DEAL Free Skull cleaning

Guys here's the deal. I am planning on opening up a small skull cleaning/ mounting gig later this year and am in the process of getting everything set up. I am currently working on making a large capacity skull degreaser. However, I started my Beetle colony earlier in the year so they could build a strong population by the time hunting season rolls around. The population grew faster then I thought it would, and they are now very hungry. I had several dead heads that I have been feeding them, but am down to my last one now, and it is almost finished. I started with around 10k and estimate I have around 15k now. I have been putting two pieces of thick sliced bologna in with them for the past few days, but would prefer to eat it myself instead of feeding it to them.

So what I am proposing is that if anyone has any skulls or bones that you have been hanging on to and are interested in having them cleaned, I can put them in with the beetles and have them clean them for you for free from now until August. By that time I should have my degreaser set up and ready to go and will be ready to start further advancing the business. This will help you get a flesh free skull, and help me keep the beetles feed. It is important to keep a non stop food source to them in order for them to keep reproducing. The best possible thing would be a fresh skull that has been kept in a freezer. The second best thing is old skulls that still have dried meat on them (no hair). I will probably have to re-hydrate those ones. They will eat them dry but it takes a long time. I am not interested in anything rotten, maggoty or rancid.

If anyone is interested shoot me a PM. You would need to drop it off to me either at my house or I could meet somewhere in Ross, Fayette or Pickaway county area. Of course if it is a Deer or Turkey I would need a tag with it as well. BTW, I don't know if anyone has ever seen a European turkey skull mount but they are awesome.

Thanks,

Seth


Here is a pic of some of my "Little Ones" at work today. They are very shy so by the time you open the lid to take a pic most have scurried under the bedding.

That's good advice xbowgirl. Everything I put in with them gets froze for at least two days to kill any existing bugs.

jagermeister said:

Thanks for the offer man... That's a nice gesture.

Could you feed them roadkill to keep them satisfied?

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Yes its possible to feed them road kill, but anything I put in with them will need skinned and gutted, and you can imagine what that would be like after even a day of laying along side a black road in the summer time. The beetles hit a huge growth spurt within the last two days, just had a really nice hatch. They are now eating the bologna in a day or less. It is amazing to me to put it in with them and to go back out later and it just be completely gone, not even a sign of it left. I have some turkey skulls saved up, but at this rate they will go pretty quick as well.

Johnch said:

To bad you arn't closer
As I have a duck and whole goose in the freezer for 2 1/2 years
I was going to get them mounted

Then fell

Now don't have the cash to play with

John

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If your ever down my way just let me know. I have not completed any bird bodies but if you are good at articulation I think it would turn out pretty nice once you got it all back together. I really like the bird skulls cleaned and whitened.

huntn2 said:

Wish you were closer for this guy this past spring.

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I just finished one that was in very similar shape that I found this spring as well.

Bump just in case someone missed this post. Am doing a turtle for a member now, never done a turtle but will be interesting to see how it turns out. If you wanna ship you can do that too, just include return shipping cost and I'll clean, degrease and whiten for you then send it back. Just trying to keep them feed at this point until fall rolls around. I would guess I have close to 50k of them right now.

Brock,

I have no clue but it wouldn't hurt to try. Wouldn't mind finally meeting you either to pick it up. I would guess it would work, but there would be a lot of articulation and glue involved putting it back together. If you ever wanna try it just let me know.

brock ratcliff said:

I told your cousin just the other day to tell you to stop in...

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Guess I didn't get the memo. I have no clue why I haven't yet, just always on the go if you know what I mean. When work slows down this fall I should have more time.