voidlight24

[voidlight24]

Vulture Culture Question

I just found the MOST BEAUTIFUL, SMALLEST, AND INTACT SNAKE

I just found the MOST BEAUTIFUL, SMALLEST, AND INTACT SNAKE, I think its a baby milk snake AND I just got dermestid beetles... so the question is, how small can you go with dermestid beetles? Would something like this be feasible? And if so, what are baby snake skeletons even like, would it just fall apart from the bones not being fused? I'm only really familar with mammals so I have no idea. He's about 9 inches long (23 cm)

I might not even turn him into a skeleton since he's so beautitul, we'll se3

#vulture culture questions #vulture culture #snake #snake skeleton #baby snake #taxidermy #dermestid beetles #skeleton #bones #bone collecting #dead stuff

[voidlight24]

This Shre.w is taking a dilute peroxide bath.

Al started work on this one when it was located else where, time to pick it back up again!

19/08/20

#vulture culture

[voidlight24]

Vulture Wisdom (2020) written, illustrated, and arranged by yours truly. Written for beginner vultures, this is a practical primer on bone collection as a hobby and addresses the hows and whys of sourcing animal bones from found remains. I’m not as active as I used to be on this platform, and this booklet is available by direct inquiry only - if you’re interested in getting a copy for yourself (or a friend) your best bet is to message me on instagram @s.hirsack

#vulture culture

[voidlight24]

A red squirrel skull!

#vulture culture #bones #skull #squirrel skull #squirrel #bone collecting #skull collecting

[voidlight24]

A grey squirrel skeleton!

While she was being cleaned I noticed two of his ribs were fused together, not sure what casued that but I find small pathologies like this super interesting (may have been an injury, I'm not sure)

Here are some more pictures from after she was cleaned, ignore the deep gash on the rib infront of the fused ones, that was just a mistake I made while cutting (oops)

#vulture culture #skeleton #squirrel #squirrel skeleton #vc #pathology #bones #bone collecting #skeletons

[voidlight24]

Remember my first skeleton? This is him now. Feel old yet?

bonus cat shot (I love how natural the skeleton looks when he’s on the floor) 

A much needed improvement over a year later, I’m currently degreasing the opossum bones so I can redo her as well, Every skeleton is better than the last! After the opossum I plan to start experimenting more with wires and drilling so they can be more sturdy and less messy. 

#skeleton #raccoon skeleton #vc #skeleton articulation #articulation #bones #bone collecting #skeletons #vulture culture #raccoon

[voidlight24]

Alligator skull! I always wondered how to get the skull out of one of those freeze dried alligator heads. Big thank you to @snakeybones​ for making such a good tutorial and making this possible. The tutorial can be found here: https://snakeybones.tumblr.com/post/161706620316/alligator-skull-removal

#vulture culture #alligator #alligator skull #vc #bones #bone collecting #animal skulls #skulls #skull collecting #alligator head #vc tutorial

[voidlight24]

Exactly! I don't think many people realize declawing a cat is the same as cutting off the tips of their fingers. Claws are part of the cat, if you can’t deal with claws don't get a cat!

Did you know theres actually bone inside of the claws?

Heres a couple of Fox claws.

This is why there is an argument for banning the declawing of Cats. This is the bone that gets removed!

23/06/20

[voidlight24]

Tooth Inconsistences?

My black bear has an extra tooth! or does she? multiple sources online say black bears have 42 teeth, but most images online have less than that and mine has 37? I did find some that had more than mine though. What causes these inconsistencies?

#vulture culture #teeth #black bear #bear #bear teeth #black bear teeth #bear skull #black bear skull #skull #skull collecting #skulls #bones #bone collecting #vc #vc question #vulture culture questions #dental #dental formula #too many hashtags

[voidlight24]

A rat skeleton! Like the frog this was also a dissection animal and was cleaned using the drano method. I think this is about the smallest you can go with that method (playing cards for comparison) because the bones were just too thin and damaged to be left in the drano any longer, despite there still being some tissue left. He has his flaws but I'm still happy with how he came out, I don't think I could have done something like this by hand and being a dissection animal he would not have been able to be cleaned via maceration or beetles. 

Here you can see the damage done to the skull (notice now flakey it is) as well as some of the residual tissue in the picture below

#rat #skeleton #skeleton articulation #animal bones #bones #bone collecting #rat skeleton #vulture culture #Drano method #articulation #damaged bones #vc #dissection

[voidlight24]

Here is that roadkill opossum skeleton after being cleaned as well as my first attempt at articulating her, this was my third ever articulation and the ribs are all wrong (much like with my first skeleton). I have since been redoing both of them. Even with all my inaccuracies I find it so cool to see how I improve with every skeleton and each mistake I make is something new I'll learn for the next skeleton, thats a big part of the process for me but I love it

#opossum #opossum skeleton #skeleton articulation #animal bones #vulture culture #skeleton #articulation #bones #bone collecting

[voidlight24]

10 years of collecting and I've never found an Opossum skull, then in one year I find three! The only to the far right was a fresh roadkill when I found her and I even managed to get a full skeleton out of it

#vulture culture #animal bones #skull collecting #skull #opossum #bones #opossum skull

[voidlight24]

Been a long time since I was last active, but the collection hasn't stopped! Now I have about 2 years of skulls and skeletons to share (still bad camera quality, sorry) but I'll post them in order of oldest to newest, starting with this frog (a dissection frog from school)

This little guy was cleaned with a method I don't see very often, if at all. I cleaned him by soaking him in drano, a very strong base, diluted with water. As a word of caution this WILL damage the bones and the final result is at best decent (which is why people don't do it), it is also likely to leave some unsightly residual tissue. I honestly don't recommend it but the appeal is that it is a fast easy and cheap way to clean a small skeleton without the need for beetles and without risk of the skeleton falling apart. In the case of this frog, or any kind of preserved animal, this is the best method I know of due to the fact the formaldehyde they are preserved in prevents beetles from eating them and does not let them macerate properly, so this method does have its niche uses. I'll try to do an in depth tutorial the next time I try this method.

#vulture culture #frog #frog skeleton #skeleton #bones #ligamentary skeleton #animal bones #skeleton articulation #bone collecting #dissection

[voidlight24]

New groundhog skeleton, only my second skeleton but it came out way better than the raccoon

[voidlight24]

HAZA!! I'm really proud of this one, it's my first time putting together a complete skeleton (raccoon)

[voidlight24]

Eastern coyote

[voidlight24]

Finished the rat skull, also I bought a black bear skull I found for sale at a mall in Quebec