Cage Furniture help (skull)

[Gilleni]

I found a skull of an animal by the side of the road and i wish to put it in one of my enclosures..

Can somebody tell me how to treat it before i put it in with my animal??

It is goin in a gillens enclosre by the way.

Thanks, Reed.

[SNKMST]

Afternoon,

You can chuck it in the oven on 250degrees and bake it for a while, wash it in heavy bleech and rinse very very well and leave it in the sun to dry out.

These are the methods I have used and seem to work fine.

Cheers,
Brett

[Gilleni]

so same method as branches etc.

will bleech harm my lizard? i thought it would be hard to rinse out?

Thanks alot mate..

[SNKMST]

If you rinse really really well maybe even incorperate a scrubbing brush to make sure it is all out and letting it dry in the sun is another way or bleeching but maybe for safty rinse a few times and dry inbetween rinses.

Bleech is not good for any animals so rinse rinse rinse...

Cheers,
Brett

[Reptilegirl]

hey reed
there was a thread not to long... someone showing there almost finished skull hide...
here you go
http://www.aussiepythons.com/PNphpBB...c-t-14962.html
Megz

[munkee]

If you are still worried after the rinsing of bleach you could leave it to soak in a bucket of water to ensure all bleach is diluted to an insignificant level (meaning none left esentially).
What kind of skull is it? Cow, or other.

[Gilleni]

thanks everyone,

I think it is a Roo or some sort of wallaby..

[Bakes]

Get yourself some peroxide from a chemist 3 or 6% solution. Fill up a bucket so the water is just over the skull and pour in the peroxide. This will get into all the nooks and crannies and nerve holes and eat away any left over or dry meat and other bits. You may see some bubbles streaming out, thats alright. Leave for about two days. Then take out and rinse well. Then I would soak in bleach for about 1 hour. Agitate so all the bubbles get out. Then look at the skull and see if you have to make it critter friendly. Look in the nose, you may have to put a screw driver up there and break off the thin bones in the nose (so the animal won't get stuck.) Check any other places that a critter may get stuck in and block off.

Hope that helps

[keelow]

first cut it off the Cow....

[Sdaji]

Cool stuff, Gilleni. I'd soak it in dilute bleach overnight, allow it to dry out completely, rinse thoroughly, place it in a bucket of fresh water, leave overnight, then rinse thoroughly. Alternatively you could put it in the oven at anything over about 150 degrees for an hour or so. There are plenty of ways to sterilise stuff, do whichever you like. I have bones in with my gilleni too. I placed a spine (backbone) in with mine, it had been in the sun, rain, frost etc for about five years. I put it in the oven, it was completely cooked and dry. It looked like there was nothing but bone there, but when I put it in with the goannas, they became extremely excited and spent the next few days pulling off what looked like strings of cartilage, but were extremely old and worn bits of meat! Yum yum!

[Gilleni]

Thats cool, It was out in the elements for 5 yrs and they still found some food on it!

A spine would look cool i recon..

I rinsed it in bleech then rinsed it in clean water and put it on the roof of the shed, it been up there a week or so..

I also used long nosed pliers to rip the thin bone out from between the nostrils..

I might Just stick it in the oven on 150 or so for a while before i stick it in the enclosure...

I got the idea from the Perenti enclosure at the ARP.. they have a scull in there..

Thanks guys.

[jordo]

I've got a huge cows hip bone in 1 of my cages, it looks awesome.

[Hix]

I have an old sheep skull that I put in with my Ackies when I got them. Soaked it in boiling water because a big female redback had set up home in the brain cavity and I couldn't get her (or her egg sac) out with tweezers until she was dead and squishy.

day after i got the Ackies I came home from work and found the females tail hanging out of the foramen magnum (big hole at the base of the brain that the spine fits into). The tail seemed to fill the hole and I suspected she was stuck as her back feet were either side of the tail right in the opening - obviously no more could get inside and there was no room for her to get out. Then again, she may have just been sleeping like that. Next morning she was still in the same position, so I went to find some tools to gently break open the skull. When I came back she was sunning herself under the basking lamp.

I took the skull out to be on the safe side and put it in with some beardies.



Hix