I'm looking for different ideas/pictures for a hippo mount. Thanks in advance for the help.

I had mine made into a coffee table. It looks like the hippo is coming up out of the floor and I had an oval piece of glass cut to lay on top of his head.

I am still trying to decide exactly how to mount my hippo. Seems like it's pretty much limited to the floor mount of the hippo coming out of the water or the traditonal wall mount with the big open mouth. The coming out of the water mount can be real impressive, with water lilies, reeds, and acrylic water, but you gotta have the floor space. Most of the traditional wall mounts have the " I'm getting ready to swallow a watermellon look". Of course, the bleached skull mount always looks good, and the tusks look great on a plaque.

RB,
Thats easy, you kiss him then walk around behind him and mount him...old African PH trick...

RB

I'm really happy with my skull mount with the jaws pinned open. You get the idea of what the hippo really looked like and it's not very expensive. Jerry Huffaker posted a shoulder mount he did recently. Perhaps you should talk to him about a plan.

Regards,

Mark

I have never seen a hippo "life" mount that didn't look plastic and tacky.

Hippo foot ice buckets on the sides of the table

Here's a pic of a shoulder mount we did.

here's a photo of my Hippo skull. Something to think about instead of just tusks on a panel.

I'm doing the shoulder mount but it's in the works as we speak. I'll post a photo of the form being worked on..

Here's the Hippo form being worked on. I took a regular wall shoulder form, added on to the back quite a bit, almost 2 feet, it's going to be a floor pedastal mount but I'm not doing the "water" thing. for three reasons, one- takes up way too much room, two- the water gets dusty too easy, and three- i wanted something different and impressive!

When I finally get it done I'll post a photo----------

Now I like that skull-onna-stand! If I ever manage to get one . . . but it would have to be in the bush, not asleep in the river.

I agree with the post that most hippo mounts just don't look right. The best one I ever saw was the one Animal Artistry had at SCI a few years back, with half of the animal coming out of the water, but takes up a ton of floor space. Widowmaker looks like he is on the right track, but still taking up a good bit of floor space. I think the problem is there is just not many good hippo forms out there on the market, and half the mount is the mouth, and there is no really good mouth insert available. There is a lot of detail in the tongue and the mouth interior. Most taxidermist tend to show a lot more tooth than is really showing in a live hippo, several inches in most cases. The tooth should stop where the color changes. And Ray - you used the word "him" three times when discussing the proper method of mounting a hippo.

quote:

Originally posted by RBHunt:
I agree with the post that most hippo mounts just don't look right. The best one I ever saw was the one Animal Artistry had at SCI a few years back, with half of the animal coming out of the water, but takes up a ton of floor space.

I agree I have only seen a couple of shoulder mounts that look right. The two places where the taidermists screw up is in the mouth, and the shoulder area where it meets the wall! Most do not know where the different teeth go in the mouth, and the necks, and shoulders look like the hide was simply stretched ove a barrel! My favorite is the one from Animal Artistry, as well. The skull fitted into the wrought iron base of a coffee table with a glass top is a good way to mount the skull. This way the floor space taken up is useful.