chameleon

micah's most recent restoration project was a five year old chameleon. the end result for the client will be a mounted skeleton in a shadow box and the skin tanned and preserved like a bear skin rug.

it took 30 minutes to cut the underbelly. every scale had to be cut individually in order to stay exactly down the center of the white stripe.

the tail was difficult because the only way to hold onto the small amount of skin was to use tweezers.

it took about 3 hours to skin the entire lizard because the skin was so delicate and thin. she didn't take out the innards because the collapsable ribs covered too much of the abdomen.

the dermisted beetles shockingly devoured the flesh and innards in less than 24 hours.

intentions

cats are great hunters, but their original intention seems more playful and less homicidal.

untouched

there is a hantavirus scare in new mexico, so i think i'll leave this one alone.

specimen

sheeps ear in specimen jar. the carcass had baked for a while in the southwestern sun, so no preservation methods were taken. 

groundhog

the new set of dermisted beetles are happy. this month, they have feasted on a baby bird and a groundhog. this pic is after having the groundhog in for a few days. i think they had some help from some maggots.

curiosity

bueller doesn't curb his curiosity to anything; even when it comes the remnants of his own species.

keeping warm

a spider at work crawls inside to keep warm.

being ernest

we befriended a taxidermist in southern colorado named ernest wilkinson ( his book is HERE ). he took us on a tour of his bone yard.

after peeling off the hides, ernest left a pile of coyotes in his yard. like kids in a candy store, we took as many as we could.

freelance life

I wrote a couple of paragraphs about my freelance life so I could get a free Freelancers Union notebook!

Read the article here:Freelancers Union Article

duck, duck, goose

4 duck and 2 geese heads from a hunter.

Skinning the 6 heads didn't take long. Once you cut around the beak and the eyes, you could literally pull of the skin.

I am not sure what role the pelts will play in future projects, but surely I will be thankful I carefully preserved them. They are certainly beautiful and soft.

It only took a few days for the dermestid beetles to do their job. The final step will be to give these bones a day long hydrogen peroxide bath.

tiny things

thousands of little fish were washed up on the shores of the pueblo reservoir. my guess is either it is breeding or stocking season.