Deremestid Beetle Options

[Cana]

I just noticed you can buy deremestid beetles on amazon. I'm curious if anyone ordered beetles online, and how well they held up?

 

[Grumman]

Never done it but may be a good gift to have shipped to my mother in law. On a serious note I’m curious if someone has been successful with them. I need to clear freezer space from deer and hog heads that need euro mounts done.


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[JG358]

I've thought about getting beetles many times but never have. Skulls taxidermy sells them too. Everyone I know that has had beetles in the past no longer has them. Most lost their colonies to invasive insects, some to temp issues. Takes time to build a productive colony. Cant just buy a kit and start doing a bunch of skulls.

 

[jumpinmule]

I had them for about three years and it takes a lot of work to keep them going and as stated above they can't get cold as they will freeze to death and they can get infested with mites which hinders their ability to feed. I kept two separate colonies to make sure I always had some. Biggest pain is keeping them fed unless you know a lot of guys wanting fresh euro's done. They don't do well on rotten meat or meat that is dried super hard. They are nice if its what you enjoy doing all the time! Wouldn't recommend as a part time hobby

 

[rbljack]

X2 what jumpinmule said. I had them for about two years. If you want to do euros, id recommend checking out the method that whitebones creations uses on youtube. Its much quicker and MUCH less hassle. The only advantage the beetles have is that they will clean out the nasal cavity in a much cleaner fashion and leave all the delicate bone in there. Using the method that whitebones creation does, you loose that, but its a small price to pay for the convenience of getting the job done. Trust me...beetles done right is a slow process.

 

[LostArra]

Trust me...beetles done right is a slow process.

What is the time for an average deer skull with a home colony?
Does the health or size of the colony matter?
I take my skulls to a local place that is nationally known for cleaning skeletons of all sizes and species. It was featured on Mike Rowe's Dirtiest Jobs show. They do museum quality work and can turn around a skull in about a month except during deer gun season (maybe 3 months) so I was thinking the limitation may be the number of beetles.

Custom Cleaning and Skeleton Articulation - Skulls Unlimited

With works in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, we’ve offered the highest-quality skull cleanings and skeletal articulations since 1986.

www.skullcleaning.com

Interesting story. One of my daughter's friends had a three legged greyhound that passed. She had Skulls Unlimited do an articulated skeleton that sits in her living room. Kind of creepy.

 

[jumpinmule]

Interesting story....Can’t say I would be a fan of euro’d dog either!! But each to their own. Starting out with a small group of beetles you purchase it would take weeks to clean a deer skull but once you get a colony built up to say 50k beetles they can knock it out in a day. Doesn’t take long to build a colony up to this level if you keep them supplied with food. Its best to start with small skulls and build the colony up to deer and then elk sized skulls. Once they clean the skull off there is still another weeks worth of degreasing and bleaching. As rbljack stated its slow done right.

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

The only advantage the beetles have is that they will clean out the nasal cavity in a much cleaner fashion and leave all the delicate bone in there. Using the method that whitebones creation does, you loose that, but its a small price to pay for the convenience of getting the job done. Trust me...beetles done right is a slow process.

I dunno man, I would sooner leave a skull in the woods than destroy the nasal cavity on a euro...I'm a sucker for turbinates though, different strokes for different folks but I cringe a bit every time I see a nice bear or ram get simmered. Everyone I know that's had beetles doesn't have them anymore either, much harder to keep consistent temps up here so I personally stick with maceration. One other downside to simmering is it will shrink the skull, not going to take a full inch off the score or anything but certainly could be the difference between making the book or not if that is something that matters to you.

 

[rbljack]

What is the time for an average deer skull with a home colony?
Does the health or size of the colony matter?
I take my skulls to a local place that is nationally known for cleaning skeletons of all sizes and species. It was featured on Mike Rowe's Dirtiest Jobs show. They do museum quality work and can turn around a skull in about a month except during deer gun season (maybe 3 months) so I was thinking the limitation may be the number of beetles.

Custom Cleaning and Skeleton Articulation - Skulls Unlimited

With works in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, we’ve offered the highest-quality skull cleanings and skeletal articulations since 1986.

www.skullcleaning.com

Interesting story. One of my daughter's friends had a three legged greyhound that passed. She had Skulls Unlimited do an articulated skeleton that sits in her living room. Kind of creepy.

The beetles will clean the skull in less than a week if you have trimmed all the excess off. You also have to get the brain matter rinsed out and get the eyeballs out. Once the beetles clean the skull off completely, you then have to soak and degrease the skull and that is the time consuming part. For me, they would soak for a few weeks in the soap solutions heated with aquarium heaters and water changes.

 

[Hmr]

Yeah, the degreasing part was the biggest pain in the ass of the whole process imo.
I had beetles for a couple years, and did quite a few deer skulls for people. In the off season I would feed them dry cat food, seemed to hold them over till the skulls started coming in again.
One thing I learned from doing it was, you definitely need a separate heated building to keep these in, since the smell can be not so pleasant. Hands down the bug method will give you the best euro mounts.

 

[bowuntr]

I have a beetle colony I started 10 years ago with beetles I bought off ebay... still going strong. I've even helped get half a dozen guys started from my colony. There's a learning curve but once you figure it out there's very little work involved. Ed F

 

[30338]

Maceration, so easy.

 

[4ester]

I’ve had my personal colony for a little over 3 years now. I’ve had some bumps along the way, but nothing that I couldn’t overcome. Thought I froze them once..... warmed it back up and they started moving again. I have a dedicated freezer where I save my elk trimmings in quart bags and some heads. Find a few local guys that trap and you can keep them fed. The colony numbers are controlled by how much food you give them. I never trim meat off or take out the brains, as the brains will make your numbers explode. Although my heads do have a bit of a smell for awhile.

I built my bug box out of an old freezer. Insulated well, and keeps them from chewing out. I heat it with like 15-20 feet of industrial heat trace zip tied to an old broke radiator and a good thermostat. I have an exhaust fan to clear out the box 30 minutes everyday on a cheap timer. I’ve had ambient temps down to -40 F and haven’t lost them yet. I can’t do elk heads which kinda sucks, but that would require a huge box.

Always freeze the heads for 2 days before putting them in, to mitigate flies and mites.

The biggest PIA is the degreasing and the teeth falling out, whitening, etc.

Contact Kodiak Bugs and Bones for good clean beetles, and he can answer all the questions you may have.



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[bowuntr]

Beetles are the only way to go.... Ed F

 

[SLDMTN]

Be very wary of buying beetles online unless they offer a mite and ham beetle guarantee.

Unless you're going to clean skulls for a side gig, masceration is the easiest way to preserve nasal bones. Smell is comparable to beetles. Check out U.S. Skull Hunter on YouTube.

Beetles require almost daily attention. The three main hurtles are climate, ham beetles and mites.
-Climate is probably the easiest to control but requires effort to monitor temps and humidity.
-Ham beetles can crawl up glass so they're almost impossible to keep out. They eat the larvae of the dermestids which obviously kills the population.
-Mites will piggyback in on deadheads. Once in the colony, they piggyback on the beetles for transportation. They keep the beetles from breeding and eating much of anything.

I will echo that everyone I know who has owned them for hobby work has gotten rid of them. I've had mine for two years now, cleaning commercially for 6 months. I'm well north of 100 skulls this year since going into business. When my crew is hungry, I can have a medium sized herbivore clean in 48 hours easily. They especially love goats and sheep, good taste in meat I guess. Bears take a little longer to no surprise.

 

[OldRussian]

Adding washing soda to your boil is also a cheap and maintenance free alternative.