Fur, tails, taxidermy, care

Hiya, my name is Slug, Zephyr, or Roach. My youtube is Slug--Jawz, display name is in fancy lettering. I am an alterhuman and taxidermist, very passionate about welfare and the environment, and have bought and processed taxidermy for a few years now

Please email me for questions/concerns/critiques/info - meepsheepleafsheep@gmail.com

Tag me in a youtube video or post if you are unsure if a product is real/fake or if a seller is reputable/unreputable and I will take a look for you.

Doc updates up and coming:

Better photos

More in depth thoughts on fur farming

More alternate ways to get taxidermy

Reorganize in order of importance

Content warning for description of the tanning process, bone processing, fur ranching, animal abuse, and death.

Recently I have been seeing a lot of misinformation on taxidermy, especially tails in the therian/alterhuman/quadrobist community. This will be a full document on all you need to know about faux fur, fur products, tails, bones, etc.

First and foremost, I don’t like to use the term “ethical” when discussing topics like this. Ethics and morals are subjective and vary person to person and I think we all should determine our own ethics with the information we have available.

Furthermore, if a shop claims to be ethical, this does not automatically mean that shop has the same ethics as you do. Ethical does not just mean natural/found dead/roadkill, as that is not everyone’s baseline rule for ethical taxidermy.

Scavenged taxidermy is extremely rare, finding an animal that is fresh enough (typically within a day or so of death, sometimes less if it’s hot out (greenbelly can set in very quickly, especially with roadkill), or more if it’s cold) to skin, tan, or process is very rare. (with the exception of bones, but most scavenged bones will be imperfect, depending on how the animal died (like roadkill will very often result in shattered or broken bones, and I’ve experienced bones broken from roadkill being much less structurally sound and disintegrating in water) or how long they have been there can affect the wear and tear on the specimens). Even if an animal is found within this timeframe, the chances they are picked up by a taxidermist or picked up at all is super rare. Any shop selling more than maybe 1 or 2 pieces of an animal is most definitely not getting them from scavenging in nature.

Any real fur on websites such as Amazon, Shein, Temu, Ebay, Aliexpress, wish, and the majority of etsy shops will be from places where these animals may be malnourished or overfed, kept in inadequate cages or conditions, and killed using inhumane methods that do not ensure a pain free death.

There are many countries without laws regulating animal welfare regarding ranch raised fur bearing animals (including the US, though there are a few exceptions within here)

Regarding buying tails (faux and real, how to tell the difference, how to spot shady sellers)

Real fur tails:

These are made out of the tail from typically a fox (as well as raccoons, coyotes, tanuki, raccoon dogs, minks, bobcats, wolves, etc). Tails are tanned by being cut off the animal, slit down the middle, and the bones, tendons, fat, and muscle is pulled out. The leather is then tanned to ensure nothing rots, and the leather is either rolled up (without securing) and may be glued in a cheap lobster clasp at the base, or for *generally* more reputable sellers, a piece of leather may be sewn in the center, and the leather stitched up, or they may have a rivet and ball chain at the base, and might not be stitched up. Note that cheap tails may have a hard glue like substance, this is indicative of real fur from a low quality tannery, it's not bones, and it's not hot glue used to hold faux fur together. (Some tails from oddity shops may be mummified instead of tanned, where the entire thing is dried out instead of skinned and tanned. These are generally stiff, delicate, and not very shelf stable, I don’t recommend buying these for anything but display)
Real fur has a smell, personally, all mine smell musty and leathery or like sawdust or tanning solution, and cheaply tanned real fur typically has a chemical scent to it from formaldehyde or other tanning solutions (which can be dangerous). Faux fur does not have a smell, and if it does, it will dissipate in a few days as the plastic airs out.
Real tails are mostly hair, and can be easily compacted. The only solid material is the thin strip of leather in the center. They will typically be floppy (unless wired on the inside, or attached to a moving tail mechanism which I’ve seen a lot of on etsy recently) and lightweight.
Another indication of real fur is matting, usually towards the base of the fur. Faux fur doesn’t mat like this because it doesn’t grow into mats, the plastic doesn’t bind together like real fur will, and it’s usually not long enough to mat significantly, hence why faux fur is usually stuffed to make it plumper, like a plushie.
Real fur can be dyed or bleached (tails marketed as “crystal” or “cinnamon” are usually bleached silver or indigo fox morphs - varying from very dark brown to very pale yellowish orange depending on how/how much they were bleached), tails can be bleached to be entirely white, can be dyed bright colors, can be dyed solid black, can be bleached white and then dyed a solid color, they can be dyed multicolor, etc - bright colors are not indicative of faux fur)

Faux fur:

Faux fur tails will LOOK FAKE, they will look like a fursuit tail. They will have a plush shape and are made out of fabric that is stitched together. Faux fabric is woven fabric with acrylic strands to mimic fur. These will be attached to belts or belt loops, not keychains, any tail with a keychain on a dropshipping website is very likely to be real, especially if they have a gold lobster clasp.
A good thing to look for is solid colors or consistent patterns, though real fur still can be dyed or a solid color (like black, white, or any other color that can be added to the fur)
Faux fur will have consistent length throughout - or if there is varying length, it will be in a pattern (such as stripes or patches of long and short). Foxes and most other fluffy mammals have more than 1 layer to their fur, there is a soft, fuzzy, often darker or lighter colored undercoat, and longer, thicker, sleeker and colorful guard hairs surrounding the undercoat. Real fur tails are tapered at the end and base of the end of the tail, looking like a teardrop for red foxes, a bit boxy and thick for arctic foxes, and slimmer for coyotes and other species like grey foxes) there may be a darker colored spot located where the animal's scent gland was near outside base of the tail if the entire tail is still intact and will have layers and variation in length that makes sense with the shape of the tail. The undercoat looks crimped or wavy, like down, and the guard hairs are sleek and shiny (if from a healthy, full grown animal).
Texture: Faux fur is thin strands of plastic, it may feel almost sticky, whereas real fur has a cooler feeling to it and is not as flimsy or staticy. Faux fur feels “warm” and real fur feels “cool” (due to the structure of the hair and its insulating properties)
Burn test: if you already own the item, cut off just a few pieces of hair. Real fur will burn, smell like burning hair, and turn to ash whilst faux fur melts, hardens, and smells like burning plastic. Do this supervised, outdoors, with protection and water nearby.

