Chameleon skeletons

[thephotoprincess]

very cool work!

 

[Trace]

These skeletons are really fascinating; thanks for posting pictures of them. How long does it take to assemble the skeleton once the bones are clean?

 

[Alexl]

Mmh, can't say that only for puzzling... For a whole skeleton including cleaning I need more or less four weeks.

awesome...how did the female parsons die?

She suffered from kidney disease and couldn't be saved.

 

[AnniiFuego]

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[ChameleonRave]

Very interesting! But. I prefer living Chameleons. O__o

 

[Alexl]

Up to date work of today...head of an Archaius tigris, really tiny little thing. Smallest chameleon I did 'til now.

 

[Ace]

Up to date work of today...head of an Archaius tigris, really tiny little thing. Smallest chameleon I did 'til now.

fascinating...that is tiny, hope to see the whole body after you are done assemlbing it

 

[Aliciax3]

I would love to see this done with a pygmy! or would that be too difficult because they are so small?

 

[Chris Anderson]

Alex,

I noticed on each of your skeletons where you have the hyoid apparatus that you are attaching the ends of the ceratobranchials of the tongue skeleton to the rear of the lower jaw. The result is that the entire hyoid skeleton itself is extending very low relative to the skull and on the skeletons where you have the mouth open (such as your new Archaius stull), it makes the entoglossus sit at an unnatural angle. Obviously since the hyoid skeleton is free-floating, it is difficult to mount it correctly, but have you considered using multiple pieces of monofilament line to suspend it in the correct location? I imagine if you used a few pieces of thicker monofilament, you could suspend it fairly sturdily. If you still have the scleral ossicles for any of your skeletons, I would think you could do the same with them.

Chris

 

[Alexl]

The result is that the entire hyoid skeleton itself is extending very low relative to the skull and on the skeletons where you have the mouth open (such as your new Archaius stull), it makes the entoglossus sit at an unnatural angle.

Yes, that's a problem in these chameleons. In the parsonii I took it somewhat higher, seems to be the better looking one (it's on the first site I think), but it's still directly glued to the bone. I don't use muscle filaments, because you get ugly yellow strips by drying and I don't really like synthetic filaments in a skeleton. But thanks for the idea, maybe I'll try the filaments in a bigger one later on and see what happens. This archaius here seems to be too little as test object.

The sclerals ossicles... the only things I never prepared in my skeletons . Even to mee it was somewhat too disgusting to pick these really tiny things out from the black eye fluid mess. But would be possible in fact, right.

...and you didn't see the other little faults? There are some more to discover for people who look closely.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Alex,

I can imagine in smaller skeletons in particular that synthetic filaments wouldn't be as nice to look at. They are easier to ignore in larger skeletons but with smaller chameleon species, they might be noticeable.

The skeletons are quite good and I can only hope when I get around to mounting the skeletons I have that they turn out that well. As far as missing bones go, the images are a little small so perhaps I'm missing others, but the only other bones I can think of that I don't see in any of them are the ceratohyals.

Chris

 

[Alexl]

The skeletons are quite good and I can only hope when I get around to mounting the skeletons I have that they turn out that well.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that .

As far as missing bones go, the images are a little small so perhaps I'm missing others, but the only other bones I can think of that I don't see in any of them are the ceratohyals.

Hehe, didn't think about those yet. I couldn't prepare the ceratohyals yet due to their soft substance... they're difficult to clean and dry and I didn't want to prepare all those chondral parts. But no, there are some little faults in bones' quantitiy and position (no real important ones)... I will not betray everything, it just assures me people don't notice some of my puzzling problems .

 

[Alexl]

0.1 Archaius tigris

Not perfect, but all right for first try in this species.

 

[Alexl]

Another 0.1 Archaius tigris... 2,3 inches tall.

 

[Alexl]

Less beautiful one...this is the result of a two weeks lasting stomatitis (which you often call "mouth rot").

 

[EvilLost]

I am interested in how you do this too....

I have kept my dead pygs drying outside for awhile and they are starting to get really dried out, but i'm pretty sure thats not the right way to go about things


EDIT: I went back and read the entire thread.... how do you get rid of the flesh? I realize you said you use hydrogen peroxide to clean the bones, but I don't imagine you just chop off a limb and dip it in; is there some step to maximize removal of the flesh before the hydrogen peroxide polishing step?

Is there a particular kind of glue you are using? My initial thought was plain super glue but I'm not sure if that would damage the bones...? I hope thats not dumb ^^

 

[KarmaChameleon1337]

You can get dermestid beetles, they clean the flesh off the bones pretty well. I've heard of some people boiling the bones but I know there's better ways, since if you overboil it can ruin them.

 

[Robyrango]

Like mini dinousaurs! Cool!

 

[Synapse]

Very interesting thread. Thank you very much for sharing these wonderful pictures. Not everyday you see chameleon skeletons mounted up like art.

 

[Alexl]

but I don't imagine you just chop off a limb and dip it in

I pull off the skin and try to remove some muscles before dipping. But in fact, that's exactly what I do. Dipping in hydrogen peroxide, cleaning by scalpel, dipping, cleaning, dipping, cleaning, dipping, cleaning... Some bones only need to be dipped one time (e.g. ribs of smaller chameleons or hyoid apparatus), others need to get some more. It's just a question of patience and time.