Tortoise shell preservation after death

marginata_paul

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Hi all

My tortoise died 5months ago and is buried in the garden. I would love to have the tortoises shell preserved somehow.
How do I go about doing this?
 

Yvonne G

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You should have started right away. You need to clean out the dead tissue then clean the shell immediately, dry it and apply some sort of varnish. If you allow it to decompose on its own eventually it will fall apart - keratin falls off the bones, etc.
 

Markw84

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Some folks I know who preserve animal skulls and skeletons, use a flesh-eating beetle as the best way to really clean any tissue off what is trying to be preserved. Amazing how good a job and how quick!

Perhaps @Tom has knowledge of availability.
 

marginata_paul

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Interesting, thanks.
I wonder would 5months in the ground have sufficiently cleaned the shell?
 

Tom

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Interesting, thanks.
I wonder would 5months in the ground have sufficiently cleaned the shell?
Being underground would most likely decompose the keratin. Only one way to find out.

The beetles @Markw84 mentioned are call "Dermested beetles". You can probably find them for sale on-line. I have them in my roach colonies. They come in as hitchhikers, but do a fine job of keeping the bin bottoms clean of dead roaches. People use these to clean skeletons. I'll bet there are lots of YouTube videos of this. It would be neat to see in time lapse photography.
 

turtlesteve

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Done this a few times. There are two strategies I've found that work:

First is to scrape out all the meat immediately, then scrub the inside of the shell with a very stiff brush or even a wire brush. Then soak the shell in bleach solution for a few minutes, and dry it. If you go too long in the bleach it will damage the keratin scutes. If you can't do it immediately, freeze the turtle until you have time. I stored one in alcohol once instead of freezing - didn't work very well.

Lazy method is to put the entire turtle outside, above ground, and somewhere where it will stay mostly dry (like under the eaves of a shed). Wait for it to decompose and get eaten by bugs. In maybe 6 months go pick up the shell. If you time it right most of the scutes will be loosely attached and you can find any that have fallen off. Pull off all the scutes, soak the shell in bleach for a couple hours, then glue the scutes back on.
 
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