SoCal Taxidermy

The Coffee Shop
1

Our community cats killed a sweet little bat last night. They left it at my girlfriend’s door, and she found it this morning. I called dibs, and it’s in my fridge right now.

I left messages at 3 taxidermy places. One is a pet preservation place, and they say they do little pets, like mice, up to big pets. Like horses?

The bat is super cute. Little toes, little nose, little belly button! My youngest and I love it.

Should I freeze this little bugger? His name is Bugger, I just decided. I think the taxidermists are closed for the whole long weekend. Do you think they take bats? How should I proceed? Freeze him?

2

You should make a diorama.

https://youtu.be/xwEGuaCaxrM

3

That is such a good idea!!

4

In case you’re interested, I just spoke with a taxidermist who said that freeze drying is the preferred method of preserving little creatures like a bat or something like a turkey head. He says the eyeballs are removed and the bat or turkey head is placed into a freezing thing that removes all the moisture. He said that might take 6 weeks? Wut?! He said mothball-smelling stuff is put into the turkey head. He recommended the pet preservation business in Riverside. I actually called those folks and left a message earlier today when I was investigating taxidermists.

5

turkey head?

waste not want not

6

I think the turkey head would be from a wild turkey. Maybe a hunter would have the body taxidermied and the head freeze-dried.

A wonderful man name Jim called me from Pet Preservation. He gave me great information. Basically, the first step after finding a dead animal, like my bat, is to determine if it is legal to possess it. To that end, one must identify the species. One of my neighbors is a park ranger, so I will ask him.

The bat will fall into one of the following three categories:

  1. Legal to possess & no permit necessary;
  2. Legal to possess but permit necessary; or
  3. Illegal to possess.

If a permit is necessary, it must be issued by the federal agency called US Fish & Wildlife. Jim says they pretty much don’t issue permits for private collections, so one must be connected to a school or natural museum or something.

If the bat is legal and I get the permit, if necessary, I must pack the bat up between two gel ice packs and overnight it to Jim, with delivery before 10:30am. For liability reasons, Jim will make his own assessment of the bat and identity its species. If he thinks it is illegal, he will notify US Fish & Wildlife, and they will come bust my ass.

If it is not illegal, Jim will build a frame to hold the bat into my desired position, such as flying or dabbing. The frame is kind of like a tennis racket frame. The bat will be placed in his freeze dryer for longer than 6 weeks! Jim says it takes MONTHS! From start to finish, Jim said it might take 4-6 months.

Jim says he generally has 30-70 pets queued up to be preserved. He says preservation of our little bat would cost $495. He says the frame to either display it or freeze it (?) would cost $385. So, we’re looking at close to $1,000 for freeze drying this little critter. Please note this bat is quite small— about the size of 2 or 3 Oreos stacked up. Maybe 4 Ritz crackers. Or 3 squashed tater tots shaped into a little flat-ish ball.

That is all I know. Jim was super nice. I could hear little kids playing and splashing around in the background of the call. I forgot to ask about the biggest pet he ever preserved. He mentioned snakes and lizards during the call. He also called my bat a reptile, but I think that was just a slip of the tongue. Bats are mammals, and they have belly buttons and breast feed their babies. Plus they eat lots of mosquitoes. I guess that’s part of the reason I think they are so great.

7

My Dad killed a badger one night working on a irrigation ditch outside Handford, Calif. It surprised him and he smacked it on the head with a shovel. Family had that badger mounted by some taxidermist in Handford. That animal used to scare the crap out of us kids later on growing up—it would loom in the dark and in our dreams

Just a badger. Mounted by a taxidermist in Handford, Calif. But larger than life to us kids!

/r

8

Jim sounds like good people.

just checked, you can get a home freeze dryer for $1500 on up.

cut out the middleman!

9

This sounds like a grand idea! ($1,000)

Are you sure the bat is rabies free? Cost goes up significantly if your whole family needs a series of rabies shots.

ETA info on bats- even their saliva can give you rabies.

Note the link about not trusting your cocaine as well. https://www2.erie.gov/…?q=press/bats-rabies—-dangerous-combination-do-not-touch-any-wildlife—-your-sake-theirs

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-01-06/beware-of-bats-after-3-recent-rabies-deaths-cdc-says?context=amp

10

You just need a little garlic.

https://youtu.be/oHElIg25YhY

11

We love Halloween and a bat would make a fantastic decoration. A badger is great, too. It could be so scary sitting in a dark room looking menacing!

I saw a roadkill fox one time, and it was just beautiful. Red and mostly fluffy. I saw two dead raccoons around Valentines Day this year, and they were the most romantic little things. We drove to Alaska when I was in junior high, and I kept a log of dead and live animals. It looked like:

DG: IIII/ IIII/ IIII/
DS: I
E: III

That means I saw 15 dead gophers, 1 dead skunk, and 3 eagles. Ha ha!

12

Jim sounds like good people.

just checked, you can get a home freeze dryer for $1500 on up.

cut out the middleman!

I need to think about this. I had friends who freeze dried fruits, but I don’t think they ran it for 2 or 3 months at a time. The power bill would be kind of high.

13

This sounds like a grand idea! ($1,000)

Are you sure the bat is rabies free? Cost goes up significantly if your whole family needs a series of rabies shots.

ETA info on bats- even their saliva can give you rabies.

Note the link about not trusting your cocaine as well. https://www2.erie.gov/…?q=press/bats-rabies—-dangerous-combination-do-not-touch-any-wildlife—-your-sake-theirs

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-01-06/beware-of-bats-after-3-recent-rabies-deaths-cdc-says?context=amp

My dad was stressed out when I told him I had a dead bat in the fridge. He was worried about disease, and he wondered why I didn’t put it in the freezer.

We have the bat in two ziplock bags because I’m paranoid too. I know two people who had to get rabies shots. Jim didn’t seem terribly concerned when I asked him if he had concerns about it. He’s a pro. He uses protective gear, I’m sure.