Hi there,

I got the lucky yesterday, a wolf crossed my path. No spring bear for me, but a wolf to ease the pain.

Unfortunately the skin wasn't much to look at, a strange mix of summer and winter coat, and hair falling out if you just look at it.

So I'm concentrating on the skull, and possibly something with the nails. With boiling usually my skulls turn yellowish after a while. Some folks suggested dermestid beetles, other maceration followed by a power hose job at the car wash...

Anybody out there from Alberta who has got a colony of dermestid beetles available for me to feed them some?

I boiled two of the nails, with last digit attached. After removing the stuff inside together with the last digit, there is still some softish stuff in the inside of the nail tip. Does that have to go too? I haven't got a clue what to do with them yet, short of giving the whole neighbourhood a wolf claw necklace, but just in case I'd like to save them for prosperity... Stuffed the claws in the freezer, waiting for your learned advice, the skull is roughly defleshed, soaking in a tub of water, hoping for hungry beetles.

Frans

Frans, your skulls turn yellow after bioling because of traces of fat and fatty acids on the bone.

Boil the skull, add some baking soda to the water if you like.

After de-fleshing properly and getting all the brains out (Use a bit of wire to churn them up then shake and pour out....)

Rub the skull down with baking soda as it dries, then further soak it in bleach or a strong hydrogen peroxide solution.
If you don't want to soak it for fear of eating into the bone, then coat it with hydorgen peroxide and bud down with baking soda to dry ad repete till you get the desired "brightness"

Don't worry too much about weakening the bone, though you shouldn't leave it in the solution for too long either! ... Eventally it will thin the bone and damage it.

You can tell once it's done, it should be a candid white colour.

That my procedure at least, and I do a lot of "European" mounts here,

If I could get beetles I would probably rather use them, and I suspect that once they are done with it a scrub down with baking soda and a light coating of hydorgen peroxide would be needed to give it the finishing touches.

Good luck!

Boiled that skull for a while, in detergent and some bleach, after soaking it in water for days, and picking at it at intervals. It's 95% clean now...pikcing at it some more will make it 98% clean. That leaves the inside of the skull and the nasal arae and such. Some heavy duty peroxide usually did away with that...I'll just have to wait and see if bleach (chlorite based) will do the same.

I once read a recommendation to put the skull into a 50/50 mixture of white wood glue and water..to seal the pores and make it nice and white....anybody ever did that??

Frans

The glue sounds like a good idea, I would keep the mix watery so as not to fill the pores completly, just give it a light coating.

Vinavil or PVA glue is water soluable and should work well.