Does Liquid Gold Deter Beetles?

Was trying out liquid gold on an old set of pronghorn antlers today and found a beetle at the base of one the antlers. It was dead and I saw no other holes on the other side of the horn or the other horn; just the one it was in and one small one next to it.

I got this set of antlers off eBay and they seem older and likely they were sitting up on someone’s outdoor wall not well cleaned or treated (I had to clean up the base and cap from leftover fur and skin/brain/nasal cavity crap ) and the antlers were never removed off the actual skull prong and cleaned, so the beetle had eaten some of that.

I double checked the two other shoulder mounts and a raccoon pelt in the room and saw no major signs of beetles, one mount had two small spots the size of a dime where it looks like the fur slipped possibly (not originally my mount), I rubbed down the mount and checked for any loose fur or casings and didn’t find any.

I looked as best as I could in the small hole the beetle had been in and didn’t see anything else, though it’s hard to tell.

initially when I got it I had soaked the cap and subsequently the base of the antlers with a strong bleach water mixture for a number of hours as I worked to get the crap off it.

It’s possible the beetle had been there prior and that had killed it and I didn’t find it till I got to soaking the antlers in liquid gold,

OR

The beetle had somehow gotten into the antler after bleaching (unlikely as it was stored in a bug free area up away from any carpet or materials). And was killed after being doused in liquid gold.

Either way, not being able to see fully down the hole it had been in, I flushed the hole with liquid gold. I’m wondering if this is enough to kill and deter anything from munching on the stuff in between the skull prong and the exterior antler/horn. Or maybe I should bag it and bug bomb it?

Any information/experience/stories would be greatly appreciated.

 

Dang, well that’s crappy. Would boiling them this late in the game mess up up? They’re in really good condition, but I’m afraid of drying out the horn/hair also do the beetles only eat that middle stuff or do they mess up the horn? I could possibly just coat the bottom in a silicone or something to deter them.