I was hoping someone could give me some advise. I boiled my first skull last night and it was a wolf skull. I left it in to simmer for an hour with my arm & hammer washing soda. When I lifted it out the meat had turned to jelly but there was quite a bit left on the back of the skull near the brain cavity. I put it back in the water for about 20 min and lifted it out and edned up breaking the eye guard bone (don't know if that is the correct name)that wraps around the eye. The teeth were just falling out at that point. When I checked the front of the jaw the two parts of the jaw seemed to want to separate so I did separate them. Is the jaw supposed to separate? I thought that maybe it should because there was a lot of meat and cartlige there so I thought this would mean easier cleaning. Also there is a lot of that bloody stuff now where the teeth once were how should guy clean that? And one last thing, how do areas in the tooth cavity get cleaned if dermestid beetles were to be used? Those areas seem pretty tight. Or does the peroxide clean that stuff up?
I know this is a loaded question but I appreciate any help as I am new to this.
Thanks
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I've boiled some wild hog skulls like that and have had the same thing. Boiling will loosen all the teeth and seperate the lower jaw. As far as the eye socket bone, not sure about that. May have just been a weak bone. Boiling isn't the best way to clean a skull, but it works pretty fast. If you boil too long, the connective elements that hold the skull plates together may come apart and then the skull is in pieces. Just be careful and take your time. It will take some time to get everything off.
Boiling seakens the structure. The fact that you added sal soda to the mix only made things worse. Sal soda will dissolve bone. If you MUST boil, keep the sal soda to a very minimum if at all. The best way after beetles is maceration. If you have a gasoline ass, it's going to take you a few lessons like this to slow down your process.
I just simmered not boiled a bobcat skull. I boiled the jaw and skull and after the first five min cleaned the jaw then put it in the water and took out the skull. Cleaning and boiling each piece alternately took a bit of running back and forth, but I knew when each piece was done. I then cleaned out all of the nooks and crannies. Thing is pretty snazzy now! I am just waiting for it to dry.
I am not sure how to tell if the skull is in need of degreasing. Do I just tell by feeling if it is greasy?
I also bought peroxide, the 3% stuff. How long should I keep the skull in that for?
Thanks again folks for all the help.
Here's a few methods I've used numerous times and how to get thru them all... :)
Boiling:
I don't reccommend this, but it can be done if you're careful with it.
First, get as much meat off as you can with a knife, scapel, etc. Immerse in a pot and SIMMER slowly with about a cup of Arm & Hammer WASHING Soda (basically this is Sal Soda) until all the meat turns to a gel and you can rinse it and scrape it off with clean water. This usually doesn't take more than 30-60 minutes, sometimes less depending on how much meat is on it when you start. Teeth will fall out, so make sure to get them from the bottom of the pot to glue back in later. All the meat, including that in the nasal cavity will come out with this method. After this, degrease with whichever degreaser you prefer, I have used Dawn dishwashing liquid with very good results. Immerse skull with about a 1/2 cup Dawn in warm water and let sit until the water turns brown. Replace water and Dawn until water stays clean. This can take from several days to several weeks depending on the skull. Then whiten with good old 3% peroxide from WalMart (or other everyday store). This can take from 1-3 days, again, depending on the skull. Then let dry and glue the teeth back in.
Maceration:
Probably the easiest way to clean a skull, tho the smelliest and most time consuming. There are two ways to do this. This is my preferred method, either way.
1.) Place in a bucket of warm water with an aquarium heater on about 85 degrees and let it sit for a couple weeks covered. When you get ready to remove the skull, again the teeth will have fallen out (this is a GOOD thing, as the tooth cavities get clean also), so fish them out from the bottom of the bucket. Then rinse with clean water and the entire skull, including the brain and nasal cavities should be clean. If not, place back in the SAME water; this is important unless you want to start the process over again with creating bacteria in the water, and let sit another week or so. Repeat until the skull is completly free of tissue. Then degrease and whiten as above.
2.) Place in a ziplock bag and just let it rot in it's own juices in a warm place until it's done as in method #1. If you like 'natural' looking skulls with all the colors from cream to dark brown, this is the way to go. If not, then you can degrease and whiten as before.
Bugs:
I haven't used dermistid beetles, but I have used maggots and they do the same thing. I leave it outside in a bucket or back and let the flies have at it. It's clean in a week or two and you can then degrease and whiten as above. I DO NOT like this method as the maggot carcasses get stuck in the nasal cavities and are VERY VERY hard to get out. It's time consuming and tedious using either a hard spray of water and then picking them out with a dental tool or something similar. But, if you have the time this method works just as well as macreration with good results.
Any questions on any of these methods, drop me a line :)
If you want to know the proper way it is done,same as Skulls Unlimited. you can call me at (705)476-0483 and I will walk you through it.