r/Taxidermy

Hello everyone - this community is in need of a few new mods, and you can use the comments on this post to let us know why you’d like to be a mod here. 

Priority is given to redditors who have past activity in this community or other communities with related topics. It’s okay if you don’t have previous mod experience and our goal, when possible, is to add a group of moderators so you can work together to build the community.

Please use at least 3 sentences to explain why you’d like to be a mod and share what moderation experience you have (if any).  

If you are interested in learning more about being a moderator on Reddit, please visit redditforcommunity.com. This guide to joining a mod team is a helpful resource. 

Comments from those making repeated asks to adopt communities or that are off topic will be removed. 

This is my first ever taxidermy! pretty happy with him!!! i have alot to learn though, The form isn’t very life like!

I’m not even sure if this is the right sub to be posting this on but I’m looking for anybody with experience to help. These are horns from my champion ram and founder of my flock along with being a literal lap dog. I’m looking for how to best remove the bone from the outer sheath. It’s been four days since his passing and I’ve had them soaking for 2 days. They are still extremely tight in the sheath and I don’t want to risk breaking or damaging them. I also don’t want to risk keeping the bone inside the sheath because his horns are already such a light color that the grease would most likely yellow them. So any advice would be greatly appreciated and I thank you for taking your time to read this.

I received these horns for basically pocket change and wanted to know what I should do to display them? I thought about buying a replica skull and mounting them on but it’s impossible for me to find them without pedicles. Any and all advice is welcome especially if you have pieces of your own to show. Thank you!

Share your first works)) I just had a problem with body formation because I didn't understand and couldn't make a good dense frame. In the end, the guinea pig came out as a stuffed animal. I'll try again))

If it's not difficult, share helpful tips 😊

I have a (presumably) very old bird mount my father gave me. I don't know its species and if its endangered but I don't plan to sell it so there shouldn't be any problem (at least here in Germany).
Now for my question, its feathers are in very bad shape and even when carefully trying to get them back into shape with hot steam and gloves they just snap right back into their original state. Is there any other way to bring them back to their former glory or did too much time pass and they will stay like this forever?
Thanks!!

I’m sure this is a simple one….. but, I bought this a few years ago, thought it looked cool, was £150, bought it with a load of other taxidermy. I always thought it was a “Indian blackbuck” however…. After looking at some pictures, they don’t seem to have these holes that are below the eyes ? They don’t appear to be “man made” but I’m struggling to see a live picture of anything that matches.
(I’m assuming is a simple answer, like they are glands that are closed when they are alive or something.. but thought I’d ask the experts…)

So my girlfriend just recently had a hysterectomy and asked to receive it back from pathology afterwards so she can have it as a wet specimen in her taxidermy collection. Just picked it up today. We thought it would come in a jar of formalin but it didn't. Which is confusing because they gave her a formalin safety sheet when we picked it up. So we were wondering what the best possible way to preserve it is so it won't get ruined in the waiting process of us trying to get the materials needed. Does anyone have any advice on the safest way to store it for now? Should we put it in the fridge or freezer? Will the freezer give it freezer burn or ruin it at all? Or is it good to sit out since they most likely used formalin on it already? The safety sheet that came with it says to store it between 59°f to 77°f but is that only if it's full of formalin?

She sent a message to her doctor asking if she's supposed to put it in the fridge or not. We're just waiting for a response. Hopefully that'll be tomorrow.

& Where do we even find a good glass jar to preserve it in long term? What percentage of formalin do we get? Are there any specific brands to stay away from? How would she go about making it into the wet specimen that sits in the jar? What's the correct process? We see other reddit threads saying things need to soak for a bit first?

This will be her very first wet specimen project. So any tips will be appreciated.

Hey everyone, I've been tasked with fixing this caiman specimen. It hasn't been touched in years and has a bit of wear and tear. What would be the best way to fix the leg, toes, and teeth?