Sailfin skeleton - GRAPHIC

are you being serious???
sorry...but i dont understand why and how you can do it...
worms?you have worms in your house??
think ive missed summit here lol,,what u gonna do with it???

[Nat]

Iv got to agree with laura retic....wat is this in aid of? wat are you going to do with the finished result/skeleton?
Sorry if iv missed previous posts but normally things like Graphic images dont look are enough to turn me away lol

[Cara]

lol if you read the other thread (same section I think) I gather he wants to mount reptile skeletons in front of thier skins on a wall kinda thing, hes tried it with a mouse and a rat (to get an idea of how to do it) and now is moving onto reptile skeletons, hes doing this one first as I think he said he had two of them.... (I think - please feel free to correct me where necessary Retic )

[Dan]

Laura, Nat - You kinda need to read the following topics to get the jist of what's going on:

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/snake...tml#post273247

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/gener...tml#post279450

If the pictures concern you then just be ready with the mouse to skip over them.

[Dan]

We're off !!!

At 20:30 i added the worms.

Unlike previous experiments this subject has been placed in a large container and has not been covered in the worms. This time i have only added 160g of worms.
This time i have also added 2 or 3 (litterally) large mealworms, around a dozen pupae and 3 beetles.
Because i have added the beetles and pupae i have also placed this container over a heat source (i will measure the temps when it has settled)

There are less worms so i can keep a closer eye on what's going on as they will take longer to carry out the job. Also because they are going to take longer the beetles and pupae are in there to ensure a continuous supply of worms in case they die off before completing the job.

The heat not only serves to speed up the worms and their various processes but will help to finish off drying any parts of the remains that are still wet. Because it was drying on a plastic bag previously it kept building condensation on the underside and defeating the object of drying it out.

Pics:







As you can see in the last pic there is only a thin, dry film connecting the sail spines so i expect this will go first.

I will be checking at regular intervals.

[captaincaveman]

Did you also consider maggotts?

[Dan]

I did but there are several draw backs that put me off.
First, they would need to stay inside as it is too cold outside, problem there is them changing to flies - the last thing i want is a pints worth of nasty flies flying around the house.
Secondly, the process is apparently a very smelly way of doing it.
Thirdly, i have been told that maggots are extremely agressive and can cause high levels of bone damage where others don't.

[corvid2e1]

just out of intrest, where did you hear that maggots damage the bones? I am not disagreing with them but I have never had the slightest bit of damage, even on realy tiny bones. maybe they were using a diferent species?

[Dan]

May get into trouble for pointing you to a diff forum, nevermind:

Venomdoc Forums :: View topic - Skeleton removal

[Dan]

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