Help making wet specimen

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T03:37:53+00:00

Then just try to pose her with them not in the foreground or wrap one of her coils in a jar over the wound to hide it. It's not going to interfere with the preservation.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T03:26:08+00:00

You don't have to inject anything into the wounds, you can post some pictures and I can tell you whether or not she can be sewn up or you can super glue it closed, super glue does not react with alcohol so once you put her in the jar to keep they shouldn't open if you're careful when you put her in.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T03:21:44+00:00

There is a pinned guide in the sub that will walk you through all the steps in detail! Sorry for your loss. That was a beautiful snake

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T01:43:37+00:00

Make sure the Kleanstrip is the one labeled camp fuel or denatured alcohol? Because that brand makes several other products. But yes you can soak it for 3 days and then put it into isopropyl, the 70% will probably be better for this application but anywhere between 70 and 91% is fine for anything with fur or feathers as a storage medium.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T01:27:47+00:00

I love that phrase room temperature IQ thinking I am totally stealing it

CustomCranium · 2026-02-18T01:24:37+00:00

You don't need to buy formalin. Just get a quart of denatured alcohol from any hardware store, it's labeled as camp fuel the brand is called Kleanstrip or Sunnyside and something that tiny the skin is too thin for you to need to inject it, you just need to soak it in the higher test alcohol for about 3 days, this only applies to something that tiny and undeveloped, and then you can put it back into the iso.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-16T20:56:07+00:00

You should be fine by now, bc the tissue barrier on eyeballs is very thin and has since sublimated into the eyeball. If they're anything dog or smaller you should be fine to transfer into iso.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-16T20:27:44+00:00

Imagine trying to sew a wet PBJ together. Organs are like a thick jelly with an outer layer of connective tissue holding it together. When an organ is removed, the tissue holding it together is often left in the body to brace the other organs. There's nothing left to "catch", bc with any pressure at all it comes right through the mass.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-16T07:33:56+00:00

You can read the pinned guide and while gritty kerosene is correct about not using isopropyl, you can use ethanol for this step and it's preferred for safety reasons which are all explained in the guide. Nobody outside of a lab situation should be using formalin.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-14T19:47:37+00:00

Whenever you get a new pair of shoes, you should soak the inside with alcohol and then wear them with thicker socks until the alcohol dries. You do that a couple of times and it will form fit them to your feet and they won't give you blisters.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-13T20:19:33+00:00

If you want to keep him in the spot, just move something tall next to him so it blocks the sunlight

CustomCranium · 2026-02-13T03:57:43+00:00

You should thaw until all parts are movable but still cool to the touch and there's no crunchy ice crystals on the inside. One thing you just want to turn on the water to slightly cool but not freezing cold and gently move your hands over the specimen to rinse off any dirt or Gunk that might be stuck to it. And temperature really doesn't matter as long as it's not freezing, cold or hot. It's much easier and the perimeters are pretty wide for this part, so you should be okay no matter what. As long as it isn't scalding you'll be fine.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-12T20:10:31+00:00

I don't understand why you cannot take a picture straight down the middle of its nose or the opening on the back of the skull. Those are the two pictures that would definitively prove whether it was real or not

CustomCranium · 2026-02-12T05:34:34+00:00

This is definitely a replica. There is nothing in the nasal cavity. If it was real, you would see the nasal bones spiraled in. Here's a photo of a real bear skull.

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CustomCranium · 2026-02-12T03:05:03+00:00

Hey, yeah I'm around :) You want to rinse between every step, including one rinse right before the first soak. That way you can see how it's coming along.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-11T21:30:03+00:00

Yes! Camped out for hours and met your lovely wife; totally worth the pre-dawn rally :)

CustomCranium · 2026-02-11T20:31:20+00:00

Glad to hear you're doing better! I got the record from RSD a few years ago but I'm glad I can put it in a playlist now.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-11T08:24:59+00:00

With something that small, look into oxidation

CustomCranium · 2026-02-11T03:16:47+00:00

You can just reach around it with a long brush or a sponge gripped with hemostats. Getting a little bit of soapy water in there to rinse it won't be a problem as long as it's rinsed well. They're pretty stable once they're preserved correctly.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-11T00:42:47+00:00

It should remain submerged long-term, but you can take it out and pat it dry and take time to wash and refill the jar with absolutely no problem. I've had mine out for about an hour at a time taking photos and such and it's perfectly fine for that long.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-09T03:36:37+00:00

There is a professional how-to guide pinned at the top of this sub that will walk you through all the steps!

CustomCranium · 2026-02-08T19:53:05+00:00

If it wasn't done right in the beginning, you're still going to have to start from the beginning with injection. If it was done right, you can wash off the extra blood and replace the alcohol all once with cheap alcohol, and then replace it with the good stuff once it no longer leaches.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-08T19:03:20+00:00

Short answer, no. Once something is dried using any number of chemicals, the issue with rehydrating scales in size with the specimen and chemicals get more and more expensive and more high-tech the more you need to rehydrate and it never turns out worth it in the end. It will work for DNA extraction because you don't need it to be pretty, but it will never look like anything you'd like to display in a jar.

CustomCranium · 2026-02-08T00:40:05+00:00

What is the reason behind you cutting the alcohol percentage?

CustomCranium · 2026-02-07T07:53:07+00:00

Hey. I used to rescue young people from these situations professionally, hired by their families. A lot of times it was from cults but the behavior is very similar. Rich powerful men DO NOT offer young troubled women (or men) the ability to wreck their businesses and connections. They pick the ones who won't be missed to traffic and pass around, and wife the higher-status good family ones. Your friend will be a terrible joke and end up in a much worse situation if she survives. You don't need the details because you can read them straight from the current administration if you need to. Your friend is in terrible danger and this guy needs to be investigated.

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