finished up one of the biggest black bears I have ever cleaned. AZ Game and Fish aged the tooth that they extracted at 18 years - that's one old bear. Lots of wear and busted teeth in that mouth, plus some scarring on the skull - he was in some scraps during his time in the woods.

Dang that is awesome!

I found it in a drainage while scouting for deer. Looks like it has been laying there for a while.

I'll post pics when it is done.

If anyone is interested there's a documentary on netflix about a company that does this, they show the entire process while they work on a lion.  It's called Skeleton, Inc

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll watch it as soon as time permits.

I watched the show on NetFlix, just one episode was available. I was pleased to discover that it was Jay and his family from Skulls Unlimited! Those are some good people.

Just finished this black bear skull that had a major injury to the jaw - that tooth is barely hanging on! Pictures of the injury before I cleaned the skull can be found here: Nasty injury I found on a bear skull





And a run of the mill javelina that just went back to the client yesterday:

if the ME office finds a nasty decomp they boil the flesh off the skull..... it smells.

Boiling is NASTY and it also damages the bone.

You do great work. Are you accepting more skulls right now? I have a bear skull that has been in my freezer since last season that I will never get to, and a coyote skull that I found. I would like to have them both bleached. The bear skull was severed from the carcass and put in a trash bag, I didn't skin it. the coyote had been decomposing for a few weeks and is about 90% down to the bone. Any idea what you would charge if I shipped them to you as-is? I would just like to have them bleached and sealed.

Thanks!

IM inbound.

that is some awesome work. very cool.  

as I guy who collects stuff like this for specimen collections at my university, I'm quite impressed.

Thank you for the comments, I put a lot of effort into each skull that I work on.

If your university ever needs any skulls, let me know. Sometimes I have extras, especially small predators.

Here's a good ol' angry badger - it's been a while since I cleaned up a badger skull.

Learned a lot from this. Thanks for posting. This needs to be tacked so others years to come get to see it.

The nasal cavity of the bear skull is unreal. No wonder they can smell 100,000 times better than humans.

You do amazing and tedious work, wish I had the initiative to do this. Collecting coyote skulls sounds fun.

Thanks! It's a pain sometimes, but I enjoy it for the most part. And my collection is more than just coyotes.

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted any photos. Sometimes I just forget, so here's a nice buck that I delivered to the owner today:

Glad to see this thread pop back up....it actually inspired me to start doing this. I have a few coyote skulls cleaned down to the bone and just need to degrease them. I have looked at getting some beetles a few times but just never pulled the trigger. It looks like the way to go though.

Can you just degrease them and not run them through the bleach process? I actually like the more natural look than the clean white for some reason.

ETA: Can you recommend a place to look at ordering some beetles?

Yes, you can degrease and not whiten if you don't want the white look. But I would recommend sun bleaching them for at least a week to get the stink out if you don't whiten.

For ordering beetles, I recommend Tim Hovey at Dermestid Inc: http://www.dermestidbeetlecolonies.com/. Good guy, good hunter, good friend.

Excellent, thanks for the info.

Just ordered both his DVD's and a 300 bug kit which he says will be doubled for current orders. Seems like a heck of a deal.

That is some cool stuff.

I'm curious how you got into doing it for other people.

I do a lot of trapping and save quite a few skulls for display at shows. And occasionally get people wanting me to do some for them.

Is it worth doing to make any real money? Figured it might be a good side job when I retire.

I started cleaning skulls because I wanted to take care of the skulls from my own hunting, plus it seemed like an interesting hobby - that was over 7 years and hundreds of skulls ago. I started posting pictures in online forums because I thought people might like to see that there's an alternative to boiling, and just see what a nice white skull looks like. Next thing I know, people from all over the country are contacting me about cleaning and shipping me heads to clean! It's been fun because I've been able to clean the skulls of animals I have never even seen before, and I've cleaned trophy animal skulls, as well, which are always cool to see. I've learned a lot about animal anatomy and seen some crazy things, like tumors, scars from fighting other animals, etc.

I've never run it as a business, just something I do on the side. I make enough money from it to fund all my own hunting, and sometimes a little more, but I do a lot of barter with it. If you ran a business doing skull cleaning, you could probably make good money, but I don't know if you could make a living at it. Great side job after retirement, though you have to enjoy the work. It's not for everyone.

This was an interesting little buck - came in with velvet still on (youth hunt) and I said "the beetles will eat that off" and the hunter said "go for it." So this is what antlers look like when they've never seen the light of day before or been rubbed on anything.

Fascinating, thanks for posting. What kind of upkeep do the dermestids require? What is the ratio of borax to water in the degreasing stage?

I've almost pulled the trigger on buying some beetles a few times. My father is retired and we were thinking this would be a fun hobby for him (He did taxidermy for many years), but were concerned about keeping them alive in the cold. Where do you house your beetles?  We were thinking about building a new shed and he could house them in there, but weren't sure how warm we'd have to keep them in the winter up here. We also considered moving them into his basement during the winter but didn't know how bad the smell would be. Any insight on beetles in the cold?