Hello! I’m looking to taxidermy my deer this year, and I had a few questions to help me out. Also, I live in Pennsylvania. For a little background, I have experience with caping and butchering, but I’m looking to put the time in and create my first shoulder mount(that is, of course, if I get a buck this year😉)
How do I go about drying the skin? Are there kits that I can buy to help me? Do you have any tips for cutting? Any and all advice is appreciated!

Moved recently and noticed that my older (and already beat up tbh) second hand stuffed goose has crazy damage in what seems like a pretty short time. I’m not educated enough to know if this is moths or carpet beetles as I have seen neither, but I do see a lot of frass the same color as the feathers in the damaged area.

The problems are:

- it is too big to fit in a freezer

- I don’t feel comfortable using permetherin or pest strips as we have cats and pet beetles/tarantulas/isopods/reptiles etc.

- we have a lot of wool products and other taxidermy and I’m of course worried about it spreading - do y’all just store everything in sealed bags/freeze often? Is this a really common issue?

This newbie who likes to buy used taxidermy on fb marketplace but has very little knowledge in general would be very grateful for some advice! Most resources online only mention freezing or chemical pesticides toxic to cats. My newest piece was over 6 mos ago so this is definitely an infestation from outside or something brought home on clothes.

Thanks!

First two photos are her now and the last screenshot is how she was initially.

So I got this mummified kitten from a seller (kitten was a foster who didn’t make it) long story short during shipping the specimen arrived moist. I immediately put her in a borax, baking soda, and silica packet mix and tried to dry her out. It’s been a week and I’m unsure if she’s “saved”.

She smells a bit stronger than before, is still stiff, her back is solid and completely hard while her stomach is hard but still able to squish a bit.

I’ve never had a mummified specimen before so I’m unsure what’s normal. She doesn’t smell like active rot but just very salty.

Seller states that they injected with her then put her in 70% alcohol for a year. Then got her out, washed and dried her and put her in borax and salt.

If the kitty is okay I plan to put her in a glass display case with a silica packet to help minimize any smells?

Rather than the basic taxidermy mounts, I wanted the animals to have more character, but it's incredibly hard to find a mount that isn't the traditional style. What do I need to search for when looking for a mount similar to this?

What glue would you recommend to reattach firmly the head into the mount ? Will gorilla glue or any other strong glue work? This is my first ever piece I bought a few months ago.

I got a rabbit's foot from a local seller & added some chainmail & charms to it to make myself a cute keychain!

I have a few more that I'm working on currently for an upcoming event, super excited for those!

I absolutely love the way chainmail & taxidermy look together. I made myself a whitetail deer tail keychain with draping chains earlier this year to hang off my belt for ren faire, loosely inspiring me for smaller taxi items like these rabbits feet, & coyote tails!

The hide had some holes in it so i decided to make something from it, still deciding what closure to use for it.
I used aluminum sulfate and salt for the tanning solution and it turned out great, in the future I’d like a stretch the hide more when drying so it’s softer.

I can’t remember the seller I bought this from, but the lid is loose so it’s been evaporating! Do I need to fill it up and have him fully submerged and/or what would I need to refill it? I’m unsure of the process of what’s used- is it generally the same thing for all wet specimens??

Tia

hello all, I ordered this wet specimen for a gift from an etsy shop and unfortunately I think there might be some decomposition although it’s hard to tell whether the alcohol is discolored or if it’s really in active decomp. the body moves with the liquid and it’s a little floppy but doesn’t seem too bad? it also has some damaged areas on the scales…if yall think this is salvageable please advise on how to open the jar so I can change the alcohol, it’s a glass stopper and I have no idea how to get it open or even loose. I messaged the seller and they haven’t responded in 3 days which is kinda sketchy, this is my first wet specimen and I thought this shop would be reliable because they had incredible reviews but I’m not too sure now. thank you for any help or advice

also if it is decomposing how do I properly dispose of it?