Hi all,
We have a buffalo shoulder mount out in Utah, so not many bugs there except what appears to be moths. We took our mount down to move, and there are small chunks of fur coming out with what appears to be a bunch of little tiny white moth eggs or something like it where the fur fell out. What do we treat this with to kill the stinkers? I saw where someone mentioned some bug killer thing from Millers, but I'm clueless as to who or where Millers is.
p.s. this board is great....y'all helped me out when I found a deer skull in the woods and told me what to do. After blasting it at the car wash and boiling in tide and baking soda, it bleached out beautifully and is hanging up. We get lots of comments on it.
Thanks, Angie
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Borax has long been known has a moth proofer..you work the borax Into your buffalo mount then get rid of the excess..sure It'll make your mount look white you'll have to dust It all off afterward...but hopefully It will be way of discouraging moths & other insects,perhaps it should of been done a long time ago..but you'd think that having a mount In a home there wouldn't be any insects running & flying around?
But If the mount was neglected yes borax proofing It would of been the route to go?
Hi,
Thanks for the quick answer...I should have mentioned that this mount is less than a year old. When we first bought it, it still had a bit of a chemical smell to it, and had a few tiny worms here and there. It came from a taxidermy shop that obtained these from buffalo meat farms, and did mass production of these heads. They told us at the time that it had just been mounted within the past month.
Is Borax still the route?
thanks. angie
Sound like fly larve or MAGGOTS as they are commonly called. You should not have accepted it with any type of living creature on the mount.
Take it back and demand your money back. They had to know it was infested with maggots. Sound like it was dry preserved. Tanned that would not have happened.
Angie, Just have to put my 2 cents in on this one. First I hope you got the head for a good price, though I'm not sure what a mount with insects is worth. The problem with quick taxidermy done for high profit is they short cut the job knowing they won't have to look at it long. Consider that shops charge $1000 or so for this type of mount which is a reflection of the many hours it takes to do a proper job. All of this does nothing to remedy your situation now. The fact that the mount had worms in it when you got it makes me think it has simply been breeding more critters the whole time you have had it. Hair loss is not all that is going on I would bet. Under the horn covers and in the horn cores (that no doubt were not treated during mounting) there are critters gnawing away and laying eggs. Eventually these will surface through perhaps dozens of holes that they will drill through the horns. This mount sounds like it is wrapped up in vermin and a dusting of borax will not do the job. I would guess that many of the devils are spred out all over the surface of the hide and some have gone under the skin. If this is the case my feeling is the mount is a loss. Any other mounts that you may have are at resk as are tanned skins or feathers or most all other animal parts. I would remove the mount from any others you have and do a close inspection of them as well. Drastic measures are called for if you intend to salvage that bison. Every pest must be killed and this must be done periodically to get the hatchlings that will come from the eggs. If you have access to a walk in freezer you can freeze the whole mount for a week, remove for a week and refreeze another week. After that I would refreeze after 2 weeks as a precaution. If freezing isn't available I would pour-soak the whole thing in denatured alcohol- should take 10 gallons or so but the horns should be drilled and the skull plate treated as well. In short I'm thinking John C. has good advise--go back to the seller and complain. Good luck, Aaron H.
The moths lay eggs that soon become a thin fine worm, the larvae. From there youll soon see what looks like a rice crispy, the pupae. Then its back to moths again. Thick heavy hair like bison hair often has them. Matting and clods of &^&*%$ in this hair attracts them. But so does those horns if not treated correctly. Millers Trophy room is in NC, Steve Miller. I do not know of a proven insecticide we as taxidermists can legally use. Borax is a decent deterrent, but not strong enough to prevent what you have. Syeve has his guys all over the country and he schedules treatment appointments. Many times a few customers from one area can share costs. Look him up.
Hey guys,
Just wanted to thank you for all your great input. Next time we will do research BEFORE buying! And thankfully, no, we did not pay much for it. It is in our garage now until we decide how to treat it, so maybe the freezing temps will help some too. It's already getting down in the 20's at night out here.
Thanks again.
Angie