Dermestid beetles, often known as carpet beetles, are bugs that like to eat dead tissue from corpses, such as meat and hair. The dermestids live in colonies and survive for around three months as adults. Taxidermists employ their territories, which have long been used in taxidermy, to guarantee that your game skull is cleaned and ready for exhibition.
How are they used
These flesh-eating bugs effectively preserve fragile skull bones while eliminating the flesh. These bugs are known as “dermestes maculatus” because they thoroughly clean carcasses. Taxidermists frequently use carpet beetles to protect the fragile nasal or ear bones in the skull, which can be injured if cleaned by hand.
Reasons they are most preferred.
Most non-insect ways of extracting flesh from a specimen in taxidermy include boiling bones. This procedure is untidy and has a foul stench. Even prolonged boiling may not be enough to remove all tissue from the sensitive nose area. Fatty deposits may sink into the bone during the cooking process, discoloring it. A colony of devoted beetles, on the other hand, can completely clean a corpse while preserving the integrity of delicate nasal bones and leaving no sign of tissue.
Less effort: Boiling or chemically removing bones has some risks and creates a mess, including cleaning the cooking equipment and disposing of the components. On the other hand, Insects require no cleaning other than routine colony upkeep.
How many does one require?
If you don’t mind waiting eight weeks for a larva to mature into an adult beetle, you’ll need many egg-laying adult beetles to get your colony started. The number of beetles you’ll need after that is determined by the size of the skulls you’ll be cleaning for taxidermy. Mice, rats, ground squirrels, and other tiny rodents require just 100-300 beetles. If you want to work with more enormous skulls, such as a bear or a deer, you will need several thousand.
How to care for these beetles
Dermestids, like other bugs, like a warm habitat, which they may achieve with the help of a heating light, and thrive in temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees. The beetles may be maintained in big plastic containers with adequate bedding; however, due to odor difficulties, they will need to be kept in a well-ventilated area, especially when they begin their taxidermy and cleaning job. Beetle colonies don’t need a lot of attention.
How to keep them alive
Temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal for dermestid beetles. This may be performed by keeping the colonies in a warm room, using an under-tank heat pad or a heat bulb that does not produce light.
When buying, get a reputable supplier.
You’ll need to locate a vendor that sells dermestid beetles for sale to get started. It’s critical to find a provider that can guarantee that its colonies are healthy and free of other pests, mites, or fly larvae. These insects have the potential to wipe out the beetle colony.
In conclusion, dermestid beetles are gaining popularity in taxidermy due to their many advantages.
