Originally Posted by Clem

Just curious about this - if taxidermy mounts have tanned-finished hides and no other meat/fat or anything other than a form, how could these beetles destroy them? If a skull has to be skinned and the eyes removed for the beetles to work normally then a taxidermy mount wouldn't have anything for them to eat?

Or would they just gnaw on it anyway?


I have a hog head frozen that I'd love done but don't have time to skin it. It's been in my freezer almost three years. My wife's forgotten about it, thankfully. laugh


The skin, eyes, brain and excess flesh are removed to make the beetles more efficient and reduce rot and smell. They’d definitely eat that stuff, but it would be a slow process and rot and smell would kick in. As for mounts, the beetle larvae actually prefer a drier consistency in their food choices, thus the belief that hides would be in jeopardy. Most taxidermists who use them place a skinned head in front of a fan to get the flesh to a jerky like consistency. It’s a neat hobby, I had a colony for about a year but sold them to one of foldemup’s friends when I was moving to a new home with nowhere to keep them.