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nikkiburr — Cat Skull
Published: 2007-02-13 04:16:02 +0000 UTC; Views: 20317; Favourites: 304; Downloads: 800
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Description
This was my first skull, and the one that got me into collecting deads in the first place. I was walking my dog out in the woods and she led me to this friendly little thing lying dejectedly in the leaf litter. Intrigued, I wielded a trusty stick and somehow managed to carry both skull and mandible home with only the stick between it and my bare hands (I'm smart enough to not touch these things
). Once home I boiled, soaked, scrubbed, and peroxided it, and on my shelves it has lived ever since. As far as I know, it is a domestic cat. Why it was out in the woods, completely unscathed - free of any toothmarks from a hungry animal, with not a single bone from rest of the cat's body in sight...I will never know, and will always wonder. In any case, I love my cat skull dearly and even though it's not as white and pretty as my other ones...well...it holds a special place in my heart 
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Comments: 32
Hiya!
I'm using the bottom picture as a reference for a skull study piece, I've posted a wip photo onto my dA account if you'd like to check it out
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Skulls are very interesting, I could probably use these picks for some of my drawings. ^_^
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I found the top half of a cat skull under the deck. Its still there cause I can't have it.
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Hello! I feel identificated with your story.I found a dead cat while walking with my dogs. It was looking so cool that i took it in my house (i used the bag to remove the poos of the doggies) I boiled it and used peroxide, the teachers in my university told me how to do (I study veterinary) Now its all clean and beautiful. I continued going to the place to take the rest of the body and i am going to complete the whole skeleton soon! I have the same feeling than you, when i look at the skull I feel proud of it and I think i was lucky to find it. It took me a lot of job doing this, and even if it was pretty disgusting sometimes, i think i have find a new hobby and i just want to continue collectind skelletons.
Sorry for this long comment >.<
And thanks for your pic and story!!
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I actually have one I'm going to be bringing home as soon as I can find somewhere to clean it that isn't home. (fiance and mother do not wish it to be boiled here lol) right now it's in the corner of my uncles garage where they found it months ago when it still had flesh. Why they didn't take it out is beyond me but I'll have it anyways (if I had the skill and knew all the bones were there I'd take the whole skeleton and rearticulate it)
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That's just about exactly how i came across my first skull and got interested in collecting them. I was walking in the woods when i came across a cat skull. I never found the mandible though. Shortly after i found a raccoon skull. Currently I have 10 beautiful skulls. The smallest being a short-tailed shrew and the largest being a male deer. I just love exploring the woods and finding some new skulls.
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Photographs like this are so useful in studying feral anatomy for drawing. Very, very nice.
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Umm, i've always whitened the skulls i collect by dumping them in an ants' nest.... the ants take care of the flesh and tendons and their acid bleaches the bones :3 But this takes a long time, the longer the whiter the skull. I'd say as a guideline 1-2 weeks is enough though.... Try it out, works for fox skulls
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Great first skull find! 
However, I've been told by several people that boiling skulls is bad for them and causes the oil and grease to get caught in the bone and will lead to bone dryness and flakiness down the road. I have never had this problem with any of my skulls and was wondering if you might have noticed any of this with your skulls that you've boiled?
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Aye, I've heard the same thing. As I understood it, boiling breaks down the bone causing it to deteriorate faster over time... or something like that. In my taxidermy book it says to never boil em for more than a half an hour, which is a rule I have always followed. If I can avoid boiling a skull (like if it's mostly decomposed anyway when I find it) then I'll just mascerate it for a while instead of boiling. I don't have anywhere to do major long term masceration though, so boiling is usually my only option for skulls that are fresh/uncleaned. Honestly? The only degradation I have seen that I'm assuming is boiling related is that my gray fox's teeth are brittle/chipping...but that was I think the first skull I boiled and I think I DID boil it for over a half an hour.
There is a chemical that you can buy (forget what it's called) that you add to boiling water to help break down the tissue faster so that you can shorten boiling time and I do use that. It's actually been years since I've boiled a skull though so I can't remember how long it takes with the addition of the stuff... (such things are not entirely compatible with apartment living). I think the last skull I did was my possum and there is no grease staining in that one. I add dish detergent to my soaking water which I think helps in that sense.
