a dorkish lover of all things dead

A place to store the images and stories of my beloved dead animal friends, be they pelts or bones. May occasionally feature pictures of straight-up dead animals or things that are not mine, as well as me trying to be helpful to those new to the...

[littlestwarrior]

hi! i was wondering if theres any risk of a raccoon skull having rabies? I found a near complete one the other day. it mustve died overwinter because it was almost completely clean, but im still nervous about it having the virus (even tho its rare). i love your blog btw!!

Hello!

I think the only risk of a skull having rabies is if it were still attached to the whole animal. The rabies virus is mostly in the brain (and fluids) but if I’m not mistaken, dies off quickly.

If the skull is already clean (or mostly nature cleaned) then I don’t think there’s any risk there.

I am going to tag @wildlife-rehabilitator though, because she knows a lot about rabies since she deals with rabies vector species in a rehab setting.

Thank you! I hope that helps a little. Be sure to check back if she replies. :)

[bonedork]

Rabies virus is only active and contagious in an aqueous solution--ie, brain matter or saliva. Once the liquid dries, the virus inactivates and will not reactivate if exposed to water. A clean, dry skull is in no way a vector for rabies!

[taigas-den]

I gave a drunk girl a spare vertebrae I had cuz she was interested in VC…she shows her husband and says “look! It’s a little skull!”

Oh sweet baby no… It’s really not.

[littlestwarrior]

Are you just walking around with spare vertebrae in your pockets?

[bonedork]

You mean you don’t?

[bonedork]

okay

I have money, at long last

holy crow this job pays really well

I’ve seen posts that talk about how containers of TruBond go super-super far, and since I don’t foresee myself tanning many hides in the near future, I’ll probably get the smallest jug they have

that should be more than enough to tan my squirrel, bunnies, rat, and mouse

[bonedork]

one of these days, I will get a paycheck from my job

and when that happens, I think my first purchase is going to be a jug of TruBond so I can finally get this squirrel done

[bonedork]

Question for you guys.

How “safe” to handle is a salt-cured pelt?

I’m assuming the answer is pretty safe, because the whole point of salting the hide is to remove moisture and make the thing inhospitable to bacteria, so that it doesn’t decay. 

But I’m wondering just what level of “safe” it is. Is it “touch barehanded” safe? Is it “hang on a wall” safe?

[bonedork]

Hi, my name is Mairi and I'm going to be making a website for my school work for Vulture Culture. Ideally it will have basic info on the hobby as well as tutorials and links to stores that sell Vulture Culturey things. I noticed you had tutorials posted and wondered if it would be ok if I linked them on my website. ty!

Go right ahead! So long as I’m credited and there’s a link back to my blog here, I have no problems with people using my text or images!

And definitely send me the link when your page goes live! I’d love to see it!

[bonedork]

My possum pelt came today and I really wish I could take pictures because whoa he’s gorgeous. And very, very soft and snuggly.

I know he’s male because I can see where they skinned around the genitals. Half the scrotum is still present as well. 

He looks about like your average possum, dark on the top and light on the bottom, but quite handsome. Super-long hairs around his rump, I swear they’re like four inches long. He doesn’t have his tail, but I don’t mind.

[bonedork]

I think my squirrel pelt (who I’m calling Ratatoskr) has finally finished salt-curing! His hide is about as bendable as cereal box cardboard and has virtually no odor. (Does have a faint smell, but it’s not the smell of rot so I’m not concerned.) I think I’m going to leave him in salt just a while longer, just to be super-sure he’s done, though.

[bonedork]

AYYEEE HAPPY BIRTHDAY I JUST SAW YOUR POST I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR POSSUM THEYRE SO SOFT ^^

AAAA THANK YOU FRIEND

I’m hoping dead possums are as soft as live ones. I handled plenty of the live ones working at the rehab clinic over the summer. Mostly babies. Sofffffft... so soft. You just wanted to bury your face in their fur and nuzzle them forever.

But then they grew up and got bitey and started to stink.

I hope possum pelts don’t smell half as bad as live possums... ‘least they don’t fart all the time.

[bonedork]

How big is a moose’s astragalus bone?

[bonedork]

Today is my birthday. A lot of things were going on in life in recent weeks, so I couldn’t find the time to come up with anything I wanted for it until last night. I sent two links to my mom, telling her that either would be wonderful as a birthday gift--and she bought both. (Probably because they were both under $30.)

So whenever the mail arrives, I will be getting an opossum pelt and a beautiful necklace made by @taigas-den!

[bonedork]

Checked in on my squirrel today. Not only was the top of the salt damp, but there were wet patches on the paper near the edges of the hide. 

Still no smell of decay, and the slight odor I noticed the last time I worked with the pelt is pretty much gone. (If I stick my nose close and sniff, I can still smell it faintly, but that doesn’t strike me as worrying.) I put fresh paper down under it, rubbed in more salt, covered it all over with a new layer, and left it again.

I think the tail is starting to slip a bit, which doesn’t entirely surprise me. I accidentally left about half of the tail inside the skin, and while I’ve been dutifully covering it with salt... well, it might not be enough. Alas. My squirrel may just have half a tail.

[bonedork]

(1/2) you can make traditional tanning solution at home! mix one yellow part of egg, 1dl of olive or rapeseed oil and a tbspn of dish soap. that's enough for a big pelt but it's harder to make smaller amounts with a reasonable mixing ratio. you'll first need to de-salt the skin by washing it, then dry the hair side completely and leave the flesh side a bit moist. then apply the skinning solution on the flesh side (make sure it doesn't get on the fur). then wait until it's a bit moist again.

(2/2) Then stretch the skin until it gets a white web sort of pattern all over on the flesh side. Be careful, squirrels rip easily! You can use a spoon or smth like that to help the skin stretch. When the web stays on even when you let go, leave the skin to dry. If you wish to soften the pelt, wait two weeks so the skin gets air to react with the oils, then soak the pelt in soap water until wet and repeat, but now you don't only stretch, you also rub with hands and spoon and table corners.

!!!!

Super-helpful! Thank you!

I feel much more comfortable using the premade stuff for my first few attempts at tanning, but this is definitely something I’ll have to try down the line! But I just have to share this for other people...

[bonedork]

Well, big thanks to @littlestwarrior, because in the process of re-fleshing and re-salting my squirrel, I discovered that part of the belly skin had gotten folded over and was still very, very damp--and it was the source of the odor! The few places on the hide that I sniffed had virtually no smell, but that one patch did. Hopefully I got to it in time!

[bonedork]

The biggest thing is to get the fat and flesh off the hide, then RUB the salt into the skin side, not just place it in the salt. I don't know what the smell is since I can't smell it, but as long as it doesn't smell like rot it should be okay.

I didn’t totally flesh it yesterday because I had a bit of a time crunch. Will it be okay to finish it up now?

[bonedork]

Photos from my potato-phone’s camera of the squirrel I skinned yesterday. 

I did notice a slight odor when I was scraping the old salt off. It wasn’t the overwhelming stench of decay, but it was a bit... I’m not sure how to describe it. I guess the only think I can say is that it wasn’t the smell of rot that I’m accustomed to, so I hope that means I’m doing this right.

I’d hate to lose him... He’s got such beautiful fur, and it’d be a shame if it rotted out.

Any wisdom is welcome!

[bonedork]

Curses.

I just now realized that I could’ve snipped off the unskinned paws and dried them separately in some salt. Oh well. Maybe next time.