🦌

bone blog / 8yrs cleaning and collecting (He/Him)

[blackbackedjackal]

Vintage Wolfdog Skull

[morgue-of-morgan]

Nice Ram I found yesterday

[wihsu-deactivated20230111]

Logan Smith

[flayote]

a beautiful mountain lion i tanned for @zhoncreations 😻 such a privilege to be able to preserve this magnificent beast!

[roadkillandcrows]

Persian cat and French bulldog skull.

[flayote]

one of my favorite fox in my collection 🌟

[lychens]

[earthenremains]

Earthen Remains’ Bone Washing, Degreasing & Whitening

Once you’ve gotten things rotted down completely, you can get down to the actual bone cleaning.

Things You Will Need:

Specimen

Gloves (dish gloves that extend up the arm are best if you want to avoid getting your hands wet)

Water

Dish Soap

Containers (one for rinsing, washing, and one for peroxide…unless you are okay with rinsing out the same container multiple times/only have access to one container)

Scrubbing tools (cloth, sponge, old tooth brush, etc)

Hydrogen Peroxide (NOT BLEACH)*

*Optional, but helps with sanitizing and removing algae staining

Steps:

Put on your gloves and proceed to fill your bucket with water.

Start by giving your specimen a thorough rinse, especially if it has been buried.

Dump the dirty water then refill the bucket with warm water and dish soap.

Grab your scrubbing tools and begin more thoroughly cleaning your specimen.

Rinse in clean water (If you are using one bucket, do not dump the soapy water outside as dish soap will harm plant life. Dump it into a sink and not into a storm drain.)

If you specimen appears quite greasy, you will want to refill your container with hot water and a copious amount of dish soap to create a degreasing bath.

Allow your specimen to soak for several day or months (you may need to do multiple water changes in this time).

After degreasing, rinse your specimen well.

Allow to air dry thoroughly.

If you plan to use peroxide, place your specimen into a container.

Add in the peroxide and leave your specimen to soak.

If you are using peroxide to sanitize and not whiten your specimen, water it down further.

If you are aiming to remove algae stains and whiten your specimen, allow to soak until the peroxide no longer bubbles when you agitate it.

Repeat peroxide baths as needed.

Allow to air dry, leaving your specimen in direct sunlight for additional whitening.

[onenicebugperday]

Deceased insects infected with entomopathogenic fungus, Ecuador.

An entomopathogenic fungus is a fungus that can act as a parasite of insects and kills or seriously disables them. Although Cordyceps is the most well-known, that’s only one genus.

Fungal spores land on the exoskeleton of the insect, and under the right conditions (usually very high humidity), will germinate and colonize the insect’s cuticle, moving through the layers of tissue and eventually making their way inside the body cavity. After death, the fungus grows out of the body to release spores back into the environment. It’s not uncommon for the fungus to take control of the insect’s brain and cause it to move to a high location (end of a branch, etc.) before it dies for optimal spore dispersal.

All photos by Andreas Kay

[bucketofbone]

any advice for outdoor heating for water decaying? I macerate my bones in bins on my roof that i can access through a window in my kitchen since i live in a populated area and don't want people to smell it, but i don't like having them inside in the summer because we have a small apartment. It hasn't been too hard to keep the water warm in this weather but when fall comes around i'll need to find something to heat it with that can go outside and is cordless (there's no outlet).

[oddarticulations]

They say two heads are better than one, right?

[roadkillandcrows]

South American sea lion skull.

[blackbackedjackal]

White-tailed deer found in Knoxville, TN with corneal dermoids (hair growth on the eyes) (Source: National Deer Association).