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Taxidermy care
There are a few things to bare in mind when you purchase taxidermy.
They do need protecting, after all they are real skin.
Therefore it’s important to take steps to best preserve the longevity of your specimen.
It’s important that taxidermy is kept out of direct sunlight as this can fade the specimen and sun bleach the fur on the exposed side, it can also cause the fur and skin to become more brittle and be more prone to breakage and splitting.
It’s also important to keep the taxidermy away from heat sources, such as above or beside working fire places.
Taxidermy is flammable, and just like your own hair it will burn away very fast if it’s exposed to flames, eyes are also commonly made of acrylic and can melt.
Heat will also damage the mount indirectly and play havoc with the skin and adhesive materials used inside.
It’s very important taxidermy is kept dry, so away from direct moisture but also away from humid environments, if you suffer with damp in your home, this could cause a huge threat to your taxidermy which when rehydrated is at risk of going mouldy, losing fur and skin splitting.
And lastly, bugs! Although there isn't or rather, shouldn't be, any meat content inside your taxidermy, just like there isn't in your wool clothing or wool carpets, taxidermy is still very susceptible to the dreaded clothes moth.
Left untreated, clothes moth larvae will decimate a mount from the inside out, and you won't notice until all the fur/feathers fall out and you're left with a bald animal.
So it’s important to routinely treat your taxidermy with a protector spray, this can be purchased from taxidermy supply stores such as JHTsupplies found online.
Alternatively a clothes moth spray found on the high street can be fairly effective, though may not offer protection for as long so may need treating more regularly.
Generally we recommend twice a year spray downs, and it can help also to keep moth balls and traps in the rooms with your taxidermy to help prevent them in the first place.
If you suspect your taxidermy has moths already, the best thing to do is to freeze the taxidermy asap for a few days to a week in order to kill the larvae and eggs, if you can't fit your taxidermy in the freezer, an alternative it to put them into a bin liner bag, with a insect fogger found at most larger pet retail stores for treating flea infestations, and treat them that way, or indeed whole rooms.
Just be aware that any form of insecticidal treatments should not be carried out anywhere near live animals, please relocate live animals during treatment, and make sure to well ventilate treated rooms before bringing animals back in.
Taxidermy constrain
from JHTsupplies
Clothes moth and Larvae
Picture from google.
Wet Specimen Care
Care of Wet specimens is fairly straight forward.
They're stored in alcohol, so always keep away from heat sources as they're very flammable.
Keep away from direct sunlight for a similar reason, but also because it will fade specimens.
Wet preserved specimens are best kept in jars that are all glass with ground necks, these will last indefinitely.
Some people often keep them in glass jars with rubber seals or plastic lids, these are also ok, however you just have to be aware the alcohol may degrade the rubber seals over time or cause plastic to become brittle, it can take years so is slow but best to just keep an eye on them, or replace jars every few years to keep them sound.
The only ones you should avoid are jars with metal lids, because the alcohol will rust metal over time which may in turn leech into your specimen as well as eat away at the lid over time and make holes.
Also avoid cork lids as these are not air tight and alcohol will evaporate quite quickly, and topping them up won't help since it won't evaporate in equal measures of alcohol and water, so you'll be left with a fluid that's not 70% isopropyl like it should be. If your fluids evaporate you must change out the fluids entirely for new.
Skeleton Care
There's very little care requires for skeletons or any bones other than the most important one, try not to break it!
Bones are susceptible to being broken, best kept away from children and animals.
Bone is also delicate to temperature changes, while bone copes fine in both cold and warm temperatures, a fluctuation between the two can cause teeth the fracture, its a fairly common problem present in most skulls, especially in canines, best to put a little bit of glue in the crack so ensure you don't lose any pieces that could fall out the socket.
Invertebrate care
Invertebrate care is fairly similar to taxidermy care, you want to avoid direct sunlight as it will fade specimens, but it may also cause frames or dome displays to form condensation and the last thing you want is moisture around your inverts as it will encourage mould to take hold.
Your biggest threat is bug damage, you can often spot bug damage because you'll notice tiny black specks in your display directly under your specimen, this means you've got bugs eating your specimen and it needs treating immediately to kill them, we recommend freezing the specimen quickly to kill off any bugs and eggs, if the display is too complex to put in the freezer then i recommend the following.
Uncover your specimen, if its in a frame, remove the glass and frame so you just have your specimen on the back board, place it into a fairly large empty storage box that has a lid.
Then lift the lid slightly and aim a can of insect repellent such as Raid (others are available) into the box but not directly at the specimen, aim away from your specimen, spray the can for around 10 seconds and then put the lid down immediately and leave for 1 hour.
This should kill anything inside the box, and then you can safely remove your specimen, leave it to air dry for a day and then put it back as it was.
Its best to do this outside if you can, or in a well ventilated space away from other people and animals.
If you notice mould on your specimens you can use a plant mister with pure alcohol in to lightly spritz your specimen, this will kill the spores.
if its a beetle or other invert that's quite sturdy with a solid exo skeleton, you can also gently use a cotton bud dipped in alcohol to rub the mould spores off with. but do not attempt that with butterflies and moths as you could damage them.
An example taken from google, of bug damage that has gone untreated, eventually the specimen is eaten from the inside out.
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