Just starting and I want to skin an iguana

[abarth]

I am here quite by accident helping one of the forum members get an iguana. This forum is so active I couldn't help but look around and get more interested.

I would first like to remove the skin and dry it or tan it to see if it could be useful. I might also like to do a skeleton.

Where should I start, what books would be helpful?

Also, what are some good ways to ship a carcase and keep it frozen.

Thanks for your guidance
Mike

[Evelyn Billington (Superpig)]

An iguana is not a project for a beginnrer. If you want to skin a reptile and tan the hide, get a rattlesnake to practise on. A good book to get to learn about reptile taxidermy is the Breakthrough mannual on Reptile Taxidermy. Everything in there is covered from tanning, skinning, fleshing, mounting, and skeletal work.

Again, a lizard skeleton (or snake for that matter) is not a good project to get your feet wet when it comes to skeletal work. I would suggest a squirrel or rabbit to start with on that.

If you ship an animal for mounting purposes, always ship on either a Monday or Tuesday (the latest) and ship 2nd day air or overnight express using either UPS, FedEx, or DHL. Make sure the box is well insulated and the animal is frozen thouroughly before shipping it out.

[abarth]

Thank you Evelyn

My interest in doing something with iguanas is the constant free supply in my back yard. I hate just throwing all these carcases in the garbage and wanted to try and make some use of them. I have plenty to practice with.

Shipping animals is pretty much what I thought, 2 days max. I have found insulated boxes and gel packs that should work.

Mike

[wetnwild]

Everything Evelyn said and a bit more. You cannot skin out the head on iguanas, and unless you are very experienced, you will also not be able to skin out the toes. So if you want and try to tan the skin and leave the rest for articulation, cut the skin around the base of the head and also the ankles of the lizard and leave te feet and head attached to the carcass for the beetles
Tom

[abarth]

Thanks Tom

I think this knows how little I know about the subject. I'm not sure I need the head or feet (could be interesting though) for skins for belts or purses.

I did just order the book Evelyn suggested.

Mike

[Ron Scherbarth (elkman)]

I did a 5' one once, it was for competion, got a blue ribbon, it can be done, but not one to start on, I did carcass casting, had tohiken make me a special set of eyes, head can be skined, i did it , you could too, if you have lots of them to practice on , then why not go ahead and give it a go, toes are the hardest part, they must be skined out competly , dont just overlook them, severe shrinkage and bad smell would be the result, also it would be attacked by insects someday, and someday would come back to haunt you, get lots and lots of good photos of live animals to study, anatomy is very important in any mount, there is no hair to hide any mistake, but jjust have fun with it, there are lots of tan methods in the archives for reptiles, just  have fun with it , makes a great hobby

[Jknuth]

Ive done several Iguana mounts they have worked very well for me with some work.
the tricky spots for me where the head tail and toes as mentioned.
the tail and toes go slow and be carefull thats really your only option. on one iguana i did a cast tail in resin for the last 5 inches tricky but it worked.
for the head you have a few options
but before you do anything to it make an alginate or silicone mold of the head. iguanas have a great deal of personality in thier faces. the iguanas i did where for pet owners and they new thier lizard!

so your options

1. skin the head. go slow and easy use a sharp xacto knife and move slow!!. you can then put the skin over either a carcass cast of the head or make a second cast of the head before skinning and grind it down.

2. use an artificial head. this is the option i liked best. it looks a thousand times better in my view, but I am a sculptor by trade so i enjoy this bit.
the way i use an artificial head is, I use a casting off of the iguana. and grind down everything below the upper lip just below the lip line. so actually only the upper part of the head is a cast, it works well the exspression is there and I am able to set the eyes ahead of time. the skin is still used for the lower jaw and lip.
this is all very hard to explain sorry. I have included a picture

the bright purple is the visible cast head. the dull purple is where i have ground down the cast to accept the skin. at this point i even use apoxie to sculpt in the areas around the dewlap.
mother nature has provided you with a nice seperating line where the cast and skin will meet.
I hope this made sense at some point I would like to do another iguana and document the whole process step by step.
If anyone knows where to get ahold of an iguana feel free to send me a message, like i said i only did pet owners animals. but thier population has increased in the last few years in florida.