Fox skull

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MrEd

Life Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,148
1,053
Surrey/Sussex
www.thetimechamber.co.uk
I found a dead fox in the ditch alongside my house a year or so ago. No idea why or how it died but I suspect it got hit by a car.

Anyway. I rotted down the skeleton (basically put a couple of old tyres over it and left it for a year)

then I soaked the skull in soapy water made with biological washing powder for about 6months, changing regularly, until the grease stopped coming out.

then I bleached it with a 6% hydrogen peroxide solution for about 12 hours before drying in the sun for a day and gluing the teeth back in.

Vulpes vulpes.
758489F6-7427-455B-9495-A94B2D44F4B9.jpeg
 

MrEd

Life Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,148
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Surrey/Sussex
www.thetimechamber.co.uk
Nice!

I was hopeful about doing similar years ago but the carcass got robbed before I had it well enough covered!

yeah I have tried twice before with dead foxes - but they have been a walk away from the house and both got robbed. This was literally where I park my car. I put two tyres and rims over the head part most of the rest got robbed though but not the head!
 
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MrEd

Life Member
Feb 18, 2010
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Surrey/Sussex
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I have been poking about where the Fox was and have recovered a lot of bones, all the long bones, pelvis, both scapula and lots of feet bones and spine bones and a bunch of ribs. So all the bits I thought had been robbed, were actually just below the surface of the dirt.
All currently sitting in hydrogen peroxide currently.

will give it a go reassembling, but I expect there are some missing.
 
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JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
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Stourton,UK
I’ve tried to reassemble skeletons. A true nightmare. You never have all the bits. And then you have to find another of a similar size to fill in the gaps.
 
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MrEd

Life Member
Feb 18, 2010
2,148
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Surrey/Sussex
www.thetimechamber.co.uk
I’ve tried to reassemble skeletons. A true nightmare. You never have all the bits. And then you have to find another of a similar size to fill in the gaps.

I was wondering what to do about that. A friend suggested using short sections of thin clear tub (like aquarium tube etc) so replace missing bones - cut to the same size so you can see where a missing bone is, and it can all still be assembled. I was planning on wiring it all together as best I can. Worst case scenario is I Chuck it all in the bushes where I got it all from. Ideally won’t have to do that though. Seems a bit disrespectful!
 
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Billy-o

Native
Apr 19, 2018
1,981
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Canada
Anyway. I rotted down the skeleton (basically put a couple of old tyres over it and left it for a year)
Very nice looking specimen.

I did this with a bat I found once. I covered the cadaver with a few smaller rocks and one big one, tucked behind a hydrangea in the garden, out of the way of, well, everyone. I went back a year later, and the rocks were undisturbed, but there was no skeleton. Weird bats are.
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,809
1,479
Stourton,UK
Very nice looking specimen.

I did this with a bat I found once. I covered the cadaver with a few smaller rocks and one big one, tucked behind a hydrangea in the garden, out of the way of, well, everyone. I went back a year later, and the rocks were undisturbed, but there was no skeleton. Weird bats are.
Beetles would have cut it up and moved the bones all over the place. And the bones of bats are paper thin so would degrade and rot away very quickly. Beetles even eat them as they are so thin.
 
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