hi! i live in an apartment in the city and i haven't been able to do much bone processing in a long time because of it. i was wondering if i had a large plastic tub filled with dirt if i could decay the parts in that or if it has to be in the actual earth so worms and other small insects can eat away at it. i used to just do top decay when i lived in the woods and dont have too much experience burying. thank you so much, i love your blog a lot!
Hi Anon! Thank you for your message and the kind words!
There are quite a few folks who live in apartments or with close neighbors that use flower pots to “nature clean” specimens! Just bury the carcass in the dirt in the pot (or your plastic tub!), make sure nothing can dig into the container if it’s kept outdoors on a patio, and wait for decomp to do its thing!
I would start out small at first and then see how it goes. Try just a head from a small to medium-sized animal or the carcass of a small animal like a mouse, rat, squirrel, etc. Use rich, loose soil like potting mix or bagged garden soil in your container. You can even plant a few little plants on top if you want! Carcasses, maceration water, etc all make amazing fertilizer, haha.
I’ve cleaned a few skulls in a container filled with horse manure with great success so if you have access to a barn or stable grab a few “horse apples” and throw them into the mix! The broken down grass in horse manure helps absorb some of the odor of decomp, at least in my experience. Haven’t tried it indoors though.
The insects found in nature definitely help speed up the process but the bacteria responsible for decomp do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to breaking down the tissue on the carcass so you’ll be fine with just dirt.
If you have a way to remove some of the flesh from the carcass and dispose of it then that’ll help speed the process up and cut down on the odor a bit too. Cutting out the eyes, tongue, major muscles, and removing the organs will help a lot but if you can’t dispose of the offal safely and sanitarily then don’t sweat it.
This process may take a few months but just be patient and you’ll have some great specimens before you know it! Hope that helps get you started, Anon! Best of luck!
