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John
John
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Bugs

As someone who has skeletonized many animals Insectsfor museums insects are your best bet. We use dermestid beetles but that requires mostly clean bones already anddermestid beetles, they are kinda finicky critters. Other insects like ants and maggots work just as well for your purposes.

Bug boxes which prevent larger scavengers are often used outside letting the local scavenger insects do the work. Ours are plastic but you can make something out of wicker, ceramic, or wood just as easily. You just have to watchWhat you are making is a container that lets insects in but keeps out forlarger scavengers like rodents which will gnaw bones.

enter image description here

Sometimes we will boil a carcass first to take must of the soft tissue off, but if you are not doing it as an industrial process, just letting ants eat it all is fine. youYou do have to watch out for termites which will burrow through the bone. Cutting off most of the soft tissue first speeds up the process, but again it is not vital.

Here is a great dirty jobs video of the process.

degreasing the bones for storage is a good idea (soak in soap or low concentration peroxide) but not vital, time will do nearly as good a job as long as you clean them once and a while to prevent mold.

As someone who has skeletonized many animals Insects are your best bet. We use dermestid beetles but that requires mostly clean bones already and they are kinda finicky critters. Other insects like ants and maggots work just as well for your purposes.

Bug boxes which prevent larger scavengers are often used outside letting the local scavenger insects do the work. Ours are plastic but you can make something out of wicker, ceramic, or wood just as easily. You just have to watch out for rodents.

enter image description here

Sometimes we will boil a carcass first to take must of the soft tissue off, but if you are not doing it as an industrial process, just letting ants eat it all is fine. you do have to watch out for termites which will burrow through the bone. Cutting off most of the soft tissue first speeds up the process, but again it is not vital.

Here is a great dirty jobs video of the process.

degreasing the bones for storage is a good idea (soak in soap or low concentration peroxide) but not vital, time will do nearly as good a job as long as you clean them once and a while to prevent mold.

Bugs

As someone who has skeletonized many animals for museums insects are your best bet. We use dermestid beetles, they are kinda finicky critters. Other insects like ants and maggots work just as well for your purposes.

Bug boxes which prevent larger scavengers are often used outside letting the local scavenger insects do the work. Ours are plastic but you can make something out of wicker, ceramic, or wood just as easily. What you are making is a container that lets insects in but keeps out larger scavengers like rodents which will gnaw bones.

enter image description here

Sometimes we will boil a carcass first to take must of the soft tissue off, but if you are not doing it as an industrial process, just letting ants eat it all is fine. You do have to watch out for termites which will burrow through the bone. Cutting off most of the soft tissue first speeds up the process, but again it is not vital.

Here is a great dirty jobs video of the process.

degreasing the bones for storage is a good idea (soak in soap or low concentration peroxide) but not vital, time will do nearly as good a job as long as you clean them once and a while to prevent mold.

Source Link
John
John
  • 82.7k
  • 15
  • 125
  • 281

As someone who has skeletonized many animals Insects are your best bet. We use dermestid beetles but that requires mostly clean bones already and they are kinda finicky critters. Other insects like ants and maggots work just as well for your purposes.

Bug boxes which prevent larger scavengers are often used outside letting the local scavenger insects do the work. Ours are plastic but you can make something out of wicker, ceramic, or wood just as easily. You just have to watch out for rodents.

enter image description here

Sometimes we will boil a carcass first to take must of the soft tissue off, but if you are not doing it as an industrial process, just letting ants eat it all is fine. you do have to watch out for termites which will burrow through the bone. Cutting off most of the soft tissue first speeds up the process, but again it is not vital.

Here is a great dirty jobs video of the process.

degreasing the bones for storage is a good idea (soak in soap or low concentration peroxide) but not vital, time will do nearly as good a job as long as you clean them once and a while to prevent mold.