Saturday, September 14, 2013

"Stick it on an ant pile!"

I've heard that countless times in reply to "How do I clean these bones/dead animal?" This anole here is literally the 3rd dead animal in 12 years living at my current location that I've seen with any ants feasting on. And there have been a LOT of dead things for ants to eat on my property over the years. I don't have any piles on my property at all. Too swampy here. So I usually see them out on the well drained and dry dirt road like this.

"Stick it on an ant pile!" I've heard that countless times in reply to "How do I clean these bones/dead animal?" This anole here is literally the 3rd dead animal in 12 years living here that I've seen any ants feasting on.

This is a perfect example of how there are so many deciding factors involved in the steps to process a dead animal. A major one being your location. I simply do not have any of the ant species where I currently am that will help remove the flesh from dead animals. So that option is out for me.

Also, the first and last time I ever tried using ants to help me clean remains over 15 years ago, most of my pet snake was taken underground vertebra by vertebra and rib by rib. I even had it in a cage on top of a screen. So it ruined that whole option for me. I really like having much more control of my bone processing.

I understand though that this may work for other people. I've met people swear by it and that's great. But it isn't something that will work for everyone
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1 comment:

  1. AvaJuly 22, 2015 at 1:42 AM

    Hi Jana,
    Just wanted to chime in on the ant-hill scenario, in agreement. Last year I had been given a dead muskrat and, being very new to bone cleaning (other than just leaving stuff in the woods) I thought I would give the ant hill thing a try. I placed the muskrat on the ant hill last fall (October?) with a plastic plant pot turned over on it and staked into the ground, so no bigger critters would drag it away. I went to go check it today (should maybe have checked it wayyy sooner) and there was absolutely no evidence of muskrat whatsoever! The pot hadn't been disturbed. It's a mystery. There wasnt a tooth or fur or anything. Just ants. I was definitely not expecting that! Anyway, it's not something I'd bother doing again. Cheers!

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