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European Mount Beetles

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    European Mount Beetles

    Tell me more of these beetles that work for taxidermist in the making of European mounts. How long does it take? Are they expensive? Did they play rock and roll music? Etc.

    #2
    Slim, I was just looking into them a few days ago. Seems like you can buy a 100 of them for about $55.00. But it takes around 1,000 of them to do a deer head. If ya got a couple of month's, it said they would reproduce enough to do it. Or they would sell a bunch of them for like $225.00, I think. Not a lot of care. Have to be able to keep them warm. Said they do have an odor, though. I just looked under flesh eating beetles and found a lot of info.

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      #3
      [ATTACH]14431[/ATTACH]

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        #4
        It only takes a few hours of elbow grease and about $25(max) in materials to do one yourself. I've done several deer and one javi skull. The pigs are tough(bleaching) though. That way you can get them as white or 'stained' as you want them to be. Just my.02.

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          #5
          Yes beetles are an easier way to do european mounts, but if you are not going to do a bunch of heads it would be just as easy to boil or masercrate the head.

          I started with an original colony of 200 and have enough now that they can clean a deer head in about a day. This is however, with me removing all the big chunks of meat, the eyes, the brain, so there is not much meat left on the head.

          Here is a picture of mine I took a while back but I have a lot more now.

          Click image for larger version

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          Also, be careful about buying them from places online. Some say ou get 100 beetles but only 10 of those may be adults. Adults are the ones that reproduce so with only a few adults it would take a long time to build up your colony.
          Last edited by TxTechBowhunter; 03-05-2007, 11:10 PM.

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            #6
            Hey SS, I just bought a colony of 1000 for $60 from a guy on eBay. They are guaranteed no mites or fly larvae. He is shipping them tomorrow. Assuming they arrive alive, I will shoot you his email address then. We exchanged several emails. He is very responsive and helpful. He has 100% positive feedback.

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              #7
              Here's his email address. Shoot him an email perryclan@bresnan.net. His eBay name is jperrymt1.

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                #8
                When you have no heads to clean how do you keep them alive and healthy?

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                  #9
                  That is my question too, Sean. What type of enclosure do you keep them in also?

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                    #10
                    Denise keeps hers in an outbuilding in an old chest type freezer. It does has a ventilated lid but she just leaves it open. When you don't have any skulls to feed them give them a small handfull of dry dog food.

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                      #11
                      Eradicator.....Do ya just boil it? How long? Will it not fall apart if boiled too long. I heard of using an airhose to blow the brains out. Have ya ever tried this? Thanks

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                        #12
                        You have to be careful about boiling too long. I usually boil it no more than twice for about 10 minutes each time max. We do use an air compressor to blow out the some of the tedious leftover matter. They say it weakens the bone if you boil too much, but I've never had any problems with those length of times. More propaganda as usual, so you'll buy the other stuff. Peroxide from the beauty supply store does the trick. I've had a little better luck with the gel type than the liquid form. They both work fine though. Hope this helps.

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                          #13
                          Also, be sure you tape the antlers up real good if you're doing a deer. I use duct tape and have had no leakage at all. That sounded kinda' bad, didn't it.

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                            #14
                            You could do all of that...Or just take it to a taxidermist.

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                              #15
                              That would be great if I was made out of money. I also enjoy doing it. Kind of completing the self satisfaction of a hard earned trophy. You can pay me to do your skulls if you'd like.

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