32 replies to this topic

[Cranky Farmer]

Well I pulled the skuull my brother sent me out of the freezer last night to let it start thawing out. This afternoon I got started on trying to get it ready for the beetles! I was a little flustered with trying to figure out how I was going to cut that tounge out of his skull. But as I was cutting of the excess meat I realized I could get the tongue out from the lower jaw. No problem there after i finally got it figured out.The brain took me a little while to figure, too. I ended up using a dental tool I use for cleaning the guns to kinda frappe his brains until they were the consistancy of yogurt. Then I just had to hold his skull jaw up and it "gooped" out. I used a garden hose to rinse out the last of it.Right now its sitting outside in front of my fan drying out. I've not fed the bettles in a few days, so I am hoping that they will be good and hungry by the time I give it to them. I will try and get some pictures of the process.

[joel1316]

Didn't realize that prepping would be so much work... I forgot about the brain, I was just thinking that you just had to skin it and off you go!

[Switch]

Guys, the beetles will eat every speck of meat on a skull. The processing that SBF did is so that the garage doesn't stink when the beetles are working. Also, the beetles will work through it quicker without the extra meat.If you process it and dry it, the beetles can completely clean it in 4-6 hours without much odor. SBF, watch out for flies!

[ShooterJohn]

What kind of picture is that Heath. You could have moved the clothes basket. Or were you going for some artsy fartsy photo effect! Why couldn't you just take that skull down to the coin operated car wash and blast out the gunk?

[Cranky Farmer]

I just dropped the skull in with the beetles. I will check on them again tonight after class and see if I can get a picture or two. My colony isn't as big as Tim's, so there won't be as many beetles in my pictures.

[Cranky Farmer]

You could have moved the clothes basket.

That's the fan that I had set up to dry the skull !!

[ShooterJohn]

That's the fan that I had set up to dry the skull !!

Oh, still no excuse it's blocking the sun and making for poor picture composition!

[Cranky Farmer]

What was I thinking !!!!

[ShooterJohn]

What was I thinking !!!!

That's the problem you weren't thinking!

[Cranky Farmer]

Here are a few pictures of my skull so far. The lighting isn't very good, it is in a back corner of the garage behind my old 67 Chevy.

[Shoot-it]

I believe you have too take the brains out threw the nose thats how the Egyptians did it.............

[Cranky Farmer]

Actually you can get 'em out through the hole where the spinal cord attaches to the base of the skull. It's about the size of a nickel; maybe just a touch bigger.

[Cranky Farmer]

Here is another picture from a few hours ago. They're doing great!!

[ShooterJohn]

That skull is starting to look really good. Once you get your beetles trained I'm sure they work faster for you. We'll have to look for a tiny whip and chair for their trainer.

[Cranky Farmer]

Yes, they are doing good. I am going to try and blast a jack rabbit this weekend and bring its skull home with me for the beetles. By the time I get that rabbit skull cleaned I am hoping they will be finished with the one they have now.I can't wait for the fall and my first adult coyote skull!

[ShooterJohn]

Since the beetles seem like the way to go you might want to start a skull collection. I had one when I was in Boy Scouts that was pretty impressive. I wish we hadn't thrown them away when I moved out on my own. I did mine the old fashioned way of boiling them.

[Heywood]

Yes, they are doing good. I am going to try and blast a jack rabbit this weekend and bring its skull home with me for the beetles. By the time I get that rabbit skull cleaned I am hoping they will be finished with the one they have now.I can't wait for the fall and my first adult coyote skull!

I'll be down that way this weekend, I was thinking of hitting the desert early for jacks. Where you headed, wanna meet up somewhere?

[Cranky Farmer]

There are a bunch of us meeting up out by MoJave Friday night. Were camping out and getting up early Saturday AM for cottontails.

[Cranky Farmer]

Here's a little better picture that I just took. All the dark spots are the beetles having their dinner!

[ShooterJohn]

YUM!

[Cranky Farmer]

They are a lot of fun, you'd enjoy them if you talk Mrs Mister into letting you get them!

[ShooterJohn]

They had Dermestid beetles on CSI New York last night. But they used them incorrectly or showed them at the wrong stage of decomposition. They had a woman that was killed at a museum and when they found her the beetles were almost through with her the first night. I guess they didn't read the instructions. Switch should have been hired as a technical director to the show.

[Cranky Farmer]

If my wife had seen them she would have made me get rid of my beetles!

[ShooterJohn]

If my wife had seen them she would have made me get rid of my beetles!

I bet! I yelled those are beetles like Tim and Heath have. My wife thought I was losing it. But she says that all of the time.

[Cranky Farmer]

My wife just rolls her eyes at me ... she doesnt have to say anything because I know that is what she is saying.

[Cranky Farmer]

I just took this skull out of an alcohol bath. I used the alcohol to kill any beetles that were hiding in the skull that I was unable to shake back into the tank. Right after I took this pictures I submerged it in dawn to help draw the grease out of the skull. The next pictures should follow in about a week. Then begins the actual whitening process.

[capitol]

awsome!

[Cranky Farmer]

I just pulled the bobcat skull out after soaking it for 96 hours. It's been in the sun drying for abou 16 hours now and I think it's looking great! Here is a picture of what it looks like now and one before I started to soak it. Huge difference!

[Rimrock]

Heath, That is really interesting. You have done a great job. Thanks for sharing.Rod