How to save a skull

My daughter wants a rabbit skull... Should I just boil it?
How to prepare it for her to keep/study?
Thx

Depending on how fast you want it, I've found the best method is to leave it on top of the soil in the garden, with a pot overtop. The bugs pick it clean quite quickly leaving cartilage intact. Just do it off in a far corner of the yard.

Don't boil it, that will damage the skull.

If you want one quickly and cleanly, you can very gently simmer it until the flesh and be pried off. Simmer might be the wrong word... If I see bubbles, it's too hot.

Changing the water frequently can help reduce cooked-in greasiness. Replace dirty water with warm or hot water.

Use a wooden skewer (or something similar) to loosen up the cooked brain. It can usually be rinsed out with any decent water pressure. Something small and softish (like a toothpick) is helpful with removing little bits of flesh.

Soak in peroxide (or diluted peroxide) overnight to loosen up any remaining flesh and whiten it.

If it's greasy, you can soak in ammonia.
Rabbits aren't usually too greasy.

That method won't produce retail-quality skulls, but it works well enough for a kid's collection.

I use dermestid beetles but they aren't something you'd want for a one time cleaning. Leaving it in the garden with a pot over it should work fine. If you choose to go the heat route you can add a bit of dish soap to the water to help degrease while it cooks. If you go the garden method, after it has been bug cleaned, add two tablespoons of ammonia to a pint of water (I use a pint mason jar) and let it sit about 24hrs. The water will get really cloudy. Dump it out and rinse the skull (be really careful not to loose any teeth that may have come loose). If you use either method to clean the skull finish it by using peroxide. Fill a jar 1/2 with peroxide and 1/2 with water. Let it sit about 24 hrs again and rinse again. This is usually enough to whiten most skulls. Some may need a second round of peroxide. Don't leave them in the solutions more than 3 days total. They will fall apart and I mean really fall apart if left in the water too long so you want to leave them just long enough to degrease and whiten. The jaw and nasal bones sometimes separate or teeth fall out as is. If this happens they can be secured with superglue.

You can also purchase predone skulls on Etsy or Ebay for $10-12 sometimes more if it is a large skull.

What I do is set mine out for the bugs to get them until dry (how long that takes is completely up to your region) then I soak them in water for a day to loosen any dried on bits of skin and carefully peel off. I scrub any dirt off with a designated brush with plain water. I then soak them in peroxide for a day and then set them out another day to dry. White glue any loose teeth into place and the lower jaw along the front. Some folks like to reinforce the jaw with something but I haven't had one break apart that way (not without intent) and once all the glue dries I give her a light spray of polyurethane.

This process worked up to goats for me, just the bigger the skull, the more setting out and then soaking needs done.

Thanks for this thread .... Something I've wanted to discuss but never got around to doing.

@ alforddm:

Where do you get the beetles ? Tell us about keeping them ??

I ordered them from the internet. They are harder to keep than I imagined them being. I have had them get mites and was only able to save my colony because I had a backup box (an old box I had never cleaned out that still have a few live bugs in it). And I keep getting ham beetles in the boxes (they eat the larva) and have to pick them out by hand. I'm not sure how they keep getting in the box. I think they would be easier to keep in a dryer climate because they need a constant humidity of around 50% and it's easier to add a bit of water to the box than to keep it out when the humidity is high. If you have a really big skull you need to remove the brain and let it dry a bit and then freeze it to kill any invaders. If you don't the large skull will get really putrid before the bugs can clean it (unless you have a huge colony). They do have a smell to them even if you dry stuff first. They also stop eating if the temp drops much below 50 degrees so they have to have a heat source in the winter. If they freeze it will kill them.

They do do a good job of cleaning skulls although you have to manually pick out some of the bugs after degreasing. Even with the downsides I enjoy keeping them and being able to clean bones.