A quick question about rabbit ears - can they be formed to dry without ear liners or bondo? I don't want to try to skin out the ears so I'm looking for the easiest way to achieve a dried straight ear. The second question - has anyone ever tried to leave part of the cartilage of a predator (coyote) in tack to dry on a mount? Does it shrink down to small and look un-natural? Thanks for any help.
Brian
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Brian,
I'm sorry to tell you that if you want a rabbit with decent looking ears you'll have to turn them. It's not that hard, just have patience and go slow. The nose is the same - if it was possible to leave the cartilage attached don't you think that's what most taxidermists would do? It takes time and patience and practice to learn how to do a decent mount. If you don't want to take the time, you'll be sorely disappointed with the outcome.
Check thearchivesfor more info. as you'll find plenty there.
good luck, Juli
Brian,
I am not saying this is a correct way of doing the ears but i get a perfectly straight ears every time with my method. Ears on a domestic rabbit can be turned with having no trouble at all since the skin is much tougher, but on the wild critters they are not. What I do is draw up some liquid "Preserve it" into a sryringe amd carefully insert between the ear skin and shoot it in. Once that is done I insert a wire into each ear to hold in the desired position. Then stuff some cotton balls into ear ear canal to keep them open in the natural position, then take some tan masking tape and tape the ear in it's natural shape and let dry, after about a week and a half when they are dry I take the tape, cotton and wire out and there you have it, a straight ear. I have 2 domestic rabbits on my web site which I have used this method if you would like to see the turn out. They are on the photo's page. Hope this helps you. http://wdecors.4mg.com/
I inject and card all my rabbit ears. A small piece of clay for the ear butt and once they're dry, I don't see how splitting them (which usually means SPLITTING THEM on cottontails) is of any advantage.