#bone collector

[breathing-rapture]

WELCOME HOME, SON!!!

He’s so :3 he smile so :3

I FOUND HIM AT A FLEA MARKET FOR, I KID YOU NOT, $80. Which, if you’re not a taxidermy person, for reference: IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. LIKE UNHEARD OF INSANE. SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD USUALLY BE WORTH 2-300??? And he’s in perfect condition too, he’s so gorgeous and well mounted, over 30 years old and still pristine, and HE’S SMILEY :3 ohhhhh I love my son… any suggestions on what to name him?

[cryptickludovick]

Alaska moose, I think. By Brendon Gould.

[small-hornedbeetle]

I named her Carmilla

[birbbones]

working on a special neuropathic hydrocephalus calf with an anencephalic skull. First time I've seen something like this

[shopwitchvamp]

-Victorian Bats- -Bone Collector-

You've got until tomorrow night (5/24 at 11:59pm CT) to preorder either of these two beautiful gothic skater skirts by @vetiverfox! 🖤witchvamp.com🖤

[carrionhearted]

There’s such a widespread ignorance regarding vulture culture. Yet there are sooooo many wildly varying groups of people who connect over it… pagan folk, indigenous peoples, biology nerds, goths, country folk, artists, archaeologists, general nature lovers, entomology nerds, zoologists… the list goes on.

I love bones, I love the stories they tell, I love getting to hold and examine and clean and identify them, I love getting to KNOW them. I love getting to give them a warm place to rest. I love keeping that piece of them alive and loved. I think that’s what people don’t understand about vulture culture.

We don’t collect dead things because we’re twisted sickos who enjoy suffering??? We do it because some core part of our identity connects deeply with nature and life’s cycle— and because we have an immense appreciation and respect for every stage of it. I myself am pagan, that cycle is so central to my practice/ beliefs. I am also autistic, and my special interest happens to be vulture culture. Just because I collect and preserve the dead doesn’t mean I’m going to like… bite? Idek what people expect. I just want to talk about osteology and give you cool animal facts. I can introduce you to my bone collection, I can tell you each animal’s individual story- I take care to remember them all.

You look at the dead and see suffering. I look at the dead and see what once lived, what grew, I feel so proud of them for that, I see their beauty, their worth even when they’re grotesque and withered. I witness a step in the ever-marching cycle of life. Just because it’s unsightly to you doesn’t mean it’s undeserving of love. There is no life without death, and so I worship death as I do life. When you die, you will rot, and THERE IS BEAUTY IN THAT!!!!

[cosmiclion]

Opossum skull, one of my personal faves from my collection. Obtained from roadkill.

[museoftheprophet]

I tried searching but didn't find anything possibly because tumblr is a site run by 3 racoons :( could you possibly say what you do after you find a bone, to clean it?

Gladly!!!

When cleaning bones you just found: It depends on how old the bones are!

If you find anything that’s still a bit fleshy, you always wanna use gloves while handling it— avoid touching your face, and wash your hands thoroughly with soap afterwards. Simple safety measures like that pretty much suffice. You’ll wanna learn about hands-off decomp methods to get rid of the remaining tissue, like maceration or caged above-ground burial. Nature is wonderful at cleaning the flesh off of bones for you, bugs are your friends! Anything processed from fresh-ish will be VERY greasy once you get to the bare bones, so once you reach that stage, you’ll want to toss them in a dish soap bath with GENEROUS amounts of de-greasing dish soap for a few days up to a few weeks (depends on how greasy the bones are). (It’s important to make sure they are 100% fleshless, because the dish soap will kill off a lot of the lovely bacteria needed to decompose the tissues, and it’ll be real hard to remove the flesh without that). How do you know if your bone is done de-greasing? Check in on it— dry it out fully, and make sure it doesn’t feel oily, doesn’t look saturated in yellow, and doesn’t carry an odour. You can always toss it back in the dish soap bath if it needs more time. After de-greasing, a 24-48 hour hydrogen peroxide bath is an optional step you can take to get the bones extra white and disinfect even further!

If you find bones that are already fleshless and evidently old— there’s not much to worry about at all in terms of germs. Most bacteria that’s harmful to us would be carried in bodily-fluids, once it’s only dry bones left, they’re not much more dangerous to touch than like… a rock. A warm water & dish soap bath is still a good idea, to get rid of any stealthy grease hiding beneath the surface— since grease is often what leaves bones with that signature “dead thing” smell, and makes em all yellow and oily feeling. Also take the opportunity to scrub yer bones, get all that dirt off! Again, hydrogen peroxide is optional, I don’t use it personally because I prefer the natural look of dirt-stained bones :3

Whatever you do do NOT use bleach and do NOT boil a dead thing to remove the flesh. Bleach is too harsh and it will compromise the structural integrity of the bone itself, making it all crumbly and flaky and sad. Boiling a dead thing— while it may make the flesh removal process easier— will essentially bake the grease into the bones forever and ever and they’ll be left permanently yellow and oily.

Good luck on your ventures, and stay safe!!!

