#deflesh

[recolorloveletters]

I hope users that I like don't find me annoying and stalkerish but I do like them I'm just so shy online bc ppl have burned me before. Esp Eli for her great avi style and art. Luna for always being positive n making great community ideas. Aki for bein a doll. Deflesh for being friendly to me n for vidya gaem talk!

[mom-im-gay]

deflesh the melon

[my-shadow-has-bones]

How to Deflesh Small Mammals :P

step 1: Find a body. Usually I drive around my area looking for fresh roadkill. Check for the general intactness of the body before picking it up. There's nothing worse than going through the whole defleshing process and getting a skull thats shattered into 50+ pieces at the end of it. REMEMBER if you love your car you should bring plastic bags to put the bodies in. Also going at night is a good idea if you don't want to attract shocked looks from passers by :)

step 2: Natural/dry defleshing. Place the animal in a tank or cage with a wire lid/side etc. Make sure your container has a floor as this prevents small bones from getting lost in the soil. Leave the body for about 2-4 weeks or until maggots, bacteria and other small carrion feeders have stripped it of most of its flesh. The cage prevents the body from being carried off by larger scavengers but the wire allows the flies and maggots to get in and do their job. Daily spraying with a fine mist of water will help this process in drier climates and also prevents skin and flesh from mummifying to the bones. For this part of the process try to keep the animal as far away from the house as possible as the odour can be highly offensive.

step 3: Maceration. Transfer the bodies from the tank/cage that they are in to a icecream container or a bucket/tank with a lid. Fill these with water and allow to sit for another 2-4 weeks. This will putrefy any remaining flesh and allow it to slip free of the bones. It also softens and removes any cartilage or keratin that remains over the bones. If you want to do this faster you can substitute slow cooking for maceration but I find this is more likely to damage the bones and if you think the bodies smell bad after dry defleshing you haven't ever smelt them after slow cooking.

step 4: Sifting. strain the maceration buckets through a fine sieve to remove the water. You will be left with a mix of grey/brown sludge, fur and, of course, bones. prepare a tray of clean water and slowly use your fingers (use disposable gloves) to sift through this mix and remove all the bones and teeth. Rinse each induvidual bone in the tray of water before setting it aside. In very small mammals such as mice bare hands may be needed to do this job as finger sensitivity will be neded to locate the bones (some of which are no larger than a poppy seed).

step 5: Bleaching. prepare a container with a mix of bleach and water and drop the bones in. for mammals between mouse and cat size I use a mix of about 1:1 bleach to water and leave them to soak for up to an hour. The larger the bones are the longer soaking is required to give them a good creamy colour. Sometimes the bones will be permenantly stained in places. If one bone or part of a bone is not as white as you would like it do not leave it in the bleach longer in the hopes of fixing it. to long an immersion in bleach can severely damage to bones and, if they are left for days in the solution it will cause complete disintegration.

step six: Drying. place your bleached bones on paper towels and leave them to dry before putting them away. leave them about 2 days to ensure that they are completely dry. If they are not entirely dry they may begin to grow fungus and bacteria if placed in sealed plastic bags etc.

step seven: Gluing. Use a strong glue (I recommend araldite) to fix all loose teeth back into the skulls and to remair any fractured or broken bones. Then, if you wish, cover the bones in a layer or PVA glue to give them a shiny finish and to seal in any bacteria that may remain.

step eight: Have fun! you now have a completly cured skeleton. It will probably still smell a lot like bleach so if you want you can lightly spray them with a fine mist of your favorite essential oil. Apart from that you can also try your hand at wiring the skeletons together or you can use the bones in jewelry making. enjoy yourself.

CAUTION: In most states and countries there are some laws against the killing/defleshing of certain animals. You could always ignore the laws and hope you don't get caught but be aware that if you are caught breaching these laws the penalty is usually at the ery least hefty fines and at the most a stint in prison. Check up on your wildlife laws before you deflesh any animal and particulary when defleshing native animals.

This is by no means the last word on the subject. There are many good websites that provide more information and alternative ways to deflesh animals. This is simply my technique. Hopefully someone will find it helpful.

[my-shadow-has-bones]

Raven...

I bleached the bones of a crow today. Here are some interesting things I found out:

#1 the skull of a crow including the beak is actually in eight pieces (mine is in twelve pieces because the cranium is fractured)

#2 the beak of the bird is predominately made of keratine (the same stuff your fingernails are made from) which softens and comes off when wet. There is very little actual bone bone in the beak and it is very fine, about the thickness of a sheet of paper in places.

#3 the wishbone of a crow forms a U shape rather than the standard Y shape of a chicken or turkey wishbone.

#4 while the outer casing of the birds claw is made of keratine and sloughs off, unlike humans, there is a centre of bone in each claw that can be saved.

#5 each vertebrae is slightly different from all the others. they fit together in one specific order only. they slot together more perfectly than a suit of armor.

Despite the cringing of many of my friends at my unusual hobby, I cannot stress enough the beauty and intricacy of the skeleton. while parts of my hobby can be somewhat disgusting, the results entirely outway any distaste for the actual process.