Parrot Skeleton

[Mission]

Anyone know where I can get a parrot skeleton? (Short of committing crimes against avian-kind, that is.) I looked out on the great wide web and came up short on this. I'd prefer a replica. Anyone?

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Ward's Biology (wardsci.com) and Carolina Biological (www.carolina.com) have mounted chicken and pigeon skeletons available, but they are EXPENSIVE. Actually, all mounted skeletons are expensive. Skeletons are available from many scientific companies. In the years (35+) that I have been collecting skulls and skeletons, I do not recall ever seeing a parrot skeleton for sale.

What you probably want is a plastic model... and I am 99% positive that they do not make one.

If you are dead-set on obtaining a skeleton, you can get it for free, and a TON of hard work. Your local pet store, if you can get reall chummy with them, is an excellent source of dead parrots (No, Pyrate Phil, I am not talking about the one in Ipswitch), as animal stock occasionally dies. You just need to be the guy who shows up before they can make it to the dumpster -- this is how I obtained many of the exotic skulls in my possession: from Pet Store die-offs (the guy would throw dead stock in his freezer, and would give me first pick once a week). With this new avian flu, however, I would think twice before handling any bird that dies of mysterious causes.

Anyway, with your new dead parrot ("It's not dead, it's just pining for the fjords"), you would need to render the skeleton. I do not think this board is an appropriate arena for the taxidermic (and somewhat grisly) details, but for the advernturous, it can be rather rewarding. The real task is reassembling the skeleton by hand, which is a terribly, terribly painstaking process. But with elbow grease and patience, you can do it.

If money is no object, you might want to cheat. Purchase a mounted pigeon skeleton from one of the above sources, along with a Parrot skull (available from both companies -- I got all of mine for free, ala Pet Store), remove the head from (A) and replace it with ( . Voila! A Parrot/Pigeon hybrid, which only a very very good biologist (or me) would be able to spot the fraud.

[HarborMaster]

I gotta see if I got this right..,

You have an..., Exotic "Skull" collection?

[Rogue Mermaid]

Thats a pretty cool collection Cap'n Straw. What kinds of skulls do you have so far?

[Mission]

While I'm no stranger to taxidermy (I have this brown bat that I stuffed...but that's another story), I am not looking to do the job myself. I was hoping to find something pre-assembled and suitably weathered. Actually, there is a little model I found on eBay, but it's only about an inch high. Not quite what I'm looking for...

Judging by your experience, it sounds like I may be out of luck, Captain Pete. I appreciate the insight. (Similar to your collection (well, sort of) I have a faux human skull collection that I built myself. Ok, they're halloween props - I had a business turning the things out many years ago.)

Ah well...perhaps I could just mount my Green Parrot Inn T-Shirt in a frame and call it good.

*Edit* Actually, the pigeon skeleton is only $215 at Wards...I expected worse. (Although I only paid $300 for my life-sized human skeleton. I guess pigeons are just not that big a seller.)

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

I have over 350 skulls. Then I stopped counting.

What do I have? Well, considering my original goal was to have a representative skull from every major taxonomical category, it is quite a long list. Wanna play "Stump the Skull Guy"? Sure, I don't have a walrus (oh, walrus... don't I wish....), I did pretty well until Wife #2 freaked out over my having a skull collection. Then I slowed down. Real fast. (If you saw my hot redhead of a wife, you would TOTALLY understand my priorities).

Talk about geek... I love looking at unlabeled skulls (in museums, in collections, on roadsides) and determining what animal they are from. I am almost never, ever stumped. There was a local newspaper article written about me/my skulls several years ago.

Since it was asked...

I have virtually every "common" skull imaginable. But after about a dozen mice, rats and voles (each), I stopped collecting those, 'cuz I didn't need so many. I rarely have more than one of any other skull -- again, for the diversity thing. Sadly, I have eschewed endless opportunities to obtain the larger skulls becasue, well, they are so damned BIG (again, walrus. And do you have any idea how large a giraffe skull is? It is ginormous!)

Some of the more "exotic" skulls (off the top of my head -- no pun intended) include:

-- Human (that would be a real one! My many fake ones do not count. Don't think that's "exotic"? Do YOU have a real severed human head in your home? Hmmm?)

-- Spider monkey

-- Rhesus monkey

-- Ostrich

-- Armadillo

-- Snapping turtle (that would be a BIG one)

-- Zebra (which is WAY cooler than my horse skull)

-- Lion (with two bullet holes in the forehead. I want to see what happened to the trousers of the guy between bullet #1 and bullet #2)

-- Pig (but not just any pig -- its snout grew at about a 30 degree left angle to the rest of its head.... Weird)

-- Deer (ah, but not just any deer -- it was clearly born without one eye; one eye socket was too small to house an eyeball. Also strange is that it only sports one antler. Hmmm... think it was also purple, flew and ate people?)

-- And I may or may not have a couple that I cannot acknowledge possession of in writing. [Remainder of this sentence deleted... love you all, but others can access this information]

I read over that list, and it sounds lame... but there are others that somehow I cannot recall. Sorry, it has been a 4 Guinness day.

I have done skull educational lectures for schools, park district summer camps, etc. Every skull tells a story, and I have, well let's see... over 350 stories to tell. Yes, I can get kids REAL excited about skulls.

[Patrick Hand]

COOOOOL......

I was taking some photos of an interesting old rock wall by the side of the highway, and found the bleached remains of two deer.....

My bosses dog was very interested in the parts I brought home.... but WHY I brought a bunch of deer bones home.... I realy don't know.... Maybe I will use the leg bones to make a pyratie skull and crossbones thing.....

