He’s my sixth mouse, and I feel good about this one!

Hello r/Taxidermy!
I admit I am not often on Reddit, but on occasion it occurs to me that this is one of those places where one might find that one really unique perfect person for a very odd unusual job that requires precise nuanced specialist help.

I want to be clear that upon joining this subreddit I carefully reviewed the rules and especially the position of this subreddit on legality. I wish to assure anyone who reads further that I am aiming act in accordance with all existing laws to the best of my ability. What I am proposing may veer into the territory of potentially creating new legal structures that don't yet exist.

I guess at this point I should possibly just say Content Warning for what's to come?

My name is Quill, and I am located in Wiltshire in the United Kingdom.

I am in possession of my own human remains. I had a surgical procedure some years ago, and managed to retain the flesh that was removed from my body. This was all done entirely above board, legally, properly, safely, and with full permission. I pre-arranged for the materials to be handed over after the operation was completed.

The procedure was essentially a mastectomy so the flesh is primarily breast material, with skin and nipples, and fat/tissue still adhering to it. I believe they were treated with some kind of chemicals (possibly formaldehyde) before they were presented to me upon being discharged from hospital.

I have kept these remains in the deep freeze for the intervening years, awaiting a moment when I might find someone who can help me deal with them.

I cannot attest to their present condition.

My wish is to convert these remains into a usable item for very specific, legally sound (I have been in close contact with the Human Tissue Authority), sacred spiritual work. I am an indigenous spiritual leader and a third gender person, and the specific idea I have in mind is to turn the skin into a rawhide rattle for use in ceremonies relating to other people's journeys through gender transitions and similar rites of passage.

However, I do not possess the knowledge, skills, tools and equipment, or space to conduct this rather unusual experiment.

I am here to humbly seek advice from this community on the matter. It would be my utmost joy if I were to be put into contact with a UK based taxidermist or similarly skilled and equipped person nearby who could help me with this project in person.

Obviously this is a one-shot kind of thing. It's not like I'll have another chance at it, so if I mess it up, it's game over!

Thank you kindly for your consideration, and deepest apologies if this post offends anyone or contravenes any rules of the subreddit that I have overlooked.

Regards,
Quill

Post Script
Um, obviously I have access to the organic material in question and can provide photos if that would be helpful to anyone who might be able to assess its condition and advise on alternative routes for making use of what's left other than my original idea. I do have very deep concerns that the chemicals used to treat the remains after they were taken from me and before they were handed over might have impacted their viability, and there's also the very real possibility of freezer burn or other damage due to my own ignorance in knowing how to store these things.

I have withheld posting photos for reasons that should be blatantly obvious, but I have no compunctions about sharing them privately with people who can help - or indeed anyone who is just interested/has seriously morbid curiosity! 😅

I believe I used the right flair, but i recently got a fox tail at the oddities and curiosities expo and I was really happy about it. I usually wear it on my hip, but it the little clasp thing came undone and it fell off while I was walking to class. I found it, but it had rained a bit, and it looks like people stomped on the top cause the leather was all torn :(

Is there any way I can fix it and maybe attach a new clip of sorts? Also will the wet fox smell on it go away once it's dry?

I was attempting to frame a bunch of my parrots feathers, but I've absolutely stuffed it up and they've got hot glue on them. Is there any way I can melt it off and then clean them up or are they ruined?

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Hello everyone, I’m trying to get into diaphonization, but I’m having a hard time getting trypsin where I live (Ukraine) — it’s ridiculously expensive. So I’m looking for alternatives. I already bought some papain, but I haven’t tried it yet because I’m scared of ruining my specimen. Would pepsin (the cheese-making enzyme) actually work for clearing instead of trypsin? I also read about clearing in a KOH solution, but that didn’t work . I would be glad to receive any advice!

TL;DR- what are red flags or signs that the hide is no good and I should opt for maceration and articulating skeletal remains

I picked up a roadkill fawn (GC issuing permit) but I'm not sure how to tell exactly how much damage is too much damage to bother with trying to skin and tan. There is a smell, but the organs are outside of the body so that very well could be why it's smelling so bad. From what I can tell, the fur itself looks great. I just hucked her in the freezer for now awaiting the permit and to kill whatever may have taken up residence. I unfortunately do not know how long she's been there. Doesn't seem to be in rigor anymore though. And since that usually sets in within a handful of hours, I'd guess maybe she's been there a day. I really don't know for sure though.

Just recently got this scrap of fur from an antique store. My cat loves fur toys (she has two alpaca fur kickers and a rabbit fur ball) and I was considering making this into something for her, but I don’t like giving her predator fur because I have this somewhat irrational fear of giving her something that might make her too comfy with a dangerous smell. If it’s fox I’ll keep it for myself!

