Museum Quality Skull Cleaning

I thought I would share some of my taxidermy work. For years I used Dermestid beetles to clean the meat and connective tissues from the skull but that is just a minor part of the process. Degreasing the skull is the most important part if you are wanting skulls that never turn yellow and greasy.

I never used boiling or Bleach on any skulls because that causes the skull to be decalcified and flaky. the degreasing process is a very time consuming process that is done in a regulated temperature. What I mean about time consuming is for example approx 6-12 weeks for a deer skull and up to 6 months for greasier skulls such as bear and hogs.

Bear skull

Once a skull is fully degreased I would let it dry and make sure no other grease was in the skull then I proceeded with the whitening process that consisted of peroxide. once the skull what whitened I would then seal the skull to prevent dust entering the pours of the bone.

Notice the nasal bones intact

One I cleaned for the country music singer Cristy Lee Cook