How did you start off doing taxidermy? Any tips for someone who wants to get into it (I mean, like making their own stuff, I already have lots of taxidermy)? I really wanna get into taxidermy because sadly, people aren't careful driving on the road I live on which takes a lot of critters over time and I wanna start preserving them.
Itâs difficult to give a starting point on how I got into taxidermy, Iâve been processing my own specimens since I was 13! Itâs mainly just being around those spaces.
As for tips, it may seem obvious, but use gloves when handling anything (wild) raw! Once youâve been doing it long enough it seems optional sometimes but donât let yourself get lazy with it (Iâm guilty of it myself once in a while), itâs a safety precaution.
Use your freezer! Donât be afraid to freeze things at ANY point in the process if youâre overwhelmed or otherwise stuck, it can save your pelt and give you time to figure things out. If you donât have a freezer (or you donât want dead animals in your food freezer) investing in a cheap one from facebook marketplace or similar places is a good idea.
Youâre gonna mess up. No way around it. Youâll lose a pelt or two, itâs all part of learning, donât beat yourself up about it.
Go for the good stuff. Donât use the orange bottle tan, egg tan, brain tan (I wouldnât recommend you handle the brain of any animal If you can help it, let alone tan with it), anything like that. I can provide links to exact products but for tanning pelts lutan, rittels, and trubond are my favorites.
If you plan to do more tanning, invest in a wire wheel. Itâll improve your tans and save you lots of time. You can make one yourself at home if you donât want to buy a commercial one. In the meantime, fleshing and thinning the hide with scissors and a scalpel will be sufficient on most small critters, it just takes a LOT of time and patience.
If you are tanning full pelts for taxidermy or just for wallhangers you should learn how to turn ears, split lips, and turn noses. It produces a much cleaner and better tan. On that same note, remove all the toe bones if you are keeping paws on! In things like squirrels or smaller you can get away with leaving the whole toe in but for anything larger you need to remove every toe bone except the last one connected to the claw, this can be a learning curve to figure out. Also, especially on canines and other species with cushioned paw pads you must remove the pad of fat inside the paw pad, it will degrade over time if you donât and likely wonât dry correctly to begin with!
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask more specifically, good luck! :)