Masceration or dermestid beetles are the safest-for-bone methods of cleaning, but both of those are a little harder for the general population to manage
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Oh! So the "no boiling" rule applies to skulls that still have gunk attached?
I let nature clean all the yucky stuff off (under the safety of a flower pot, of course) then take the skull in to boil. It would make sense that boiling a skull with flesh still attached to it would create a higher risk of oil seepage into the bone. It can take a long time waiting on nature to get my prize to the point where I take it in for boiling but I don't mind. And I'm exceptionally fond of the boiling part of the process because it puts my mind to rest as to whether the skull/bones are entirely disinfected. I know that hydrogen peroxide is said to achieve the same thing but I like to be sure.
And I've had skulls that have not been boiled come up with cracked or slightly flaky teeth, much to my surprise. Perhaps if not done incorrectly, boiling isn't really the big, bad thing everyone else is saying that it is?
Do you macerate your bones in a pail of warm water?
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Well I think any lengthy stint of boiling will cause the damage regardless of whether or not it's still got gunk on it. Personally I *only* boil stuff specifically to get gunk off. I think peroxide does the kill-everything-ever part pretty well (at least I haven't died yet from handling only peroxided skulls heh). If you're just boiling to kill stuff, you probably don't need to boil for anywhere near the 30 minutes at all.
And honestly, I think a lot of professionals boil skulls. If it's done correctly, I don't think it'll do any real harm... I suspect people are hyping up the 'danger' a lot more than is really necessary. Least that's my opinion on it..
And to macerate you're supposed to let the skulls sit in warm (read: heated) water for several months until they're free of all gunk. I 1) don't have any kind of water heater/thermometer situation that I could use for such a thing and 2) don't have anywhere to put such a contraption where the horrid stench wouldn't offend the people I share living space with
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Okay, good to know. And yes, I cannot imaging the stench coming from a maceration tub.
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Oh, nice find.
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mrobid find, but treated kindly. Excellent photo!
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The same thing has happened whit me: We found a dog skull (the upper part), without any other bones or bit mark.
Your cat skull looks great
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I love the fact you took time to photograph the skull in these different positions - it shows the beauty and symmetry of the cat's skull to great affect. Wonderful!
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indeed it's a gorgeous looking fellow!
i've got a cat myself (skull that is ^^) but he's not as goodlooking as yours...
envy is all over the place!!
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youre getting me to want to collect these thing. So is that the order you clean the skulls? what about if it's still got the skin? im hoping to sneek in the neighbors pasture to find coyote, racoon, and pig skulls, cause theyre out there all the time. maybe ill find a dead cow, who knows!
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key to dead cow: pastures.
ive got a shit-ton of cow jaws, tibias, and femurs. the people who own the pastures (or maybe just this one lazy guy by my house)usually just dump any stillborn calves or cows that just pass away on one general location.
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I could only hope that doesn't lead to me getting shotr at for snooping on someone's land. Unfortunately I don't live on the same property I used to
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ya, "farmer joe" as my friends and i call him used to get mad and threaten to call the cops when he saw us but we told him we where just collecting the cow part and he was ok with it
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well that sure was nice of him
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hmm i see. so you dont do that in your house do you? soak the skull in water for a few days? im guessing that would make the house smell, plus my mom wouldnt exactly agree with that XD infact i dont think she'd really agree with me coming home with an animal's head in the first place XD
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I actually haven't found the perfect skull cleaning method yet. What I've been doing is 1) cleaning off all the grody gross stuff (if any) with a knife; 2) boiling for about 30 min and peeling off all the remaining grossness (I went online and bought a chemical called Sal Soda that you put in the boiling water and it turns flesh into jelly - very helpful); 3) soak the skull in water and maybe a little dish detergent for a few days to really loosen up anything remaining; 4) soak in hydrogen peroxide for a few days to further disinfect and bleach the skull. That's the basics of it. However, I've recently read that boiling skulls can damage them somehow, so I think I'm going to look into another method.
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God your so lucky 
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In fact, the dog skull is sitting on the desk right above my mouse. Every time I move my mouse up my fingers hit it
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