kay_vang01

I got bore so I decided to do some taxidermy on a couple of squirrels oi got. Turned out ok for someone who had no idea what he was doing. Looks like a weasel on the black squirrel. Takes about 2 hours each to do. I only use what I had in the house. Meat tenderizer salt to keep the skin from roting. Then stuff newspaper inside it so it can dry out. I sew it with the paper inside and use a small ugly teddy bear eyes for the squirrels eyes. I'll get a close up pic later.

Oldtimr

Put them where you don't mind the smell because they will go bad.

kay_vang01

Actually they don't smell at all. I took most of the flesh out of the skin and salted the skin. I did the black one about 3 months ago and so far there is no smell at all. The whole thing is dry and hard now. The fox squirrel should be totally dry in a few days. And no smell from that one either. I think the salt dried it out and also kept it from rotting. But there not much flesh to rot anyway.

kay_vang01

Here is a close up

Oldtimr

Hey, it is your house, do what you like but salt will continue to draw moisture out of the air over time and that water will soak into the newspaper you stuck inside the skins and it will stink. Skins used for taxidermy are cured not dried because dried skins crack and fall apart.

kay_vang01

When it goes bad I'll throw them away. Thanks for the info

buckman11

I did my Rabbit pelt in Borax. Let it sit in there for a week, and here 2 years later it looks just as good as it did then. No rot, no stench. I was impressed!