Fox skull

[MrEd]

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.

 

[JonathanD]

Nice. Poppy will approve of this. She has a cool collection.

 

[Brizzlebush]

Very cool.
Interesting to hear about the process too, thanks!

 

[Wayland]

Good work.

 

[Stew]

Nice!

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

 

[demographic]

Good cleanup, well done.

 

[TeeDee]

Lovely example. Like that.

 

[MrEd]

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!

 

[MrEd]

Nice. Poppy will approve of this. She has a cool collection.

I can see myself doing this again, was a satisfying process. Will keep an eye out for road kill

 

[MrEd]

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.

 

[JonathanD]

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.

 

[MrEd]

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!

 

[MrEd]

Okay the rest of the bones are cleaned and now drying. Probably not going to be immediately obvious how it all goes together!!

 

[JonathanD]

I look forward to seeing the progress of this.

 

[MrEd]

I look forward to seeing the progress of this.

Maybe I should start a seperate thread, it may well be slow going, awful lot of tiny odd shaped foot bones!

 

[JonathanD]

Go for it.

 

[TLM]

That is just a 2.5D jigsaw puzzle, quite interesting one really.

 

[MrEd]

Well I am committed now. I have purchased a book on canid anatomy lol

 

[Billy-o]

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]

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.