[Rumba Rue]

Well if you're really creative, you could wire up a chicken bone skeleton. (easily done, just buy a whole chicken at the store)

Whenever I have chicken for dinner I always tell my parrrot, "This could be you! Now be quiet!".

Rumba Rue

** **

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

You eat chicken in full view of your parrot?? You're cold.

[Paisley]

hey mission...

you can also make nicey-nicey with a local wildlife rehab. there are some things they can not give you, but you might make away with some things. check your vet clinics too.

have fun boiling!

snicker snicker

[Merrydeath]

We've had a number of dead/dying birds in our yard, and we took them to the local College Museum. They have an excellent bird collection and...

Some times they use the whole carcass for a pretty display, but most of the time they use them for poison info, parasite infestations, age and other migratory info.

But to get the bones clean, they clean off what they can, then put it in with the ants. Its done in about 3 weeks, depending on size. Thats right, they use the ants to render carcasses clean.

I would also try the local humane society. For a nice donation, they might have one for you..

[Mission]

Hey, Cap'n Pete! You may be interested in checking out this eBay seller. He seems to be offering the genuine skeletons for pretty reasonable prices. I sent him an email asking about a parrot skeleton.

[Desert Pirate]

You might want to also try The Bone RoomThe Bone Room

Hope this helps

[DurtyLillie]

Well if you're really creative, you could wire up a chicken bone skeleton. (easily done, just buy a whole chicken at the store)

Whenever I have chicken for dinner I always tell my parrrot, "This could be you! Now be quiet!".

Rumba Rue

** **

Argh, and while yer at it..Rumba tell'em 'bout Ded Bob..... now thats' a Skeleton pyrate of another tune!

Best, D.L. XX

[Rumba Rue]

Naw Ded Bob ain't a parrot.

Well almost had ye one o'er the weekend. Dang that Roger the Red, he t'was tryin' ta take Philistina's little parrot out o' the cage an' he did let the door drop down on the bird's neck. He could 'ave decapited poor Mr. Smee.

Are ye sure ye don't want a human skeleton? I'm sure when I get done with ol' Roger he'll be wantin' to be dead. Now where did I put that feather teaser....

Rumba Rue

** **

[Mission]

I've actually been talking to the owner of another site, Art By Evolution. He's checking to see what they have in the freezer for me. I was pointed to that site by a helpful eBayer.

The Bone Room doesn't have any parrots listed, but if the Art By Evolution thing doesn't work out, I will certainly try contacting them. Thanks for the tip!

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Awesome links!

If anyone is really interested in cleaning skeletons/skulls, you might want to PM me. I have literally over 30 years experience.

For another awesome link... since we have gone down this road, is Rogue Taxidermy. [WARNING -- NOT FOR SQUEEMISH] This link is only one group; there are others, and you should beware them. There are some artists out there who border on absurd... perhaps even sick.... who piece together other animals to make something God had not intended. These ain't yer father's jackalopes, people. Fiji mermaids, griffins, you name it, they made it.

[Patrick Hand]

Cool.... that was sick.....

Now I wanna take up taxidermy

[Captain_MacNamara]

freaky... I want a griffon or a dragon... LOL

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

freaky... I want a griffon or a dragon... LOL

Sadly, so do I.

I have two jackalopes (not head mounts: full bodied) and my youngest daughter loves them.

[Patrick Hand]

The sguirrl with a thumb was almost there......But it should have been a Dreaded Devil Bunnie with a human toe.........

[Rumba Rue]

A squirrel with a thumb? Are ye sure it wasn't the finger?

Rumba Rue

**Wicked mind working again**

[Black Hearted Pearl]

I've been thinking about yer delima and me thoughts went to the lovely paresol of Ms. RhumbaRue. Have ye thought of creatin yer own "parroty" skeleton from squab or rock cornish game hen bones? I don't think the public would scutinize enough to know the difference.

[Kalum]

I've been thinking about yer delima and me thoughts went to the lovely paresol of Ms. RhumbaRue. Have ye thought of creatin yer own "parroty" skeleton from squab or rock cornish game hen bones? I don't think the public would scutinize enough to know the difference.

Interesting point...I mean how many people have actually seen a parrot skeleton before? Probably not many...I know I haven't. Well some pictures, but they're built much like other birds. Might be something to consider as a viable option fer ya Mission.

I guess the only thing would be that you would know it wasn't an actual one, but if you can overlook that Black Hearted Pearl just might be onto something there. :)

[Mission]

Thanks for the suggestion. However, boiling and assembling bones is one project I don't want to add to my (now very long) list of things to do. See, I closed on a house on Wednesday and wanted the parrot for my pirate-themed living room. The house, however, has lots of projects for me to do and the parrot is probably not going one of them very soon.

Here is where I got the idea: Green Parrot. I have this T (you can just see the parrot on the skeleton pirate's shoulder). It's my all-time favorite place to hang out in the Keys. Since the Key West themed dining room in my new abode is attached to the living room, thought the undead parrot would make for a nice tie in.

I've met more bizarre people in the Green Parrot than anywhere else on the island. Plus you can bring your dog to the bar and they'll provide him/her with a bowl of beer. How can you beat that?

Thanks again for the suggestion. I haven't heard back from the guy who was going to check the deep-freeze for a parrot, but I've been pre-occupied trying to find other things...like looking for some additional Art Deco waterfall front chevron bedroom furniture. The fun just never ends. I will probably return to the parrot skeleton search later when things slow down. (I'll ask for it for Christmas. My Christmas list ties people in knots. )