flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
02-21-2007, 11:59 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 31
flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
Has anyone heard about the flesh eating beetles (I belive they are from Africa) that you can buy to eat away at a deer head. I saw an article about them a long time ago and they give you a really nice European mount. However I cant find any info about them.
God bless the NRA
God bless the NRA
02-22-2007, 01:47 PM
#3
Spike
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Orlando, Florida
Posts: 45
RE: flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
ORIGINAL: mn16point
Has anyone heard about the flesh eating beetles (I belive they are from Africa) that you can buy to eat away at a deer head. I saw an article about them a long time ago and they give you a really nice European mount. However I cant find any info about them.
God bless the NRA
Has anyone heard about the flesh eating beetles (I belive they are from Africa) that you can buy to eat away at a deer head. I saw an article about them a long time ago and they give you a really nice European mount. However I cant find any info about them.
God bless the NRA
02-22-2007, 07:41 PM
#4
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location:
Posts: 16
RE: flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
They are Dermestid Beetles. They are native to North America. I have a large colony of about 10,000. They can clean a bear skull in about 3 days. It is the larva that eat the most. But beware if you have anything that is dry preserved instead of actually tanned, and they get in it. It is gone. They are also known as a Carpet Beetle.
02-24-2007, 12:18 PM
#7
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: West Winfield New York USA
Posts: 545
RE: flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
I get them from http://www.dermestidbeetlecolonies.com/. I did 12 skulls last fall. rankbull, they like it between 70& 80 degrees.
02-26-2007, 09:18 PM
#8
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Noble, Ok
Posts: 688
RE: flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
So if I wanted to do a euro mount on a hog myself all I would have to do is order the beetles and they would do all of the hard work??
What do I do with the beetles once thier misson is complete??
What do I do with the beetles once thier misson is complete??
02-27-2007, 10:26 AM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Cambridge Ohio USA
Posts: 744
RE: flesh eating beetles for taxidermy
If you only have one skull, skip the beetle idea. They do a good job, but they aren't worth the upkeep unless you plan to do many projects. Plus, I don't want a large supply of dermestids around the house, IN CASE something happens and they get out.
Type "masceration" into any search engine and do a little reading. It stinks and takes some time, butcan produce results as good or better than beetles.
Type "masceration" into any search engine and do a little reading. It stinks and takes some time, butcan produce results as good or better than beetles.
