Preparing a Snake Skeleton - Dermestid Video

The footage shows the carcass of a pig being cleaned by dermestid beetles and their larvae for a Reticulated Python exhibit. This brief segment is three weeks action, condensed into 15 seconds.

Initially, only a few beetles can be seen scurrying over the carcass and it looks like there is little happening. However, these beetles are busy, mating and laying their eggs all over this rich food source.

Within a few days, large numbers of larvae start to appear. At first these are no bigger than a pin head and don't show up on the camera. The larvae feed voraciously and grow quickly, reaching 13 mm in length before pupating into adult beetles. At the height of activity, thousands of larvae can be seen swarming over the carcass, quickly reducing it to bare bones.

Towards the end of the segment, a number of ribs disappear. The tissue connecting these to the backbone was eaten away by the dermestids, making them fall to the floor of the container. They were removed and put aside to preserve their order. A jumbled heap of bones is much harder to re-assemble than a well-ordered skeleton

Warning: These files contain graphic time-lapse images of flesh eating insects cleaning a pig carcass. If you are disturbed by graphic images, please do not click on the links below.

The video is available as a