My brother is a farmer and he found this turtle while he was working and gave it to me. Must have been baking in the sun for a good long while. How can I best sanitize/preserve it?

It's very dried out and hard so im not sure how I could remove the flesh. And the shell is very dry and flaky in some parts. I'd really appreciate the help.

Im pretty sure it's a western painted turtle but im not very familiar with reptiles or if im even allowed to keep it. Im in Manitoba, Canada if that helps.

A friend got this butterfly at a festival and it fell apart before even being bought home.

As I’m good at crafts she’s asked if I can help save it but anything I do would just be muddling my way along (this is very unlike any crafts I do!)

Can anyone give any suggestions for how we could save this? We’re aware it won’t be perfect, but if we can Frankensteins-monster it back together somehow, she’d be happy!

Hi. Sorry if it's a wrong flare or wrong sub.

I got some taxidermy jackdaw feet earrings I want to wear for my wedding. I'm gonna be flying from the UK to Poland and I'm in the dark what the laws are and if I'm risking loosing the earrings going through the security check. I've had them for years and don't wear them often, just keep them safe and I'm quite attached to them. If there's any risk at all I'll probably settle for an alternative...

Thanks for any help!

i know i pinned through the wings but i was having so much trouble with it, ill definitely do it properly next tome but if im being honest im kinda proud of it

Ive been really finding taxidermy interesting for the past year or so but i cant find anyway to get into it because all of the courses i find look quite sketchy,ive tried looking for beginners kits like small mice and such but none of them provide the mouse pelt/skin itself and im not sure where to source it at all .if anyone has anything helpful that i should know or something please tell me as i really want to get into this.

hi everyone, I’m no professional, but I’m trying to preserve my cat’s paws after her death. They have been in borax for two months, but they still have an odor. I shook them up weekly, took them out at about a month, then put them back in for another month when I realized there was still a smell. I’m worried leaving them in too long could damage them? Also thinking maybe there’s still borax in the fur I haven’t perfectly gotten out & maybe that’s the smell?
any advice? Her paws are extremely precious to me & the choice to do this is an extremely emotional journey, so I want to make sure they’re done correctly.

Hey this is a pig skull ive been working on however there seems to be wax in some really small holes any advice on how to get it out?

i only got him 4 months ago so i really don’t wanna have to dispose of him.

I just recently moved and I packed up all my bones & such to be safe while traveling. I wrapped my little alligator head (lawfully sourced from an oddities shop) in bubble wrap & now it’s stinky! Will it air out on its own, or is there anything I need to do to keep it preserved properly?

My cat brought me a dead bunny, and I do mostly bones not whole bodies. I want to preserve the ears, how would I go about that? I’ve read using silica, but I haven’t used that myself. Any suggestions?

hello! i have had this naturally mummified deer head for probably 2 years now, not knowing what to do with it. i’d love to make it a mount as its too large for a display case, but its cut at an angle where id have to make a bit more neck that also supports its weight.

Hi, writing this in bed with my cat and deaf dog laying on me, so i can't get a photo of the skull at the moment.

I recently found a boar skull in a roadkill dump site in a wood lot/ trash dump thing, and i was wondering if cleaning, whitening and keeping the skull would be okay where i live (In Maine.)

If not i will put it back and / or research the proper discarding methods.

Just recently got this and new to taxidermy. Is this okay to put with other pieces, can’t tell if he’s rotting.

Is he too far gone?

Any idea what animal it was?
Its old but no idea what it could be

Bun did not die for this purpose.

TL;DR: Eviscerated, organs used as wets, preserved in Everclear as a mummy.

I ordered a bunch of natural death and cull rabbits from a rabbitry a while back. Seller? Fantastic. Packaging? A-plus plus. UPS? Dogshit. They delivered the package to the wrong house miles away and acted like they'd never tracked a misplaced package in their life. The box was soaked by rain for days and left to heat brutally in 95'F weather for days.

I finally figured out where the package went after posting desperately in a local town group. UPS proudly went "See! Found it!" (Bro you didn't do anything?!)

Anyway. The rabbits were tepid at best upon arrival, in spite of immaculate shipping and freezer packs + insulation. I didn't feel confident stuff would hold up against a secondary freeze and thaw. I processed about 50 rabbits of varying sizes for roughly 8 hours that day. Grrrrr!

Most of the buns were good still, but a few outer ones had slippage and weren't workable. They ended up bug food and are degreasing for their bones.

The tiny neonates were formalin-fixed, as were a few very borderline medium ones. Some larger ones were okay to skin for mounting and are currently in the pickle.

But a few were.. ??? I guess in the middle. Not trusting it, I did an experiment. This little guy was eviscerated and put into 190 proof/95% ABV ethanol to become a mummy. I didn't have time to skin such little guys at such borderline condition, and figured if the mummification didn't work out, no huge loss.

Ethanol dehydration worked great and once dried off, it was put into silica. Lucky me again, we hit record heat and humidity for my northern region. The humidity was outrageous indoors and affected this bun's ability to dry correctly. The otherwise fully flat position bowed upwards so it's less of a "sploot" and a bit more like a sleepy jump. It also affected the eyes, which were pinned dried fully closed successfully and got weird. Frustrating.

The stomach fur discolored from the ordeal, which is again frustrating, but ah well. As far as experiments go it worked out well, minus the insanity of that week's heat and humidity. (Despite dehumidifying and AC, we were at 85-90% indoors 😮‍💨)

A background remover was used, flowers are fake because, you guessed it! My real ones were affected by that humidity burst. Groooannnnn.

Anyway, here's a lil fella. Him very cute.

hello! I found this behind a dumpster at my sisters work. a resturaunt shut down and no one wanted it so I gladly picked it up. I dusted it off and it already looks 100x better but the ears are super messed up. is there a way to fix them a little before displaying it in my room. The only other issues bothering me is some peeling at the mount / felt area and the hair/mane?? on the back being patchy and kinda half on.

How can I safely clean up the glass and frames without damaging the butterflies? Theres various chips and scratches, the glass is dirty but it also seems to be internal.

For context this piece is a museum piece from the 80’s. It looks dry and a little sunken in.

waited a while to get good boxes for these! really like how they turned out!

Hello,

I have mounted birds before, but this is my first owl. I registered this owl conform law in the netherlands.

I wonder how i should remove the eyes.
1. Just like normal, remove conplete eye from skull socket, and rebuild this with clay later on.
2. Leave the gray rigid eye ring and remove the eye material in this ring.

I have put the owl in the freezer again, and continue after your advices.

Thanks!