I have a colony of dermestid beetles I have raised for a couple months now. I have put some chicken wings, mouse carcasses, possum skull and dog food in there for them to eat so far. It has been a while so I decided to try my first deer skull. It was a deer that my buddy killed here on our farm back in 2003. I skinned the head and took out the tongue, but left in the eyes and brains to allow more time for the larva to hatch and grow. This REALLY helped my colony grow!
The only problem is that there was an awful smell when they were working on it, due to the brains and eyes. I took the skull out yesterday and scrubbed on it last night, but the skull and the antlers smell really bad.
Would a cleaning in dish detergent work on getting the smell and slightly greasy feeling off the skull? Or would something like laquer thinner work better?
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A half hour of simmering (do NOT boil) in a large pot with a cup or two of Boraxo soap will do the trick.
Oh yeah...if the skull has antlers on it, keep the simmering water level below the antlers. "Scrunching" some tinfoil around the skull cap between the antlers will steam the spot that is barely sticking out of the water.
The smell and light film are on the antlers themselves as well. What should I do for them?
I had the same problem with a nice 8 point buck I found floating in a deep drainage ditch in my hunting area (no idea what happened, there were no bullet holes or anything). I cut just the antlers off and brought them home where I did the same simmering deal that I do for my full skull european mounts but only for five minutes. I immediately rinsed them off in lots of cold water, sprayed them down with Clorox Clean to kill any remaining bacteria, rinsed them thoroughly again in warm water, and then drilled holes below the pedicules. They now hang in my living room as display pieces and I plan to use them this fall to see if I can "rattle up" some north Florida swamp deer. Boiling or simmering for too long will bleach-out the antlers so just be careful.
There is always another way to do most anything and here's one. I used to boil skulls but never do it anymore. You can damage the bone permanantly and even set the oils into the skull causing it to have a yellowish stain in the bone. I would allow this skull to completly rot out in a trash bag with a bit of water in it for the next 2 or 3 weeks. Then spray it off with water and drip Dawn detergent into every opening in the bone- really soak it-then place the skull right into water enough to cover it and leave for a week. After that time rinse off and drain. Place the skull into peroxide --choices here but I use the low intensity peroxide carried by all drug/grocery stores. I set the skull into the peroxide to cover the skull itself. Some of the antler bases will get whitened too but you just touch them up with some antler stain after it's all done. Usually 3 days is enough to whiten the skull but extra days will do no harm. After all of this the skull will not stink and it will be very clean, degreased and nice. read more on this subject in the archives under the orange "search" button. Enjoy, Aaron H.
As I stated in my first post, the skull is completely cleaned, and it still has the odor. It has been sitting outside for a couple of days and will attract flies like crazy, but of course there is nothing for them to lay their eggs into because all the meat is gone. And yes, I am sure that ALL the meat is gone!
I'll probably soak the skull in detergent and then soak in peroxide. The only thing I worry about is the antlers. They have the same odor and I'm not going to soak them in the peroxide.
You stated that this was a 3 year old skull, i am assuming it was froozen the whole time. Because the brains were left in it for that lenght of time they infused the bone. The only way to get the smell out is to open the bone, some hot water and detergent may get the job done if not try White gas, another option is "Malogon"