Category: Free Inquiry

About a month ago, I came across a baby deer that had been hit by a car on the side of the road. I carried it down the ravine into the forest and concealed it with some brush and debris. This week, I returned to check on the deer’s decomposition progress. I didn’t expect to see much change, but I was surprised to find that it was almost completely decomposed. The skeleton was much smaller than I remembered, and the skull was tiny. I plan to leave it for a few more weeks to ensure there are no remaining bits of hair or flesh before I take some pieces of the skeleton home to degreese.

This week, my Burgundy Goliath Birdeater tarantula, Hades (Theraposa stirmi), molted! This is especially exciting because he has only one final molt left before reaching his full size. The Burgundy Goliath Birdeater is the largest species of tarantula in the world, with a leg span of up to a foot—about the size of a subway sandwich. While Hades isn’t that big yet, he’s getting closer. Also, I’m thrilled because I can preserve his molt and turn it into a piece of art.

Not only is Hades the largest tarantula species in the world, but he also possesses some of the most Irritating urticating hairs of any tarantula. In fact, these hairs can potentially cause blindness if they get in your eyes. The hairs were a significant issue for me while pinning Hades’s molt. In the past, when I had to rehouse him, I wore a mask, full-length gloves, and safety goggles. However, this time, I was a bit lazy, thinking that since a molt can’t actively kick hairs, I’d be fine with just gloves. I ended up coughing and feeling itchy for the rest of the day. In a day or two, I’ll be able to remove the pins and frame his molt with some flowers and a crystal to replace the abdomen—definitely wearing more than just gloves next time!

When a tarantula molts, it sheds its old exoskeleton to allow for growth. This process is essential for their development as their exoskeleton does not expand like human skin. During molting, the tarantula becomes vulnerable, often lying on its back or side while it slowly emerges from the old shell. Molting not only allows for size increase but also helps regenerate lost limbs or repair damage. It, requiring a safe, stress-free environment for the tarantula and takes about a week for their new exoskeleton to harden.

I wasn’t able to get a video of Hades molting, but a few months ago, I did capture a timelapse of my juvenile Salmon Pink Birdeater tarantula, Petrie, during his molt. Although the process typically takes several hours, the timelapse shows the amazing transformation in a shorter time. It’s truly an amazing sight to witness.

I had planned to pin some bugs this week but I’ve been really sick and still don’t seem to be getting any better. I also don’t have the energy to work on my cow scull so I decided that I would use this week to get some inspiration for some new projects.

When people visit my house for the first time I often have to warn them about the multiple unusual creatures and specimens I own. The longer you look, the stranger things get. My sanity is often questioned once they notice the pickled hamster in a jar on my bookshelf. I have quite the collection of tiny oddities scattered randomly around my house because i never know where to put them. An odditties and curiosities tray that I can hang on my wall would be so much better than having them placed randomly around my house. I also think it will be fun to fill up the little tray spaces with tiny side projects I complete throught my free inquiry project.

Above are a few tiny specimens I already own that I would add to my oddities and curiosities tray… From Left to Right:

1. One of my pet Black Widows egg sacks that hatched inside the glass vial.¹
2. Dragon Fly Wet Specimen
3. One of the Molts from my baby Asian Forest Scorpion (his name is Nero)
4. My pet jumping spider that I preserved once she died of old age (her name is Dimitri)
5. The Fangs from my Orange Baboon Tarantulas Molt when he was a baby (his name is nibbles because Orange Baboon tarantulas (OBT’s) are also known as Orange Bitey Things in the tarantula hobby)
6. The “helmet” from one of Dimitri’s molts.
7. Domestic Cat Jaw
8. Rabbit Foot
9. Snake shed from my Ball Python (her name is Lilith)

*Every specimen I own and will own are ethically scourced*

1. ↩︎

This week i took a trip to the Victoria Bug Zoo to get some inspiration from their framed preserved bugs they have available for purchace their gift shop. I found that they were also selling dried out butterflies and moths wrapped in parchment for sale to pin them yourself. I decided to buy a large pack of them with the intentions of teaching myself how to pin them with the help of some youtube videos.

