I am just about off to Zambia and am pretty much assured of getting a big croc (14-16 foot range). I can't afford the astronomical cost of getting a full mount, but would like to tan and hang the hide. Any suggestions on who to use that would be reasonable and what the cost might be?

I shot a nice 14 foot crock in Tanzania 2 years ago. I had planned on taking the skin to be tanned and bleaching the skull.

I had the crock shipped to Highveld Taxidermists in SA and unfortunatly the skin had become putrified. I have been told that this in a comon problem as the skin is actually very delicate and breaks down very quickly once the beast is dead. This is due to the large amount of bacteria in the animal.

Please learn from my mistake and make sure that the camp skinner fleshes the crock very well and salts the piss out of it with new fine salt. If a crock skin is not completly salted or frozen solid after skinning it will be ruined and there will be nothing that any taxidermist can do.

I can recomend Highveld Taxidermy very highly as they have done over 25 animals for me. They are not the cheapest and are not the most expensive but the taxidermy is first rate.

GOOD LUCK