Posted: 12/7/2006 1:54:18 PM EDT
| My daughter found a turtle shell down by the creek. It's smelly and muddy with some flesh still attached. What's the best way to clean the sucker off and end up with a polished shell? |
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No bleach it will bleach out the shells color wash in mild hydrogen peroxcide solution 3 percent that you buy off the shelf will be fine then coat it by taking a bottle of elmers glue, mix with water till you have a thick slurry and dip the shell into it and let it dry repeat the glue bath if you care to and your done. The glue bath will seal in any nasties and future smell and will gloss the shell up. |
You damn yankees, i'm from Texas.  |
You can't be born further South and still an American!!
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You might want to try and ID the turtle it's from first. THen check with your state Wildlife department. Some states have laws that restrict possession of shells. Only reason i know this is because i used to be inot taxidermy. Really kind of a silly law but in some circumstances it's considered a felony I do know that much. It mostly depends on what kind of turtle it came from. As far as cleaning it, if you dont mind the smell just hang it outside somewhere and natural will do its own thing. Might take a while though because of the weather. You can also just saok it in plain water and it will do the same. Just drop it in a bucket of water and let it saok for a while. Then sterlize it with a bleach/water solution. If its really messy and a whole shell(top and bottom) which are really cool and kinda rare to find in the wild, i'd call up a taxidermist and see if they do any cleaning with dermistod (sp?) beetles. They will eat the flesh from the shell completely within a couple hours depending on size. It will cost ya a bit but it's professionally done. You can also try here. Might have to search a bit but the info you need WILL be there, great site. Good luck |
I went with a variation of this suggestion. I scrubbed it down with Peroxide and water, shaved the skin out of the leg/neck/tail holes, then used spray poly-urethaned. Pic's this evening when I get home. Hey SirDrinksAlot, thanks for not responding with KeyWest-isms 
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I beg to differ.......2nd. wife was born in Gitmo Bay Naval hosp. Unfortunately she is a US citizen. 
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