Beetles

[oneshotonekill]

I figure there may be one or two of you guys out there that have beetles for cleaning skulls. I have been toying with the ideal of trying to start a colony to do some skulls for myself and maybe make a little cash on the side. Any tips or words of caution. I kinda have an idea of the setup I am gonna make for them, but would enjoy seeing what you have. And if any of you would like to donate a starter colony to me that would be okay to

 

[dennishoddy]

I got my skull back yesterday from a guy in blackwell that is trying to do the same thing as you. He didn't charge me anything as this skull was the crash test dummy. He did a really good job in my opinion. He had some domestic beetles(don't ask me about them as I don't know one beetle from another)
and he had some of the African beetles. He said that before getting the african ones, you have to prove you have a container they can't escape from.
He also said the African beetles were twice as quick as the domestic. Thats all I know about it.

 

[badaugherty]

I bought mine on ebay. My first tank was a 55 gallon aquarium and I've got another setup using an old freezer. They can get a little stinky, but it keeps my wife out of the shop.

There's a lot of good info on taxidermy.net

Here's the skulls and skeletons forum.
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php?board=17.0

I've learned a lot from there.

 

[dennishoddy]

They can get a little stinky, but it keeps my wife out of the shop.

I use snake skins that I find in my shop from a blacksnake that stays in there, hung on some of the deer racks to keep her out of mine. She is deathly afraid of snakes.

 

[oneshotonekill]

I bought mine on ebay. My first tank was a 55 gallon aquarium and I've got another setup using an old freezer. They can get a little stinky, but it keeps my wife out of the shop.

There's a lot of good info on taxidermy.net

Here's the skulls and skeletons forum.
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php?board=17.0

I've learned a lot from there.

How stinky? I live in town are my neighbors gonna hate me?

 

[badaugherty]

My wife says you can't smell it outside of the shop, so I don't think your neighbors would even know.

 

[Oklahomabassin]

LOL yeah they would.

 

[oneshotonekill]

Okay thats good. Bassin you don't count your 3 streets over and you read this post. lol

 

[257wby]

I got my skull back yesterday from a guy in blackwell that is trying to do the same thing as you. He didn't charge me anything as this skull was the crash test dummy. He did a really good job in my opinion. He had some domestic beetles(don't ask me about them as I don't know one beetle from another)
and he had some of the African beetles. He said that before getting the african ones, you have to prove you have a container they can't escape from.
He also said the African beetles were twice as quick as the domestic. Thats all I know about it.

Who was the guy in Blackwell?

 

[imhntn]

I got my skull back yesterday from a guy in blackwell that is trying to do the same thing as you. He didn't charge me anything as this skull was the crash test dummy. He did a really good job in my opinion. He had some domestic beetles(don't ask me about them as I don't know one beetle from another)
and he had some of the African beetles. He said that before getting the african ones, you have to prove you have a container they can't escape from.
He also said the African beetles were twice as quick as the domestic. Thats all I know about it.

Sounds like another foreign intruder in the making. Add to starlings, english sparrows, asian carp, etc. Who knows though, maybe it will be a success like the Chinese pheasants.