[Dan]

The following posts will contain graphic images of dead rodents and later on reptiles in various states of decay.

If you do not wish to see these images PLEASE do not continue to read the post.

You have been warned, i would hope that you do not hold either myself or the forum responsible should you choose to continue and be disturbed by the images.

DISCLAIMER:
The following images are of previously euthanised rodents or of animals that have died through natural causes. NO animals have been harmed in the process.


Now that's done i'll upload the first images.

 

[tombraider]

really looking forward to these.

 

[Dan]

After previous tests with rodents i have now moved on to a larger lizard.

The animal was a Sailfin lizard Hydrosaurus amboinensis.

In previous tests it was established that mealworms work very quickly but are tempremental when it comes to humidity. For that reason i have skinned and gutted the animal. I have left areas of concern with the skin on (toes) to give me extra time to catch excess eating on the part of the mealworms.

The animal itself was a WC specimen that unfortunately died for unknown reasons (after a close examination with untrained eyes of the major organs i could see nothing obvious).

As you can see by the following pictures this male was approx 3.5 feet and in fairly good condition. Slight damage to the fin although this will not be noticeable in the finished item:

 

[Dan]

The first job to do was removing the skin and as much flesh as safe to do with a large clumsy blad (in comparison to little teeth). After 1.5 hours i have been left with this:

Towards the end of this part of the job i had started to get cramp in my hands (holding knives in awkward positions) and started to make mistakes. The most noticeable of which was when i accidentaly broke off half of the tail. Towards the end it is very fragile without skin to hold it all together so i made the decison to stop before i caused further damage.

 

[Dan]

I am EXTREMELY unhappy at myself for making such a mistake, i should know better than to continue when i am not working as precisely as i can. The damage looks only to be flesh and not bone so it may be ok, i will know soon enough.
Either way, i have left this section with the skin and flesh on. If the mealworms struggle i will look at other options. The seperate tail section:

My apolgies for the overall pic quality, my hands had not stopped cramping fully while i was trying to hold the camera still.

I have placed the remains in a viv to "cook" overnight. Tomorrow when the remains have dried out i will look at moving them to a container so i can add mealworms and carry out regular observations (ie 2 hourly as a maximum)

 

[captaincaveman]

it looks like your gonna get a lot cleaner result than the mouse, how are you planning to keep the bones together when done?

 

[Dan]

Yeah, it should be quite a clean job. I will be using less worms than previously aswell so i can keep a close eye on what goes on.

The bones will be held together with either superglue or epoxy resin. The whole thing will then get a thin coat of varnish that should not only keep the bones in good condition but will add to the general strength of the joints

 

[captaincaveman]

so the tail shouldn't be an issue then:smile:

 

[Kev132]

Interesting. cant wait to see the finnished project.... good luck mate

 

[dannyj]

That looks awsome

Whats next??

 

[Dan]

The remains are currently drying out. Tomorrow i will check on them and if they have dried out enough i will put the worms to them.

 

[weeminx]

can i just say wow! i love sailfins.beautiful lizards.! will be interesting to see the finished project.how many are u planning on doing?what lizards? sorry if ive missed this info on other posts.are u married? reason i ask is if my man was doing this is my house i would of bannished him to the shed.:lol2:

 

[Dan]

I like sailfins aswell, i was gutted when this male died.

Not sure how many or what as of yet - see how it goes.

Yes, i'm married - i usually wait till she goes to work or tell her to go have a relaxing bath

 

[weeminx]

:lol2: just be careful u dont leave any bits of flesh lying around and she'll never know.: victory:

well done on doing this btw its fascinating (if at times a tad gross).lol....will keep checking back to see where u are at.

 

[Dan]

I'm just going to see how it's drying out now.....

 

[Fire Bellied]

Man, How interesting is this!!!???!!!

I was completely amazed (TOTAL UNDERSTATEMENT!!!) with how quickly the mealies chomped on the Multimamate....And then on the Rat......So now, I'm just sitting here patiently, watching the screen (amid doing other stuff)......And am eagerly awaiting the next episode of "RETURN OF THE KILLER MEALIES!!!!"

Great work Dan!

Not something I could personally do, due more to the fact that the wife would disown me....But at least now my curiosity can be quenched from watching you & I can have a smell free house: MARVELLOUS!!!

Cheers...And I hope all continues to go well!...I'm keeping 'em crossed!!!

Steve.

 

[Guest]

eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww
i could not bring myself to do that!!!!!

couldnt you just bury it like everyone else???!!! lol

 

[corvid2e1]

burying doesn't work. the bones get damaged, you loose bits, even on a large, solid skull like a deer you end up loosing the teeth and nasle bones etc. it is far too destructive.

good job on de-fleshing the carcass. I know how tedious that gets, espesualy around the ribs, and spine. if your hands have started working again you might want to remove the eyes as well. it is fairly easy to do, and it will save a lot of moisture contaminating the mealworms, as you will realise if you split one. as long as the bone in the tail is not damaged (I doubt it will be, it is far more likely to snap between the bones) it should not be any issue at all. every bone will have to be seperated anyway to clean and bleach them properly.

 

[Dan]

As the remains were placed on a plastic bag within the viv i have had to turn it over to ensure both sides are dried out. If i'm lucky i'll be able to start with the worms tonight, otherwise i will have to wait until tomorrow. I'll check on it in another couple of hours to check the progress.

I'm glad everyone's enjoying the thread.

Incidentally, while last night was by far the smelliest part of all of this so far it has since reduced in smell considerably. The worst part was revielling (is that spelled correctly? It doesn't look right) the major organs. Now they have gone it is just like leaving a piece of chicken to dry out so there is little to no smell.

I am hoping that once the flesh has dried out i will be able to peal little bits of the skeleton (like a chicken bone) so i will be able to remove more. I am basing this on the difference between cutting raw and cooked chicken flesh.

 

[Cara]

revealing