How To Clean Bones Without Hydrogen Peroxide

We've been finding a lot of small animal bones lately and they've been a great addition to our nature studies. I had a lot of people ask about our process to clean them, so I decided to document our most recent finds. For the purpose of this tutorial I'll be starting with bones that are already free of flesh and soft tissue. The rodent bones in this tutorial were humanely collected and free of soft tissue for the most part when we found them. If you are working with a fresh specimen you will need to remove the soft tissue first. It's best to let specimens naturally decompose, and the two methods I am most familiar with are maceration (soaking) and burying. They both can take several months and the more flesh you start with, the longer the specimen will take to prepare. I personally don't have experience with preparing fresh specimens (it is also illegal to collect roadkill here in CA) so I won't go into detail of how to carry out these methods. If you are interested, there is a lot of information online on these methods.

cleaning animal bones

We'll be using a highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide to clean and whiten the bones. Cleaning the bones with hydrogen peroxide will sanitize them and kill any harmful bacteria while also whitening them. We display our bones on Elliot's nature shelves and also use them in our nature studies, so making sure that they are safe to handle is crucial for us. For the fastest results you can use a 20 or 30 percent concentration, but I've had great results using 40v hair developer which contains 12% hydrogen peroxide. It is essentially the same, easier to obtain and more affordable. Take care when working with concentrated hydrogen peroxide and keep out of reach of children and pets. Never use bleach on bones as it will damage the bone and in time the bone will start to yellow.

Notes on collecting specimens:

– Check your state regulations before collecting any specimens. Many states may require a permit to legally collect wildlife specimens. There are several legally restricted species that are protected by state and federal laws. It is also illegal to collect any endangered species in any state.
– Collect humanely and please be conscious of your impact on the environment when doing so. Do not collect in large quantities at a time and please don't collect with intent to sell.
– Please do not kill living creatures to obtain specimens.
– Always use sanitary methods when collecting fresh specimens and/or bones and supervise children and pets at all times. Handle fresh skulls with disposable gloves to protect yourself against viruses.

Materials:

– a container large enough for your skull or bones
– something to cover the container
– 40v hair developer (12% hydrogen peroxide)
– old toothbrush
– dish soap
– rubber gloves
– animal skull or bones

Instructions for cleaning animal bones:

Step 1: How to clean and degrease animal bones

Fill a bowl with water and dish soap and use an old toothbrush to gently scrub and clean your bones. The cleaner the better. If you're cleaning a skull, small teeth may fall out in the process. Just hang onto them and glue them back on at the end once everything is dry. Soak your bones in a new container of water and dish soap for 24 hours to degrease the bones. If there is a lot of grease that collects on the surface, change out the soapy water and do another round of degreasing until they are sufficiently de-greased. You'd be surprised at how much grease comes out of the bones!

cleaning animal bones

Step 2: How to clean animal bones using hydrogen peroxide

The next morning, rinse your bones thoroughly and place them into a new bowl. Cover with a 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide/hair developer and water. Make sure that the bones are fully submerged. Cover loosely with a lid and let sit for 24 hours.

After 24 hours, check on your bones and if you are happy with the whiteness, rinse thoroughly and let dry. If you'd like to soak them longer, change out the hydrogen peroxide mixture and check on them in another 24 hours. I've soaked bones up to 48 hours successfully. Keep in mind that they will dry a bit whiter than they look when they are wet.

cleaning animal bones