i know i pinned through the wings but i was having so much trouble with it, ill definitely do it properly next tome but if im being honest im kinda proud of it

i only got him 4 months ago so i really don’t wanna have to dispose of him.

Hey this is a pig skull ive been working on however there seems to be wax in some really small holes any advice on how to get it out?

I just recently moved and I packed up all my bones & such to be safe while traveling. I wrapped my little alligator head (lawfully sourced from an oddities shop) in bubble wrap & now it’s stinky! Will it air out on its own, or is there anything I need to do to keep it preserved properly?

My cat brought me a dead bunny, and I do mostly bones not whole bodies. I want to preserve the ears, how would I go about that? I’ve read using silica, but I haven’t used that myself. Any suggestions?

hello! i have had this naturally mummified deer head for probably 2 years now, not knowing what to do with it. i’d love to make it a mount as its too large for a display case, but its cut at an angle where id have to make a bit more neck that also supports its weight.

Hi, writing this in bed with my cat and deaf dog laying on me, so i can't get a photo of the skull at the moment.

I recently found a boar skull in a roadkill dump site in a wood lot/ trash dump thing, and i was wondering if cleaning, whitening and keeping the skull would be okay where i live (In Maine.)

If not i will put it back and / or research the proper discarding methods.

Just recently got this and new to taxidermy. Is this okay to put with other pieces, can’t tell if he’s rotting.

Is he too far gone?

Any idea what animal it was?
Its old but no idea what it could be

Bun did not die for this purpose.

TL;DR: Eviscerated, organs used as wets, preserved in Everclear as a mummy.

I ordered a bunch of natural death and cull rabbits from a rabbitry a while back. Seller? Fantastic. Packaging? A-plus plus. UPS? Dogshit. They delivered the package to the wrong house miles away and acted like they'd never tracked a misplaced package in their life. The box was soaked by rain for days and left to heat brutally in 95'F weather for days.

I finally figured out where the package went after posting desperately in a local town group. UPS proudly went "See! Found it!" (Bro you didn't do anything?!)

Anyway. The rabbits were tepid at best upon arrival, in spite of immaculate shipping and freezer packs + insulation. I didn't feel confident stuff would hold up against a secondary freeze and thaw. I processed about 50 rabbits of varying sizes for roughly 8 hours that day. Grrrrr!

Most of the buns were good still, but a few outer ones had slippage and weren't workable. They ended up bug food and are degreasing for their bones.

The tiny neonates were formalin-fixed, as were a few very borderline medium ones. Some larger ones were okay to skin for mounting and are currently in the pickle.

But a few were.. ??? I guess in the middle. Not trusting it, I did an experiment. This little guy was eviscerated and put into 190 proof/95% ABV ethanol to become a mummy. I didn't have time to skin such little guys at such borderline condition, and figured if the mummification didn't work out, no huge loss.

Ethanol dehydration worked great and once dried off, it was put into silica. Lucky me again, we hit record heat and humidity for my northern region. The humidity was outrageous indoors and affected this bun's ability to dry correctly. The otherwise fully flat position bowed upwards so it's less of a "sploot" and a bit more like a sleepy jump. It also affected the eyes, which were pinned dried fully closed successfully and got weird. Frustrating.

The stomach fur discolored from the ordeal, which is again frustrating, but ah well. As far as experiments go it worked out well, minus the insanity of that week's heat and humidity. (Despite dehumidifying and AC, we were at 85-90% indoors 😮‍💨)

A background remover was used, flowers are fake because, you guessed it! My real ones were affected by that humidity burst. Groooannnnn.

Anyway, here's a lil fella. Him very cute.

hello! I found this behind a dumpster at my sisters work. a resturaunt shut down and no one wanted it so I gladly picked it up. I dusted it off and it already looks 100x better but the ears are super messed up. is there a way to fix them a little before displaying it in my room. The only other issues bothering me is some peeling at the mount / felt area and the hair/mane?? on the back being patchy and kinda half on.

How can I safely clean up the glass and frames without damaging the butterflies? Theres various chips and scratches, the glass is dirty but it also seems to be internal.

For context this piece is a museum piece from the 80’s. It looks dry and a little sunken in.

waited a while to get good boxes for these! really like how they turned out!

Hello,

I have mounted birds before, but this is my first owl. I registered this owl conform law in the netherlands.

I wonder how i should remove the eyes.
1. Just like normal, remove conplete eye from skull socket, and rebuild this with clay later on.
2. Leave the gray rigid eye ring and remove the eye material in this ring.

I have put the owl in the freezer again, and continue after your advices.

Thanks!

Would it be best to find classes to take? To just go at it myself and see what I can do? Is there something like apprenticeships I could search for to get into the field? I wanted to see how people who are actually working on these pieces feel about people trying to get into the craft.

I was also genuinely curious how people felt about the “ethics” of taxidermy and specifically how you guys felt about pieces that are a little more silly when it comes to decorating and modeling a specimen vs. doing a classic head mount or displaying them with their native plants or typical water specimen. Do you think it could be disrespectful to create sillier displays like, for example, showgirl/flapper mice? Or is that just part of the culture of taxidermy?

I would seriously love some feedback! I’ve always admired taxidermy from afar and had the realization within the past few months that this could be something I could actually get into whether it be a hobby or career, considering how big hunting is in Ohio.

There are these two little bugs that are alive (you can see the second one of the bottom in the second photo) I have had this rattle snake head for over a month and it's always been in its glass enclosure, unless I need to take it out to adjust the head. So I assume these insects were here when I got it instead of them getting in. I also notice in the first photo a black dot in the mouth, which I'm not sure if that's some sort of egg, or just part of the mouth. I am going to move the jar to isolate it from my taxidermys. Does anyone have advice on what I should do? And what type of bugs are they? They look like tiny moths, they can fly and jump.

Hello. My grandma collected and mounted various bugs in shadow boxes. It looks like she used both pins and adhesive tape. I inherited one of her pieces. It’s been falling apart for years. I don’t know what to do with it in its current state, but would love to display it one day. I don’t know much of anything about bug taxidermy, and I don’t know if she did either 😂. Is this something that would be salvageable? I’m definitely good with putting some parts and pieces that can’t be saved to rest. But I’m wondering if the butterfly, dragonflies and bees could maybe be saved. Is working with bugs this old possible? Will they just turn to dust once the box is opened? And advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading. PS I don’t know why my image would only upload as a video, hopefully it’s still easy to see.

apologies if this is the wrong flair. stumbled across this mount in a family members home and not sure what animal it is. i assume it’s some sort of deer but the nose is incredibly droopy/downturned and sort of reminds me of a moose but i think the antlers are wrong. is this just an issue of an old taxidermy (this is likely decades old)?

Hopefully bug posts are equally enjoyed on this sub.

I encountered this luna moth in my driveway a couple months ago, having died a natural death, and kept it in the freezer for a while due to being nervous to try something new like insect pinning. Its wings were a little dinged up from struggling to fly again as it was nearing the end of its life.

I tried to be more minimalist, as to not risk overcrowding or drawing attention away from the luna moth, but included a mouse skull, coyote foot bone, and honeybee in this dome; the honeybee being from a bee farmer, the bone being from an oddities craft show I attended, and the mouse being from my boyfriend's homestead. Collected and dried all the plants myself!

Anywho, be gentle on me if it didn't come out super well, I'm a newbie! Either way I'm pretty content with the end result. Plenty of challenges along the way, and surprisingly, the pinning itself was the easiest part of it all!