Mummified Chameleon

[Forestdellic]

This baby chameleon was found last summer on the street while doing volunteer work. It was already dead and I suspect it died from dehydration.

Since we do not own any dead animal clean up crews and I am a collector of bones, wet specimens and so on I picked this guy up and buried him in sand which I then left in the hot summer sun of Malta.

I ended up with a perfect mummified specimen of a baby local chameleon and I wanted to share this little oddity of mine with you.




This is another oddity that I created last summer for a friend of mine. While hiking in an old military battery I had found a dead chameleon. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition but I had managed to save up the tail which I sterilized in Ethyl alcohol and then buried in sand and left to dry and mummify in the sun.

The end result was this. I called it the "Kundalini Necklace"

 

[ChamDE86]

I find this beautiful, but sad at the same time.

 

[Lathis]

I love these. I'm a little odd, too. Is the mummified chameleon in a shadow box? It would be very cool to set him up in a bell jar diorama with withered berries and faded flowers .

 

[FlChamMom]

These are very cool- I would love to see more pictures of your "oddities". I am the same way, I always pick up little things I find in nature. I have a mummified baby horseshoe crab in my house!

 

[Forestdellic]

Thank you guys! They are absolutely priceless to me

I also find beauty and sadness in my creations. It's a nice feeling of melancholy. However the saddest experience I had was when I was volunteering with LifeMigrate on a sea turtle project and about 30 nautical miles out at sea we saw this dead female sea turtle just floating about in the middle of no where. It was both poetic and very depressing.

@Lathis; Yes it is in a shadow box. I had found these glass shadow boxes with a brass finish an antique store where I was looking for a smoking pipe. I later used felt vinyl over a piece of styrofoam to make the "bed". I then grabbed a paper clip and cut it into size with a pair of pliers in order to hold it in place. It literally cost me nothing and it's a major envy in my local reptile community

These are very cool- I would love to see more pictures of your "oddities". I am the same way, I always pick up little things I find in nature. I have a mummified baby horseshoe crab in my house!

Recently I had made a resin casting in a bezel of two mummified chameleon hands holding a piece of amber. The amber was naturally found as well. It was seeped out by an almond tree in this valley where I camp frequently. When I have some time I'll snap a picture and post it here

 

[Zephalia]

Absolutely beautiful. You have a talent. Beauty out of death.

 

[Forestdellic]

Absolutely beautiful. You have a talent. Beauty out of death.

I'm glad you think so Thank you so much!