[museofthepyre]

hello where do u find ur bones. i am so jealous of your collection. do the bone gods rain bones in your local forest to bless u in particular ……….

EEEE WONDERFUL QUESTION!!! I’m gonna ramble because this is my favourite question!!!!

Generally, the best stuff lies where human feet dare not tread! Which means veering off trail, if it’s safe for you to do so. I’m lucky enough to have a few decent sized forests scattered around my area, and I’ve always had the best luck with the less trailed, more remote, not row-planted, all around less human-populated forests. You’ve gotta dwell where the critters do!!! Which is away from trails, in nice shady areas, under big trees and logs, etc. Bonus points if you can find a forest that’s near a source of water (river, pond, creek, etc), or farmlands— that’s where wildlife tends to really thrive, and where there is life, there will be death! It also helps to get to know the living wildlife— knowing what animals you might run into (alive or not) is quite helpful. Everything I’ve got has been collected over the span of a good few years— you pick up a lot of skills just through trial and error :3 every forest is different, and will have different patterns.

Also, once you’ve been bone hunting for a while, you kinda develop magpie eyes for it… Its like a sixth sense for picking out bone shapes and colours and textures amidst the leaf litter. Only problem is, I can’t turn the sense off now… sometimes I’ll be in a store or something, and I’ll see some vaguely bone shaped napkin on the ground… and I’ll instinctively whip around to investigate, the bone detector beeping in my head. Then I realize I’m in a store. There are no bones here. False alarm. The sensors are a bit overactive.

On a more esoteric note, if it suits your fancy, I like to build a sort of relationship with the forests I explore. I’ll bring little offerings of birdseed, dried flower petals, herbs, etc— and I’ll find a spot to leave them (with love!), as a preemptive “thank you for having me”! I even speak to the forest sometimes. If I see a pretty tree, I tell it it’s pretty. If I see pretty mushrooms, I’ll literally verbally tell them how gorgeous they are. And if I take any bones— I always say “thank you”. Does this have any effect at all? No clue! But I like to think it does.

I encourage complimenting your local natural landscapes! Be nice to them and they just might be nice to you!

[kris-py-president]

I have a local cryptid that I've seen about twice. Nobody who believes me can understand what it looks like, and everyone else just thinks I'm crazy.

Before you get super excited, I want to let you know that it's some sort of bug or animal. It's not extra terrestrial or monster-esc, it's just a really weird bug.

TW for vague descriptions of dead animals

Several things to get out of the way before I can describe it to you.... I live in Michigan, so anything that doesn't live around here is out of the question... and I collect bones from dead animals.

Ok, now the describing. About a year ago I was out tending to my maceration station (the place I keep my roadkill so that the bugs can eat away the bits and I can collect the bones once they're done) when I spotted this.... thing.

It was about four inches long, two inches wide. It had wings, and was flying like how a humming bird would do. Sort of hovering and dashing around. It's abdomin had two bright yellow lines and the shape of it reminded me of a wasp. It's face looked like a butterfly's face, with a probiscus and those weird shaped eyes. It had six legs, but when it landed the wings didn't stop flapping. The wings themselves were short and I couldn't get a good look at them because they never stopped moving, but they could have been a different color than the rest of it. I think it's main color was black but I can't quite remember.

I ran inside to grab a jar to catch it, but it was gone when I came back. I remember researching bugs, butterflies, humming bird moths, beetles.... none of them matched what I saw. And if they came close, none of them ate dead things.

That's right. It eats dead things. Today, I saw it again. I didn't have my phone (a mistake I'll try not to make again. I need a picture of this thing.) I watched it scout out the best place to land, and when it finally did, it unfurled its probiscus and started drinking.

I had a jar this time... (I wanted to catch some American carrion beetles to pin) but I was kinda scared of it. When it saw me trying to catch it, it CAME TWARD ME and started loudly buzzing. When I backed off of it, it flew away.

I'll update with pictures if I ever manage to get some. But it could be a year before I ever see the thing again.

[breathing-rapture]

This is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever found. Half of this deer’s face was partially mummified by direct exposure to the sun, and the other half was perfectly cleaned to the bone. He looks mythical, like some sort of death spirit. I cherish him dearly, he’s all cleaned up at home with me now (photos from last fall)

It took… a lot of strength to get all that mummified skin off. And there were so many maggots. I tried my very best not to hurt any of them in the process, I love those guys.

[something-feral]

25.04.23

[small-hornedbeetle]

I really want to get a bigger skeleton though I don't know where I'd put it.

[birbbones]

Some of my deer! All locally (Uk) sourced. Need a Sika Hind and an antlered male red to complete the bri'ish gang (including invasive species). Some specimens like my other muntjacs and water deer aren't pictured as I'm still cleaning them!

[shopwitchvamp]

Bone Collector skater skirt by @vetiverfox

Complete with super deep pockets that you could indeed collect bones in! (Witch Vamp and Vetiverfox are not responsible for any "Bone Stealing Witch" accusations you may receive when walking around with massive pockets full of clattering bones)

🖤witchvamp.com🖤