CHAPTER XXII.
MOUNTING REPTILES, FROGS AND TOADS.
The largest reptile of the United States, the alligator, is mounted by methods applied to medium sized animals. Leg, head and tail rods are stapled to a stout back board and after building up the legs from tow the larger part of the body is filled by stuffing with coarse tow or fine excelsior. Let the skin rest back down while engaged in this, sewing up the skin as it proceeds, with stout twine and a sail needle. You may even need to use the awl to pierce the armor like skin.
For any natural position the leg irons need not be heavy as this animal usually keeps its body and tail in contact with the ground. The leg rods are clinched or bolted beneath the pedestal as in other quadrupeds and in addition some long screws are turned into the back board from below and the tail held down by wire fastened to its central support and clinched beneath the pedestal.
All but the smallest lizards are mounted in the same way as the small furbearers. There is apparently no known mode of "stuffing" a snake so as to resemble its natural state.
The skin must be placed on a carefully modelled manikin with a plastic layer between. For small snakes tow is wound on a wire and shaped with thread, and excelsior is used in the same way for the large ones.
The larger manikins are to be posed and paper coated in most cases before receiving the skin. Frogs and toads are also very difficult to mount in natural positions, but are nicely represented in painted casts.
Frogs, however, possess the distinction of not having to be sewed up, when skinned as they usually are through the mouth. In doing this the entire body is dissected away through the mouth and the legs are detached and skinned the same way.
After turning completely wrong side out and poisoning the legs are wired, wrapped with tow or cotton in the same manner as other small animals. One hind leg wire is cut long enough to reach through the body and head and to this the other leg wires are twisted. Some claim that to leave the vertebral column attached to the skin of the back is an invaluable aid in giving that part its proper shape.
The body filling is tow or cotton placed through the mouth in small pieces until the proper shape is acquired. Dry sand has been used to fill the bodies of frogs, being poured in the mouth through a funnel and retained by a cotton plug until the skin was dry, when it was poured out.
Painting and varnishing are required to finish mounted frogs. The frog is a favorite with the caricaturist as it can be made to take almost any human posture with laughable results.
Turtles may be mounted by wrapping and wiring legs, tail and head like other small animals, after detaching the under shell on three sides, removing the body and skinning the limbs. The tow wrapped legs should have a covering of soft clay which can be shaped with the fingers after they are returned to the skin.
Twisting the wires together is all right for the small turtles, large ones need a block of wood to clinch the wires in. The under shell is replaced and fastened with small wires and as enough skin was left attached to it to sew to, all cuts are closed that way. Heavy wires are seldom necessary in turtles. Those having bright colored shells will need to be touched up with paint and all should be varnished thinly to give a fresh appearance.