I’ve had a half decayed bear claw in my freezer for the past couple months that ive been procrastinating doing something with. I cut it off a dead bear carcas my friend and i found on her property while out riding horses a few months ago. It is probably one of the most disgusting things ive ever smelt in my life and ive been dreading smelling it again.

So, ive decided to try an expirament. I have no idea if its going to work since im keeping it in an airtight jar but while its still frozen I put it in a jar of hot water and am going to change the water every couple weeks to check its progress in hopes that the microorganisms in the water will slowly remove the flesh from the bone. I’m attempting it this way so that it doesnt stink up my house(I hope) other than when i do the water changes that I am very much not looking foreward to.

This week I’m focusing on the cleaning and preservation of the cow skull I collected while on a trail ride a few years back. The first step of preserving a cow skull is to remove any soft tissue from the bone. My skull has been sitting in my backyard for the past few years so any soft tissue left on her when i found her is completely gone thanks to my flesh eating bug friends that live outside.

I am currently on the maceration part in my preservation process which is to remove any grease or protein left on her. There are two types of maceration methods; hot water maceration and cold water maceration. My cow skull is very massive and I don’t have a pot big enough to fit her in to do hot water maceration so im using the cold water technique She’s been sitting in a massive bucket fulled with water and dawn dish soap for the past month or so with one water chance around the two week mark. She smells absolutely disgusting and im worried she’s not degreased enough because of how smelly and dirty the water is but I’ve cleaned and scrubbed her off the best i could. I’m also not sure what the yellow mucus is in the water… that’s disgusting. The hardest part is removing all the moss that’s grown on her during the years.

Before i can move on to the whitening process i have to let her dry out first for at least a day or two. Once she’s dried out I’ll be placing her back in the bucket but this time with a concentrated hydrogen peroxide solution and let her soak for around a day. I am most nervous for this step because im worried I’ll forget about her or procrastinate and leave her soaking for too long and have her come out brittle and cracked.

For my free inquiry project, I have decided to explore various methods of preserving bugs and animals. I currently care for eight tarantulas, a scorpion, a giant vinegaroon, two cats, and a 5-foot long ball python. My deep love for animals makes me very sensitive to the idea of any creature suffering. However, I’ve come to realize that instead of feeling sad when encountering dead animals, I want to appreciate that they are no longer in pain. My goal is to honour these creatures by either creating art with their remains or burying them so they can return to the earth.

I have a small amount of experience with preserving animals. I first started after one of my tarantulas passed away from old age. She was a Aphonopelma Seemani (Costa Rican Zebra tarantula).I learned how to taxidermy her by following a YouTube tutorial.

Three years ago, while riding horses with a friend on ranch lands where I grew up, we discovered a cow skeleton. We picked up the skull and tied it to my saddle. It sat in my backyard for years, drying out, until three weeks ago when I decided it was finally time to degrease it. The skull is currently submerged in a large tub of soapy water. My next step will be to bleach it using a hydrogen peroxide and water solution, which I plan to document this week.

Recently, a different friend and I were riding in the forest when we found a diseased bear. Since it was on her property, she is keeping the bear to process its skeleton, but she generously let me take one of the claws. The claw is currently in my freezer until I figure out how to preserve it, which I aim to do this week.

A few years ago, I had pet rats that all passed away from old age. They were sitting in my freezer until last month, when I decided to bury them in my backyard alongside a robin I found by the side of the road. I plan to dig them up in a year to see how challenging it is to reconstruct the skeletons.

Just last week, while driving home from a barn where I train horses, I came across a dead baby deer on the side of the road. I hated that it was just laying ant the side of the road so, I decided to do something. I picked up the deer and carried it down a ravine that leads into a forest. There, I found a pile of branches and debris and covered the baby deer to keep it hidden while it decomposes. In a few months, I’ll return to check on its decomposition progress.

For my free inquiry project, I have set the goal of learning how to pin and preserve bugs, mummify a mouse, and hopefully teach myself how to taxidermy a rat.