Dermestid Project W/ Newborn Rabbit

In my experience the dryer the faster they eat , so I believe they would eat organs and such but your probably quadrupling the amount of time it would take then if you cleaned as much as possible off the skeleton. I know of some guys that put the skulls in the oven at a low temp for a short period of time after he cleans as much meat as possible off of skull , to dry it out a little. It’s been my experience that they also eat in the dark better then a lighted room , being sun or lamp light . I’ve always covered my skulls and such with layers of paper towels just layed on top not wrapped up . Hope I shed a little light on it for ya.

 

I would remove as much tissue as possible including the organs. There is a fine line between a cartilaginous skeleton that can be reassembled without too much trouble and a pile of bones and if the bugs are eating the organs and the muscles they might not clean them in the order that you want. I cleaned a juvenile rabbit skull once with dermestids and the bugs ate part of the cranium because it is very thin bone. So if cleaning young or small animals use small dermestids, eviscerate and dry the specimen and then keep a close eye on it.

 

Prep your specimen the proper way. Especially for something as fragile as a newborn rabbit. Skin it and remove the internal organs without damaging the rib cage. Remove the front legs including the shoulder blades as one unit. trim large areas of solid flesh from legs, along the spine and anyplace else. Let the specimen dry for a day or so in front of a fan. No, they do not prefer decayed flesh. With something that fragile, the bones are not even fully developed and solid yet, put your specimen in it's own container and hand pick your smallest larva and put them in with it. Watch carefully and remove it before the larva start to eat the bones themselves. Anything given to the bugs should be dried flesh and bone. No guts, no skin and most of the meat removed. No brain if it can be removed. No reason for having a stinking mass of rot in your beetle enclosure.

 

There is no stink that compares to a rotting brain! They are a magnet for flies.

 

If you don't have the stomach, then you are trying the wrong hobby. You need to clean and prep your specimen.

 

Nope. Learn some anatomy and you will learn how to properly disassemble a carcass. You can't deal with gutting and skinning a carcass to prepare it properly to present to beetles. You want, quote, "Alternatives to evisceration". There aren't any. If you are going to do something, then do it right. You read somewhere that it needed to be in the process of decay. They are wrong. No one wants rotted anything in their bug tank. You said you had a newborn rabbit. Something that is very fragile. Let it rot and you will have nothing. You said you can't dismember it without damaging it. Learn some anatomy and how an animal is put together. A newborn bunny is no different than an adult. Get a sharp knife or a scalpel and small scissors. You can't do this with a spoon.

Personally, I could care less about your life choices. I don't care about your use of time, nor did I ask about it. You asked about how to properly bug a neonate specimen. Yes, you asked for specific advice. It was given to you by more than one person and your reply was you wanted other options. That doing the job the right way was something you didn't want to do. To skeletonize it, there aren't any. Inject it with alcohol and put it in a jar to look at it. That's about it.

 

Sea Wolf: You just spent 5 minutes of your life you will never get back explaining something to someone who just doesn't get it. I really appreciate your advice on this forum. I don't know of anyone more experienced who willingly shares their time and talent trying to help others. Thank you for being here!

 

OK Kid...I don't hide behind an anonymous screen. You can see who i am and where I reside. I've been in taxidermy for 50 years. You go to google, and you'll be getting advice from people who have never attempted what you are attempting. Toss that rabbit in the garbage and look for other forms of entertainment, as Sea Wolf has suggested!

 

See Joey? Helping a privileged liberal will get you nowhere. "normal for to cut things up. Or isn't backwoods enough to feel the need to have dissected small animals and kill things for sport growing up." Statement made by someone who doesn't get out much and sits on Facebook all day obsessing about who unfriended them. Absolutely not in touch with reality. Gee, I never thought of all the time I spent in Harvard Museum of Natural History and Comparative Zoology "backwoods" or "abnormal". Won't even waste the time with the "killing things for sport" fantasy. Should send her over to talk to George.

 

ROLMAO!!!!!!

 

Oh boohoo BooBoo. You asked for advice and you got reliable advice from three experts that all same the same thing. If you don't like the advice here, go with the Google advice and I wish you luck with that.

 

She also doesn't know snap about anatomy. Removing the shoulder blades (as Sea Wolf suggested) in no way damages the skeleton. Wanna know why booboo...because they are attached only by muscle...there is no bone to bone connection.