The Good, the Bad, and the Buggy

I despise bugs, but at the same time, I really like them.  (I'm talking taxidermy here, people...)

Bugs are the worse thing about animal mounts, and I for one know that.  Well, if it's not the number one thing, then I don't know what is.  For me, however, bugs have destroyed some of my very first pieces of art and for that I got/get pretty mad at those flying millers. 

If there weren't bugs, I would be a great taxidermist, at least in my humble opinion, and I could enjoy the pleasure of it more than worrying about the amount of Borax I use.  (Do not misunderstand, there are ways to mount a beast and protect it from bugs.  But, since I'm not a real taxidermist, I'm just making do with what I have to use.  Some day, I'd like to do a real mount with the chemicals or at least with something that is strong enough to keep bugs at bay, but until then, I'm just learning.)

Then on the other hand, bugs are great!  I'm even raising my own.  Dermestid beetles is the proper name of the bugs I have.  And, here's a fact: you can buy this type of bug.  Cool, huh?  But, actually, I got mine out in our pasture for free and they've been multiplying since then.  There's a slim chance I'll ever run out.

So, if I don't like bugs and they destroy my hard work and time, why am I raising them?

Because I not only like mounted animals, but I also really like animal skeletons.  And these bugs are just the ticket to get clean, not rotten bones and skulls.  It's the more natural way to clean it.  (There are other ways such as boiling, sun bleaching, time... etc.  But with the bugs, you can watch the process.  And by using the boiling idea, it's extremely hard to know how long to boil small skulls.  I once did a mouse skull and because it's a fragile bone, it crumbled.  However, bugs can get to the tiny spots, clean it, and while doing so, the bone doesn't get weak from water.)

In the picture below are four things my bugs have already cleaned.

On the down side, the bug way to clean skulls and such takes a while, and at times it doesn't appear much is happening in my box.  So, we do boil most of our deer heads, besides, they can handle boiling water unlike mice heads and little things.

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My bugs live in a blue plastic tub.  For a lid, I have a large piece of cardboard with a hole cut into it.  Over the hole is some screen so the bugs can breathe and the smell of old meat from bones can escape.  The lid is held down by a log.  No, it's not the best looking container, but it keeps the bugs in and it's been working thus far.  It just looks redneck...

I never water them, which is pretty nice.  I just give them something to eat (a.k.a. a bone or skull with meat on it) and they munch on that.  When it's clean, all the meat is gone, I remove the skull from the box and they may or may not eat for a while.  Actually, I forget about the little colony sometimes, so it's a surprise when I open it up and see how far they've come.

At present, the colony is working on Little J.'s antelope skull, a very old badger skull (I think), a fox skull, and a jackrabbit skull.  That's a lot for my little guys, so I'm not expecting them to finish any time soon.  But what fun it is!  : )