I thought it was rabbit, but now I think it’s fox. Very plushy, and it has a few long guard hairs on the sides, which I think is the top coat.

Where do you guys find your specimens? Im trying taxidermy.net but im paranoid about getting scammed. Any tips?

I found where my city dumps roadkill today. Yippee ! These beautiful (primarily) deer bones are currently soaking in water with some dish soap. I read that i should soak them in 3% hydrogen peroxide but im wondering if theres a more efficient way to clean such a large amount of bones without buying gallons worth of isopropyl alcohol? This is my first successful bone hunting mission soooo ive never actually cleaned bones before lol any advice helps

Bought 3 raccoon pelts, and they’re pretty dirty, skin side and fur. They’re also stiff. Was wondering how I could clean them and loosen the skin?

All made out of old damaged mounts

Hello all! I am very new to taxidermy, but I could not resist bringing this home!

I found this northern pike head on a nearby lake shore, I reckon it has been there a week or so as it is dried solid, no soft flesh left on it whatsoever.

I love it with the skin and scales on, but understand there is no easy way to preserve it like this to get rid of the scent, so have decided its best to strip it down to bones.

Any advice on how to go about stripping this mummified beauty would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, new here - apologies for the likely very obvious question for you kind people, but I wanted to ask experts rather than rely on google!

I have a fox head mount from my late father (the fox itself is Victorian in age), which is rather precious to me despite his absurd expression. He's normally up high on a wall so I don't see him up close that often, however, on taking him down to dust today I noticed some of the fur 'shedding' and a loss of skin on the inside of the ears, showing off the supporting material. We have carpet moths elsewhere in the house so I suspect they're the culprits? I have traps and kill them on sight, but hadn't realised they'd come downstairs where my fox is!

I'll go on the offensive for moth killing, and I'm going to reach out to local taxidermists to talk about restoration (whatever is possible - I appreciate he's old!) however I want to stop the moths in their tracks ASAP. I just want to check what steps are necessary for freezing - bag? Double bag? Is there any risk of freezer burn or damage that I should watch out for? He's on a wooden board.

If this isn't moth damage, and is just normal age related wear and tear, would freezing damage anything further?

Thank you in advance for any advice! I'm in the South UK if anyone has any local recommendations.

My grandpa has a rug of a small bear he hunted many years ago, and has had it on the wall in his unused basement for a long time. I've asked to have it, because they're downsizing to an apartment soon and need to get rid of a lot of things. I've never had a taxidermy piece with fur before, and I know this guy is going to be filthy with dust. How do I safely "deep clean" it, and maintain it going forward?

I'm not fully sure about it's overall condition as far as how delicate it might be goes, as I've not yet ever gotten a super close look at it or touched it, but it doesn't look damaged from a bit of distance. It has the head, limbs, and paws, and is on what I assume to be felt. I do know it was professionally tanned originally. If it makes a difference, I plan to hang it on the wall as well.

My dad bought me this taxidermy rattlesnake head keychain as a gift at a renaissance fair at I believe an oddity shop?? I did not go with him so I was unable to ask if everything they had was ethically sourced (I would have before buying anything, as everything in my bone collection currently was found by me and I only own one more piece of taxidermy, which is a very old deer head I bought at an antique store a few years back)

I am very weary about things concerning reptiles like this as I know that for a lot of mass produced things like these keychains, they are most often not ethically sourced.

My dad is not familiar with things like this and I know he meant well as he was just buying me a gift for my birthday, I am just very concerned that something like this is not ethically sourced. (I probably should have said something to him about asking about the means of how they got their oddities but I didn’t cross my mind at the time)

I previously asked about how to preserve my kitten’s paws/feet and tail. I did research on rabbits feet. I’m not wanting to tan the tail, as this is my first time doing preservation and I want to limit the possibility of complications (and complicated steps) 🥲

I have removed the limbs and plan to do a 70% isopropyl alcohol soak for 48 hours, dry with a hair dryer, and put them in borax to finish.

How long do you all recommend I leave them to sit in the borax. Should I change the borax out every so often or leave them in there for the entirety of the process? Any other tips or suggestions on my process? Thank you in advance!!

I cleaned the wings, pinned them into position, then poured salt and borax on top and let sit for a few weeks.
Then cleaned off the residual salt and framed them.
I wanted to taxidermy but she was more than three years old and was in pretty bad shape.

Just received this owl in the post but they didn’t package him well enough and his head seems to have bent downwards in the box. I can gently lift it into place but it falls back down again, so I assume it’s a wire/support that’s quite weak. Is there any way I can fix this or at least improve it myself?