Hello,
I would like to use maceration after cleaning the meat off the skulls with beetles.I'd like to do this to help get rid of alot of the grease left in the skulls.Is there enough material left on a skull after beetles are finished to start a maceration going on a basically cleaned skull?Thanks for any replies.RJD
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Once the skull is clean of all the meat you won't need to soak it in water, you will have to degrease it. We use either dawn dishwashing soap, or Rittel's bloodout and degreaser. Both work good, even though Rittel's does a faster job.
I was under the impression that the bacteria in maceration will eat alot of the grease left in the skull.I want to degrease what I can with the maceration process.Thanks.
If you got the time...go for it. Let us know. I clean with beetles and degreasing is not fast as it is but your way would take the most time...I would think. Especially with nice LARGE greasy skulls.
What kind of skulls are you doing? For small skulls, degreasing may not even be necessary, although I tend to do it anyway. Maceration may even damage small skulls that your beetles worked so hard to keep perfect. As for larger skulls, it would not hurt to macerate afterward, although with a proper beetle cleaning it is probably unnecessary. I soak my skulls in water for a bit after coming out of the beetles, but this is only to remove any fras and hidden bugs that may interfere with the subsequent steps. If you are cleaning trophy skulls, I'd stay clear of maceration, as the water and bacteria may affect its scoring by shrinking. Maceration will not do well at degreasing your skulls. For quality skulls and the best whitening possible, you will need a proper solvent degreasing as Evelyn suggested. And degreasing should be thorough as Randy noted. My skulls are degreased for no less than two weeks using professional solvents. You may also use acetone for the same results, but this will take longer. I wouldn't use soap to degrease bone as many are sodium-based and may displace calcium, thus weakening and damaging the skull. Bottom line, you already have the superior method for flesh removal with your beetles, provided it is a healthy colony. Why use sub-par methods to degrease?