I have been preparing skulls for my beetles by cutting away most of the flesh, but someone recently told me that someone they know uses a pressure washer and that it takes off most of the flesh down to the bone without damaging the skull. Does anyone know if this would work and what size nozel to use?
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...you don´t care if the fine bones in the nasal cavity etc are blown away. I live in Sweden and do many as you call them european mounts of moose, roe deer and the like. I use the washer to do final cleaning of bigger skulls after very slow boiling (simmering). I would not try it on a smaller skull. Use a high pressure washer with a fine tip, spray from the back of the skull, and adjust the angel of the water beam until the flesh comes off easily. The pressure washer is also a good tool for fleshing medium sized animals with lots of fat, as fox, mink etc. Howewer I usually flesh on a beam with a knife because the other method is really messy!
Good luck / B S
Contact Richard Noles,Richard Noles,
rnoles@bellsouth.net
I think he is the authority on pressure washing
I was talking about using it on raw skulls before they are boiled and then putting the skull in my beetles' tank. Have you ever tried this?
Beetles work best with semi dried meat... by introducing water to the equation you risk increasnig your humidity to dangerous levels which can cause bacterial infgections that can wipe out your colony in no time. For proper beetle cleaning - simply remove what you can with scalpels etc - allow to dry somewhat then introduce to your colony.