fieldherping.eu

Giraffatitan brancai- biggest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world


other dinosaurs




Heloderma suspectum
is it once alive specimen who underwent taxidermy?


desert lizard


Hellbender
[url=https://flic.kr/p/VbBguL]

Pipa pipa with her babies
btw "pipa" in polish means "cunt"


mudpuppy (?)
[url=https://flic.kr/p/VexCLT]

exotic frog


Graptemys sp. (?)


young crocodile


Draco sp.

Hi Michal,
Nice place to visit. The Heloderma looks like a reproduction. A mold of the dead specimen is taken with alginate or silicone, and cast with resin

Tom Hoogesteger wrote:Hi Michal,
Nice place to visit. The Heloderma looks like a reproduction. A mold of the dead specimen is taken with alginate or silicone, and cast with resin

Hmmm, and what about the colors? Painted with a brush? Seems too detailed/well done for this...

Painted with an airbrush.

Tom Hoogesteger wrote:Painted with an airbrush.

I still find it hard to believe. I know all the bones and skeletons are casts (maybe some fish/dolphins) but I think these here are real prepared animals. You didn't say why you believe it's not so...?

Ilian Velikov wrote:
I still find it hard to believe. I know all the bones and skeletons are casts (maybe some fish/dolphins) but I think these here are real prepared animals. You didn't say why you believe it's not so...?

Very often reproductions are more lifelike, because there is always shrinkage in the real skin when it dries. For this reason, and because they are easier to prepare, museums nowadays usually use reproductions rather than actual taxidermy specimens in exhibitions (in the case of reptiles, that is). And in this Heloderma the skin looks a bit too lifelike to be real. Also, you can actually see that it is airbrushed. Nevertheless, the painting job is very well done in this one.

Just believe me. I am a professional taxidermist and actually one of the few in Europe specializing in reptiles.
If interested, you can see some of my work here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30008608@N07/albums/72157631501333836
My reptiles in these pictures are all skin mounts, only the Bufo marinus is a reproduction.

Tom Hoogesteger wrote:Painted with an airbrush.

I rather prefer them alive... painted by Nature/God. And they don't bite, provided you hold
them really gently.

Berislav Horvatic wrote:And they don't bite, provided you hold
them really gently.

you wouldnt be the first, dying from Heloderma bite - even specialists, working for years with the species.

Mario Schweiger wrote:

Berislav Horvatic wrote:And they don't bite, provided you hold them really gently.

you wouldnt be the first, dying from Heloderma bite - even specialists, working for years with the species.

Well, I believed my good friend Ivo Peranić that HIS helodermas were quite tame. So they were. Lucky me.
But I also did observe Ivo's instructions how to handle them... gently, not provoking them. It worked, obviously.

Berislav Horvatic wrote:

Mario Schweiger wrote:

Berislav Horvatic wrote:And they don't bite, provided you hold them really gently.

you wouldnt be the first, dying from Heloderma bite - even specialists, working for years with the species.

Well, I believed my good friend Ivo Peranić that his helodermas were quite tame. So they were. Lucky me.

but you never should trust a "wild" animal, doesnt matter which species