PSA: Bone cleaning took me 6 weeks instead of 3 days

Found a deer skull out near the creek behind my place. Thought I'd clean it up for display. Googled it and figured macerating in water would take like 3 days. Nope. Six weeks later I finally got all the tissue off. The water smelled awful. Had to change it every 4 days. Bugs got in it twice. Lesson learned - degreasing and whitening add way more time too. Anyone else get burned by underestimating bone prep timelines?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke_taylor447d ago

Oh goodness, six weeks is rough. I did a raccoon skull one time and thought I could rush the degreasing with dish soap and hot water. Ended up with a greasy, smelly mess that took forever to fix. It's amazing how stubborn that tissue can be.

rodriguez.mia7d ago

Started a possum skull in my garage last spring. Forgot about it for two months. My neighbor thought something died in the walls.

emma967d ago

Oh totally, I left a squirrel skull in a jar on my porch once and my mailman left a note asking if I needed a welfare check.