Leopard came home to daddy yesterday. New addition to the tryphy room. It is a beauty. His skull came with it. The teeth are drying out and chipping a little. It is just over a year in the dry. I worry that the teeth will dry up and crack to pieces over time. Any suggestions? The skull will be a lot less impressive without teeth. Thanks.

D

I have several skulls from cats, bears, hyena etc. and have not lost any teeth do to deterioration.

Mark

Sounds to me like there might still be some dental nerve under the teeth that's rotting. It could also be meat stuck between the teeth that's been left there.

You might want to contact a taxidermist that's familiar with skull mounts.

This will probably get worse before it gets better. The longer it goes on, the more damage and harder to fix.

Overboiling of the skull and the dryness that produces, coupled with a dry environment, are what cause cracking.

Keep the skulls in a humid place, which means, for me, using a humidifier in my trophy room in winter. I have still had some cracking nonetheless.

If the cracking gets too bad, it can be filled with a white epoxy. I have done that, and it has stabilized and ended it.

You might give them a little coating of thinned Elmer's glue.

Maybe I need to clarify. It has been treated by Animal Artistry. They are in Reno and it is plenty dry. The tips of the canines are nicked out a bit. Not bad but I sure don't want it to get any worse.

Animal Artistry did my Leopard and had the skull done by someone in Alaska. It is 6 years old and still looks like the day I got it. You might PM Driver who is an Alaskan guide and ask him about the people in Alaska who do skulls. IMHO Animal Artistry is terrific and very experienced with cats. I would be very surprised if you had a problem with anything they do.

Your problem isn't with Animal artistry, it happened when the skull was boiled out in Africa, as someone else stated, Overboiling

I have a leopard skull that's a year old and look like the day I got it back from the taxidermist. No sign of deteriation at all.