Maceration Step by Step

[Wolfwoman]

Me? ...who loves me? Suzie? *scared* *slowly sneaks away* lol!

Yes, she does

[Wolfwoman]

I can't sell the skull from Alaska even if it was mine. It's illegal here. But that one does belong to someone

[Oráiste]

I will try the garbage bags next time i change the water....when i degrease and keep it covered the soap should keep any bacteria and algea down right?

Algæ shouldn't grow without sunlight. So long as you keep the pot in the dark/with a lid (Like I said, opaque black bin bags should be Ok, so long as they're not too thin) it should be fine. I reckon you degrease once all the crap if off the bones completely. I'm starting work on a mink soon so I'll let you know how mine goes, I've only done this once by acident when I was a kid with sheep bones. No lid though, so my dog kept stealing them and shoving them on my rockery. They also went green due to no lid and direct sunlight. Doh! =P

[rengelma]

Ok, I just started macerating a boar skull that I cleaned about 90% of the flesh off by letting it sit outside in a garbage bag.  So, after reading all of these posts, I'm planing to add some beer and let it sit for about a week.  Then I'll move it in to dawn mixed with water to degrease.  my question now is some people have recommended using ammonia during the maceration process, but what does the ammonia do?  I would have thought that the ammonia would have killed some of the bacteria that you'd be trying to grow.  Just trying to get a full grasp of what I'm doing.  (BTW I origanally posted more questions in the beginners forum before being referred to this thread.)

Thanks!

Rob

[Wolfwoman]

I believe Wacbravo mentioned the ammonia both for degreasing (which I'm trying now) and to rehydrate dried out skulls for beetles.

[Wolfwoman]

Well folks, the griz and black bear skull went into Dawn today. They were both nicely clean and all the yuk poured right off of them   Doesn't even look like they'll need a lot of degreasing, but they ARE bears, so in they go! Got em in a 5 gallon bucket witha heater set at 85 degrees. If I have a spare minute I'll check em in about a week and see how they're doing and post pics! The wolverine went back into the ick bucket as there was still some cartilage on it.

[Helicity]

I just took my eland out of the goop and its nice and cleaned off. I took it in the house to the dismay of my roomate and cleaned it off in the tub. I am then going to degrease it in the house to prevent contamination and keep it warmer then outside.

[Oráiste]

Please show pics if possible Helicity! =)

[buckeye]

I'm doing a deer head and a ram head for the first time. The deer head is done and the ram head had to go back in the water a little longer.Got the horns off of the ram, While the ram was in the water one horn was completely under and the other only half under water. They  came off the cores fine but they have some balck on the  part that was under water. Can this be removed and how without affecting the horn? Also what should I do with the horns until the skull is done? I have them in the freezer right now. Is that ok?

[J Brown II]

Awesome thread Wolfwoman!!!! Nothin like the smell of maceration in the Mornin!!!!

[Snowwolf]

Yes, she does

I just seen this reply...now, that is just scary, Wolf! But, I must say, the time spent on Ms. Suzie is making me quite fond of her, as well. I just put her in some peroxide last night, as these past few days, the sun doesn't seem to be doing much more whitening on her. I woke up today to find out she decided she likes to float, so I stuck a bubble bath bottle on her to drown her. In another day or so, assuming I remember (i should...she's right there in the bathroom), I'll take her out and hang her up in the sun again. Once she's been out there a bit, I'll take her in and give her a good scrub down, let her sun dry one more time, give her back her teeth/jaw, seal her, and find her a place amongst all of our random knick knacks, bones and such.

Now I know I went into the weakness thing already, but is this a normal thing? These last two dogs I'm doing have been incredibly weak. They were also damaged, so that could be why...but, I'm starting to worry my "good" luck has gone bad and I will forever have to deal with weak skulls. I haven't done anything differently from other times, so I'm just very paranoid, I suppose.

[Wolfwoman]

JBrown...LOL!!

Snowwolf, I haven't had too much trouble with weak bones, but I also haven't had to deal with older skulls like what you are. However, I DO have an old wolf skull that I'm going to have to get after soon. I'll letcha know what happens with it. Yotey will go out today! She's been in the box in the store since Saturday and it's not stinky, so we shouldn't have ANY PO troubles

[Sea Wolf]

Snowwolf, are you using anything but water in your bucket? I've never had weak skulls ... except ... when I tried adding in one of those enzyme type cleaners as a degreaser. Those little critters just about dissolved a coon skull to mush. That was the only issue with bone degradation that I have ever had. Algae was a whole different matter but that never seemed to weaken the skulls, just discolor them. ...

    Once "Suzie" is all happy and undrowned, I'd like to see.

[Snowwolf]

Wolfwoman, I definitely want to hear how the old wolf skull comes out! Hopefully you won't encounter as much trouble as I have with these last two dogs. I'm pretty sure my problems lay in that they are kind of old, and they were damaged. Ms. Suzie had been buried, then dug up by a stray dog and dragged here, there and everywhere. After animal control collected the live dog, my brother collected the dead one and re-buried it. There doesn't appear to be chew marks on Suzie's skull itself, but on other bits of her skeleton, there were quite a few chewed bits and lots of missing pieces, so I'm sure the stray chomped her head a few times. But, honestly, I've no idea why she's so weak. The other pup, however, has really terrible facial trauma. I think when we unburied him, we accidentally hit him with the shovel (or maybe it was the bouncing around the back of my truck?). He died by choking, so --we-- must've damaged him somewhere along the way. I don't even have all of his pieces, but he stays. Yay for yoties! Thanks alot!

Sea Wolf, I'm just using plain water. That's crazy about the enzyme-thing, though! Yikes!! Thanks for the warning. I'm sure you'll read my above response, but I'm almost certain it must be the trauma these last two went through. I'm really hoping I have better luck with future skulls, as I've never had these problems in the past. And, of course I'll share Suzie with everyone! I'm actually quite proud, how far along she's come. In the middle, between her eye sockets, it's still an earthy-color brown, but that's fine with me. She's no longer black, and that's all that matters! Some people thought it was cool, but I like her earthy tones much better. I can't wait to show her off! I've been battling her since February.

[Wolfwoman]

Ok here's one of the lynx skulls that have been giving me serious issues. You can see where the grease didn't come out, I used Dawn for almost 2 months (I think), then ammonia for another 2 or 3 weeks. I give up   These are as good as they're going to get for me I've already spent too much time on them. I've NEVER had a skull that I couldn't degrease better than this, but they ain't worth more time! LOL  It's a good addition to the things that can go wrong on this post!

Click for bigger pics!