C. porosus skull reconstruction

[Bigboy]

Just thought I'd tack up some photos for folks of the skull I'm working on right now.

Fresh from the deep freezer

Nearly complete disarticulation after 5 weeks of maceration

Several hours of swearing later

Nearly done, just need to sort the rest of the teeth and seal it

 

[Crysta]

wow! this is awesome! So you just elastic all the peices together, or is there glueing etc going on here?

 

[Bigboy]

I use rubber bands and string to hold the pieces in place while the glue sets. This was my first experience with a crocodile skull. Mammals are infinitely easier to put back together because aside from teeth there is really only the mandible to glue back together at the "chin".

As an aside, I did not harvest this animal myself. It came as a head over a year ago from an abattoir after being raised on a farm for leather and was a hold over from some paleo morphology work at the university.

 

[Kruggar]

Hey Bigboy,

I've only used the box with holes technique (carrion beetles/flies) to remove flesh, and I've managed a collection of; several raccoon skulls, a Opossum, skunk, fisher, squirrel, rabbit, chipmunk, rat, some larger birds and even a hummingbird, I'm doing my best to get my hands on a bear skull.

I'm been playing with the idea of water maceration, because i find cleaning up after all the insects is really a chore, getting the pupae casings out of the sinuses is practically impossible.

I've done my research I just wanted your personal opinions,
are you using an incubator for the water maceration, and do you add enzymes or something to speed things up a little? 5 weeks isn't bad at all.
how do you deal with the smell?
and finally,
what do you seal your skulls with?

Thanks a million,
Kruggar

 

[Bigboy]

Yea, getting those casings out of the turbinals is damn near impossible. My set-up is simple. I take a five gallon bucket with a spicket drilled into it just an inch above the bottom (this lets me pour out old water without losing teeth), cut a + in the lid large enough to put an aquarium heater into then seal it back up with duck tape. Set the heater to about 30 C, add water and then put in whatever you're cleaning. Taking off as much flesh as possible makes the process go a lot faster and cuts down on the smell. Once a week change 90% or so of the water until all you have left is bone.

No need for any enzymes, the bacteria you're culturing in there have perfected the enzymes they use. Changing the water really helps cut down on smell and ensures the bacteria don't run out of oxygen. If they do then they die and anaerobic bacteria take their place. Anaerobic bacteria are not very good at breaking down flesh and what would be a 4 week job will span over 2 years.

Bottom line is it is going to stink, you're reducing a fully fleshed head to bone through bacterial action. Degrease it with dawn and warm water over a few weeks and give it a hydrogen peroxide bath after that overnight and it will have no odor.

I seal and glue everything with clear drying water based glue. Elmers works fine as does Craft Smart Kids glue. Plus when you make a mistake you just put it in water and let the glue dissolve before you try again.

 

[Kruggar]

perfect, I think I'm gonna have a go at that.

The hydrogen peroxide really cuts the smell right out, i've noticed.

I've used crazy glue, but like you said its much easier to wet it and have it dissolve.

Fitting skull bones together can be difficult on mammals too, especially younger specimens with unfused bones. Opossums only live for 2-3 years, their skull bones are just sort of sitting together. Also several of my skulls were obtained from the roadside. It becomes extremely difficult to figure out how broken or shattered bones fit together.

Last question, would a skull be appropriate for a enclosure? As in T's or otherwise? I imagine that the glue that is picked would have to be water proof and not contain anything that could be harmful to the critters.

Thanks for the feedback, Bigboy.
Richard

 

[Bigboy]

Last question, would a skull be appropriate for a enclosure? As in T's or otherwise? I imagine that the glue that is picked would have to be water proof and not contain anything that could be harmful to the critters.

Thanks for the feedback, Bigboy.
Richard

I can't see the harm in it as long as it is sealed with something non-toxic and water proof.

No worries

 

[jukahman]

Whoa!!! nice... hope to see the finished product. :clap::clap: