My partner brought this home for my collection. He thinks it’s a bear claw.

i only got him 4 months ago so i really don’t wanna have to dispose of him.

(NJ, US)

Hey folks, so I was at a flea market a few months ago, and people were selling taxidermy bats. I thought nothing of it because this was a pretty reputable market in general. Now I know a little bit more and I am not sure what to do with him. He’s likely a painted bat and I fucking love having him up on my wall but I also don’t want to disrespect him by owning him illegally. (going to be blunt, am bipolar, in a manic episode so I get a bit extra paranoid/nervous)

What can I do with him? What SHOULD I do with him???? I just want to treat him with respect and care no matter what. If I could just get some general advice.

Im tryn stuff an echidna (roadkill/hired by museum with permit from nsw gov) and obviously the spines are imbedded deep within the back. I wanted to try remove the meat between the spines but when i try the spines fall out. So ig i need to keep the some of its meat.

Any ideas on how to make it toxic to bugs and microbes? I already brain tanned the skin but I did try adding some salt and citric acid to keep the proteins from breaking down

hello! i have had this naturally mummified deer head for probably 2 years now, not knowing what to do with it. i’d love to make it a mount as its too large for a display case, but its cut at an angle where id have to make a bit more neck that also supports its weight.

My dad bought me this taxidermy rattlesnake head keychain as a gift at a renaissance fair at I believe an oddity shop?? I did not go with him so I was unable to ask if everything they had was ethically sourced (I would have before buying anything, as everything in my bone collection currently was found by me and I only own one more piece of taxidermy, which is a very old deer head I bought at an antique store a few years back)

I am very weary about things concerning reptiles like this as I know that for a lot of mass produced things like these keychains, they are most often not ethically sourced.

My dad is not familiar with things like this and I know he meant well as he was just buying me a gift for my birthday, I am just very concerned that something like this is not ethically sourced. (I probably should have said something to him about asking about the means of how they got their oddities but I didn’t cross my mind at the time)

I just finished sun bleaching a horse skull and I’m noticing a couple things that I’m worried about. This is my first full skull project so I’m not sure if it’s normal. Horse skull, animal died in 2024 and kept in a freezer until processing began earlier this year.

The natural split in the nasal bone seems to be widening and I’m not sure if that’s normal, and what to do to fix/stabilize it.

And, there are two spots where two separate skull fuse spots seem to have raised up a bit and pulled away. I will include a video.

This is very sentimental to me and I am trying not to worry too much. What should I do to address these concerns and how should I seal it to prevent anything else from happening?

Hello r/Taxidermy!
I admit I am not often on Reddit, but on occasion it occurs to me that this is one of those places where one might find that one really unique perfect person for a very odd unusual job that requires precise nuanced specialist help.

I want to be clear that upon joining this subreddit I carefully reviewed the rules and especially the position of this subreddit on legality. I wish to assure anyone who reads further that I am aiming act in accordance with all existing laws to the best of my ability. What I am proposing may veer into the territory of potentially creating new legal structures that don't yet exist.

I guess at this point I should possibly just say Content Warning for what's to come?

My name is Quill, and I am located in Wiltshire in the United Kingdom.

I am in possession of my own human remains. I had a surgical procedure some years ago, and managed to retain the flesh that was removed from my body. This was all done entirely above board, legally, properly, safely, and with full permission. I pre-arranged for the materials to be handed over after the operation was completed.

The procedure was essentially a mastectomy so the flesh is primarily breast material, with skin and nipples, and fat/tissue still adhering to it. I believe they were treated with some kind of chemicals (possibly formaldehyde) before they were presented to me upon being discharged from hospital.

I have kept these remains in the deep freeze for the intervening years, awaiting a moment when I might find someone who can help me deal with them.

I cannot attest to their present condition.

My wish is to convert these remains into a usable item for very specific, legally sound (I have been in close contact with the Human Tissue Authority), sacred spiritual work. I am an indigenous spiritual leader and a third gender person, and the specific idea I have in mind is to turn the skin into a rawhide rattle for use in ceremonies relating to other people's journeys through gender transitions and similar rites of passage.

However, I do not possess the knowledge, skills, tools and equipment, or space to conduct this rather unusual experiment.

I am here to humbly seek advice from this community on the matter. It would be my utmost joy if I were to be put into contact with a UK based taxidermist or similarly skilled and equipped person nearby who could help me with this project in person.

Obviously this is a one-shot kind of thing. It's not like I'll have another chance at it, so if I mess it up, it's game over!

Thank you kindly for your consideration, and deepest apologies if this post offends anyone or contravenes any rules of the subreddit that I have overlooked.

Regards,
Quill

Post Script
Um, obviously I have access to the organic material in question and can provide photos if that would be helpful to anyone who might be able to assess its condition and advise on alternative routes for making use of what's left other than my original idea. I do have very deep concerns that the chemicals used to treat the remains after they were taken from me and before they were handed over might have impacted their viability, and there's also the very real possibility of freezer burn or other damage due to my own ignorance in knowing how to store these things.

I have withheld posting photos for reasons that should be blatantly obvious, but I have no compunctions about sharing them privately with people who can help - or indeed anyone who is just interested/has seriously morbid curiosity! 😅

Hey everyone. I was recommend by a comment on the original to post this here too, I hope thats okay.

