Don't risk boiling your trophy skull; opt for a safe beetle skull cleaning process with dermestid beetles!

Beetle Power: Maximizing Efficiency in Dermestid Beetle Colonies

Tips to breed a beetle colony for skull cleaning:

• Room Temperature is ideal for beetles
• Favorite dish: Fresh dried meat the consistency of jerky.
• Dermestids cannot fly at temperatures below 80 degrees
• Avoid wet meat
• A strong colony of dermestid beetles ( above 1000) will clean a deer skull in about 5 days.
• Museum mites are the enemies of dermestid beetles.
• Dermestids thrive only on fresh meat.
• Water them using a spray bottle
• The best enclosure for dermestid beetles is a small (10-gallon) aquarium, with a screened top.

How do I count my dermestid beetles?

You can put a piece of bologna on a potato masher and place in a tank. When the bologna is covered, pull it out and dump into container. Usually you get approximately 500 flesh eating beetles for each dump.