Coyote teeth references & other canine skull photos (dog, coyote, fox)

Coyote and fox skulls were purchased raw from Bassd83, I definitely recommend him if you're looking to clean raw heads










Jay, my German shepherd dog - eastern coyote - western coyote - eastern red fox



Western coyote compared to GSD



Two red foxes



Grey foxes

 

I've just started cleaning skulls early year, so it's been a lot of trial and error while I learn what works best and what doesn't work at all. Really glad raw heads are so cheap lol, I've ruined quite a few skulls but I also bought a bunch specifically to experiment with.

I started off with hot water maceration, mostly did a lot of experimenting with using a croc pot but I'll be buying an aquarium heater soon for more control over temperature. I severely underestimated how quickly water that is too hot will damage bones, so that's why a lot of them are quite fragile, although a couple did have interesting natural deformities. Now that it's summer (I began in January-Febuary when I couldn't take advantage of summer heat) I have some smaller heads macerating in a bucket with water, although I'm still going to buy a water heater when I have the time since more heat is needed to efficiently macerate. I'm also planning on starting a colony of beetles, but I'm using maggots to clean some at the moment since they're free workers.

I started off degreasing with a heated dish soap solution, but again didn't have proper control over temp and ruined some skulls. I've found my preferred method of degreasing is just soaking them in a covered bucket of ammonia set outside to heat it up, which has worked amazingly well. So pretty much now I'm just trying to perfect the heated water maceration, which should be a lot easier when I actually know what temp the water is.

(I've done so much experimenting because I'm trying to find the most efficient way of cleaning, since I'd like to try cleaning/selling skulls for income)