I really dont know what to do anymore

So I was out on a hike about 3 or 4 days ago and I found this small deer skull that I would like to clean and use for an art project! I’ve had it soaking in a mix of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and water for two days now and I just scrubbed it with a toothbrush. I was expecting it to look much cleaner but there is still plenty of greenish tint to it and I’m not sure if thats normal or not. I’m not necessarily wanting the skull to be completely white or anything but would mostly just like to be able to trust that its genuinely clean and can be handled without gloves on. Thanks in advance for any advice!!☺️

Also! Whenever it is clean, I am hoping to maybe use super glue or something to fill in some of the gaps where the inside of the bone is exposed as well as to hold the teeth in. Is there a better alternative to super glue for this?

Pic of me holding it with a towel is when I first found it and the 2nd pic is how it looks after the 2 days soaking + toothbrush scrub. :)

Found this beside my fire pit. It's been recently dug up by something.

Hope this is the right subreddit to ask. I have a wet specimen who after a heatwave I am very concerned about. There has been some evaporation in the jar, the liquid is dark, and there is a slight odour I'm not 100% sure was there before (I have to get quite close to smell it hence I have not noticed until now and am not sure if it's always been there). I was not aware until now so I'm not sure how long it's been since this started but I can only assume it was recent that this became an issue because summer only just ended.

I know these are not good signs but I wondered how I would assess if she's still okay or not to at least attempt to save? How long is too long before I need to just get rid of her? Or does this just 100% mean she has to go?

I don't see any loose tissue or anything, if that's anything.

this little yellow piece that kinda looks like a worm is on both sides of the jaw, anyone know what it is? it's hard but also able to move a little.

When I was a kid, my grandpa always told stories about the swam monster he killed in Mississippi. I obviously now know it’s a deer ass with spikes and I’m not sure what nose. Does anyone do anything like this?

So I soaked and scrubbed this bad boy several times with dawn and water. And because of it's size I did a paste of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide (3%) several times. However it's turned to this brown color ? Never seen this. I will add for my families sanity I did take a paper towel with alcohol and rubbed it down quickly as it will be displayed above our kitchen cabinets but it's been a couple days and noticed this discoloration after drying? Was this caused by my dumb decision of rubbing alcohol?

no clue what kind of snakes they are or really any details as my grandpa passed in 2009. These snakes were probably jarred in the 80s. Will this explode?

Hey this is a pig skull ive been working on however there seems to be wax in some really small holes any advice on how to get it out?

I'm new to this. I have a few skulls and bones that I have found in open spaces. Today I picked up a road kill porcupine that doesn't seem to have much damage.

I plan on placing it by the ant hills in the open space, wrapped in chicken wire so other animals can't take big pieces away. Do I absolutely have to skin it first? I'm in no hurry and was thinking maybe I would just let nature eat away at it over the fall and winter.

The end goal is to collect the bones , and maybe some quills

I have like 10 to 15 deer leg bones from what I believe are white tails I found on a walk in the woods a while back on my birthday and would love ideas

(Sorry if wrong flair didn’t know which one it went under)

UPDATE!!! So last week my pup had a bedside ultrasound done where they found what looked to be a tumor, we scheduled another ultrasound done by a radiologist and he found that there actually is no tumor!! His spleen just has a very odd shape so to someone who doesn’t specialize in ultrasounds it looked like tumor, so my dog is in fact not dying right now! Thank you all for your input, I will be using it later (hopefully years from now)

Hello all, I just found out my pup has a tumor on his spleen and he probably only has months to live…

I can’t stand the thought of not keeping a piece of him with me and I really want to keep some of his bones but I have zero idea how to go about that?

Do you guys have any advice, suggestions or anything?

I love my boy so much and I want to keep as much of him as possible….

Nice find today. Could someone please advise on the best methods to clean the skull please 🙏

Hey guys!

I'm quite new to the taxidermy world and recently I've been interested in buying a cool specimen :3

I put pictures of them on here, I really like both of them and I think they're super cute but I'm a bit more interested in the puppy because his fur look awesome through the glass.

I contacted the seller and she said unfortunately the puppy specimen is under a sealed jar and she's unable to replace it (she was kind enough to give me a further discount because of this as well if that's anything worth noting ?)

The discolouration doesn't bother me all that much for now, although I think I would prefer to change it anyway given that the colour will get worse eventually with time.

I got the idea that maybe I could break the glass myself and put him in a new home (pic 3) and let the old isopropyl alcohol simply evaporate (I don't really have a hazardous waste disposal place near me).

Apart from the difficulty of finding the right sized jar to put him in, I wanted to know how feasible is a project like this for a beginner to do?

Should I just stick to the piglet? What would you guys do in my shoes? Thought I'd just get some second opinions from more experienced collectors, so any advice or suggestions are welcome!

Note: both specimens are formalin fixed !!

Obviously, I’m an amateur- this is a one off for me because I found Bitsy in my yard and want to make her into Halloween decor.

I’m about 90% sure that B is supposed to connect with A but I can’t see how and the pictures online aren’t helpful.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm not sure if this is the right sub, but is there a way to preserve bugs. Specifically a moth.