I need help!
Iam a primary school science teacher and over the holidays i went to our local abators where they were slaughtering camels. I obtained Two very large, massive, heads and burried them in the back yard, brains, eyes and all. I want to be able to display the skulls in my science room. Should i let nature do its thing? I know this will take a very long time, or will this destroy my camel heads. Is there an easy way to prepare my skulls. I have read the other letter about the possum head. Should i prepare it the same way? or is there another way to clean my skulls.
Thanks Loretta
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If it was me I would put them in a container, cover them with a sheet of plastic, and let the fly's take care of it! Yes it is a bit oderous, but it will be alot faster and better on the skull. Once the maggots are gone soak the skull in 40 volume peroxide for a couple of days and rise them off with water. Let them dry and you are done! The peroxide can be purchased from your local hair salon. Be sure to wear good rubber gloves when working with it.
I do most of my skulls this way and they look realy nice.
Hope this helps you out.
if you bury the skull you may loose several teeth and posible bones of the skull. Plus it will take too long and it won't come out nearly as clean. Any loose teeth after cleaning can be glued back in with elmers glue.
I do most of my skulls the same way the Grouseman does with very good results. Your buried heads will also be cleaned up very well, with little or no smell. Make sure that your "site" is protected from access by dogs and skunks. They can smell the things even if you can't. Keep it moist and I woould think by August you can dig them up and proceed with the preparation as Grouseman described. DO NOT use bleach to clean the skulls, they can be washed in a mild bleach solution to kill bacteria and whatever smell that might remain. They should NOT be soaked in any kind of bleach for any length of time, just give them five minutes and then rinse with clean water to get all traces of the bleach solution off. Then proceed with the peroxide. There is a lot of information in the archives about bleaching skulls so you should be able to find an answer to any question that you have.
the only good thing about burying the skulls is that the soil will
deoderize the skulls. the skulls will take on a brownish tint to them that you may or may not like. August would be a good guess, and if you keep the grund moist, it would help a lot. The skunks and dogs will be trying to dig it up, and putting a grate or something over the site will help this part. A lot of good coments about it.
Thank you to all those who responded to my letter. I will try some of those methods. I live in South Australia, so i dont think i will have any trouble with the skunks. The heads are in an enclosed area so no animals can get to them. I will dig them up over our Easter break and see what they look like.
Once again thank you for your kind comments and words of advice.
Loretta