Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi guys,
About a week ago, my favorite boy in the world, my veiled Earl passed away. I was very upset and felt supremely guilty and sad, still do. I didn't know what to do with his body, so I put it in the freezer and it's stayed there since. I want to do something to memorialize him, but all my friends think I'm silly. I work at a science museum where Earl was a major attraction, all the kids as well as my team loved him. I would really like to somehow preserve him for use as a teaching tool, but I'm not sure how. I'd really like to have a burial for him and put him to rest, but something tells me it'd be right for him to be immortalized at the museum. Does anyone have any ideas? This wouldn't be a typical museum artifact, something to hang on the wall and stare at, we're a hands-on interactive museum, so it needs to be something that can move and travel.
I'd really appreciate any help and ideas you guys could offer.
Thanks,
Traci

Sorry to hear about Earl. But, it sounds like he was loved and appreciated. Chams lose their wonderful colors after death, so I don't think preserving him whole would be very effective. What about conserving his skeleton so visitors could see his wonderful body structure? Put this with nice photos of living veileds and graphic explanations of their abilities (color change, tongues, eyes, prehensile tails etc) and he could still teach many.

Does anyone know how to go about cleaning/preserving a skeleton like that. I've seen on that show dirty jobs where a company uses insects and chemecals to do it, but is there an easier way for an individual to do it at home. I was thinking maybe you could just leave it outside, or bury it, and let nature run it's course?

I've done it once. I boiled it gently in a dilute mix of water and bleach (just a dab) until the tissues were soft and took the skeleton apart. I trimmed tougher fibers off the bones with an Xacto knife. Remember, the ribs are more like cartilege than bone so be careful you don't cut them. Most of the little bones in the feet and spine can be left connected by cartilege. Basically you want to remove soft tissues that would spoil. Re-assemble the skeleton with glue and spray it with a coat of clear polyurethane.

Thanks for your reply. Those are great ideas!

I'm sorry to hear about Earl. He sounds loved.
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1.1 Crested Gecko (Anton/Angelina & Harley)
1.1 Crazy dogs (Alex & Sadie)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
0.1 Amazing Wife =o)
Charlie - RIP 9-8-05 (Veiled Cham)

Thank you, he was loved. It took me by surprise how upset I was by his death. Thanks for the post, you're nice.

By the way, I see your veiled's name was Charlie, that's my dog's name!