Dose someone have a layout of a beetle confinement they would share. I want to start a colony for skull cleaning I need and I need to fit at least four cow skulls at a time.
Return to Gamehead Taxidermy Category Menu
Unless you are going to spend well over a thousand dollars on stupid little bugs.... it's going to tkae you probably over a year to build upa colony hot enough to clean 4 cow skulls at once! It will likley take you 4 months or so minimum to get it hot enough to effectively clean one...
Start small... let it grow. Having a huge enclosure is just going to cause more problems than solutions while you learn about dermestid use. If you need to do that many at once - you may want to coinsider 'maceration'. It's very safe for the bone, cleans it more thoroughly than any beetle instar can, and the smell although admitedly nasty, isn't that much different from a beetle colony. AND - you can start one today - all you need is a big flat container like cooler and some water...
Beyond that theres a lot of different designs you can use. I've seen some people describe stuff that REALLY isn't good at all... One of the rost things ia big old aquarium... the old ones with silicone up the corners? Thats like a rope ladder for lil creepy crawlies, they can get right up it and out the edge of those cheap screens that lay on top. If you do opt for an aquarium, coat the silicone up the corners as well as a bead around the top with KY jelly or vaseline so they cant walk out. Get a quality HERPTILE lid - one wihta tight frame and a screen top that slides in from the front - not rests on top. Then cloat the inside track with KY or Vaseline too. Keep the whole thing under 80 degrees or so and most dermestids use for skull prep can't fly. You can lay a board or plastic over the top to serve as a vent to control temperature and humidity.
Once you get teh hang of that theres an infinate number of designs you can adapt, wither of your own creation or modifications made to existing designs.
Hope that helps =)
...Could you list the complete procedure of maceration?
(The search Is onfusing)
I think Wolfwoman did as well... I don't add the simmer stage that she does... but other than that we do it pretty much the same. Superpig also has a website that I believe details the process. Somewhere in the archives tho I did detail the process... just enter the search word maceration and start reading.. one of those entries will be the one yer looking for =)
Do I remove eyes, tongue and as much meat as possible or can I just put the whole thing in water for a couple weeks? Dose it really mater if the water is warm or not?
I build colonies out of plexiglass, with several museums using my design, if you want more info, email me at cbr@ndak.net and I can send a pic and work out some prices for you.