Wondering what is the best way to keep cartlage from becoming brittle.
Ive gone through 2 ribcages already and the cartlage keeps falling apart....I bug um just enough and clean the rest by hand...HELP
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Try that, and if it doesn't work, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you shouldn't dance with them. After drying, the cartil/skeletal structure should remain intact. Maybe your intermediate process is causing the end effect. You should talk to a specialist in the field. Maybe Stephan can help.
I will not pretend to be a specialist in the field but I can offer some advice. Most of the many many skeletons I have prepared in the past are reference skeletons for museum collections and are not display exhibit skeletons. Way back in College at Michigan State 20 years ago, I worked on a series of about 80 full Bobcat skeletons that formed the basis for a Masters' thesis for a good friend from the Fish and Wildlife School, but I can't recall exactly how rigourous the cartilage basket was. These are my suggestions though.
1) use only fully mature specimens. Cartilage seems to ossify with age and older indivuals would retain its original structure better.
2) After you prep the rib cage and position the backbone in the desired position for drying (holding the flanks with wire mesh to prevent bending while drying) just dry overnight in front of a fan. Then use saran wrap to cover the ribs proper and backbone, leaving the lower cartilage area exposed and place in a freezer for a few weeks exposed to "freeze dry" the cartilage within the lower ribcage.
3) Bug as usual, making sure that you don't have too many or too few bugs. I like to clean all my material in a weeks time - if it is a warbler skull or a 15 foot python. You may have to adjust the population of your bugs. When almost clean, transfer the rib section to a separate container and paint weak formalin water on the cartilage areas, especially at the joints with the ribs. A syringe can be used to spot touch the rib junction with the vertebral column. Continue to add bugs to finish the job. Be sure to not do this in your main colony as formalin will sterilize the bugs. Bruce Rittles' preserve it may also work to prevent further consumption. Leave until fully clean, sacrificing bugs if you have to.
4)The cartilage will shrink drastically even doing all this. But, to bring it back to full plumpness it can be soaked in weak ammonia water, and re-dried if it is distorted at this time. If you think it is shrinking too much, after expansion with ammonia, simply cast it in silicon.
Unfortunately trial and error and experience are no substitute for the written word.
Aaron did you get the e-mail on reference material? Sorry I couldn't do more.