Please tag or email me if you are unsure whether or not a tail is real or fake, I can help you figure it out.

Bones:

The same ethics surround bones as they do tails and pelts. Only buy bones from cheap websites when they are clearly fake (like halloween decor). Bones from these places will likely come from the same places the tails come from.

- There may be a few amazon shops selling realistic replicas

but I don’t support amazon and they could be a scammy seller

profiting off of someone else's photos and business, so be

cautious.

Burn test also works for real vs fake bones, if you heat up a needle and press it into plastic or resin bones, it should melt, and pressing a hot needle into real bones makes them burn and char (again, do this outside with protection and water)

Care:

To care for a taxidermy tail, hang them up or place them gently when you store them.
If it becomes tangled, brush it out gently with a pet brush, doing this too often will cause the tails fur to thin as it can’t grow back
Don’t get it wet, this will deteriorate the leather over time and if it's not properly dried it will mold or rot. If your tail does get wet, dry it off as best as you can, and to keep its leather from stiffening as it dries, put it in the dryer on a COOL TUMBLE setting, NO HEAT (side note, test if your dryer *actually* has a cool tumble setting, some of them still produce heat so be cautious), this will help keep the tail floppy. (this is also why real tails should not be used as adult toys due to sanitary reasons and how it might ruin the leather of the tail)
Though you shouldn’t get your tail soaking, it is ok to wear it out in light rain or snow, as long as you brush the water off and it dries well before storing. Real fur has a protective outer layer that is water resistant (though this can depend on the species or the quality of the animal's fur).
More delicate tanning jobs should be only worn lightly, whereas well tanned, new, or stronger leather can be worn daily or for quadrobics.
To check the quality of the leather, start at the base of the tail and try to find where the leather parts (if its sewn up, this won’t be possible), then carefully go down where the leather parts, look for cuts, holes, thinner spots, and yellow discoloration (leftover grease), the more of these things, the less you should wear the tail.
If broken or snapped, fix with a thin piece of leather (they can be thinned carefully with a razor blade and steady hand) and leather glue, sandwich the leather in between the leather of the tail with glue, let dry, and repeat with the other side. You can also sew them back together with a whipstitch but this runs the risk of weakening the leather.
Pet them frequently, the oils on your hands are good for the hair.
Show respect, this is a piece of an animal, just like any dog or cat. Respect varies greatly, but generally treating them gently and repairing them properly is considered respect.

Unethical/shady sellers:

-Any seller on Amazon, SHEIN, Temu, Ali express, ebay, etc.

-Any seller who won’t answer questions about where the fur is sourced from and if it’s farmed or hunted, antique or new, which country it’s from etc.

-Any seller sourcing from countries with no or few laws protecting fur bearing animals (in captivity and in the wild)

-Any seller who is not knowledgeable on taxidermy or the animals the products are from

-Any seller claiming cultivated morphs of foxes (such as amber, indigo, blue, marble, etc) are from the wild and not farmed (these morphs are not found in the wild. The only fox species and coloration that can be found in the wild (and are regularly sold) are arctic, red fox, silver fox, cross fox, kit fox, and grey fox)

-Mass amounts of tails or pelts

-Super thin tails (especially of cultivated morphs, but reminder that wild red fox tails will be thin naturally, not necessarily because of malnutrition, and animals hunted during summer will have much thinner coats- a very thick red fox tail can be a red flag that this was an overweight fox)

-Super thick tails, indicates an overweight and overfed fox who likely did not get much movement its life, or a fox that has been selectively bred to have excess skin for the garment industry. Be conscious that arctic foxes (especially ranch bred ones) have super thick fur and is not necessarily a sign of being overweight

-Super cheap tails - unless it’s really low quality scrap (such as being bad offcuts, pieces of tails, pieces of fur mixed in with pieces of tails, small tails with holes from the tanning process, etc) I am suspicious of anything under 20$ (not wholesale)(with the exception for something like a sable, marten, ermine, or raccoon tail which will be cheaper because of its availability)

Good sellers:

-Will answer any questions to the best of their ability, bonus points if they can tell you the contacts or socials of the trappers, hunters, farmers, or tanneries they source from.

-Seller buys from scrap - scrap is bought for bulk in cheap from the garment industry and is best bought indirectly from the farmers (typically from the tannery or garment makers)

-Source from regulated hunting and trapping - the animals live out their full lives naturally and meet a quick and painless death. See my notes on hunting

-Individual shops on Etsy or online (aka not on big drop shipping businesses, though websites and etsy shops do not guarantee ethical)

-Antique stores, thrift stores, garage sales, old collections, facebook marketplace, USED Ebay. (Use common sense for all of these, message sellers if you’re unsure. Look for people selling old collections or antiques)

All of this information applies to in person stores as well

Reputable Etsy shops for taxidermy/bones/fur/etc:

-SterlingFoxTaxidermy (purchases directly from regulated farms, as well as scrap from ranching and hunting)

-HandmadeFromNaturFur (buys from a local garment shops offcuts, located in a regulated country)

-RoadkillCustoms (Purchases from hunters and trappers)

-ColdBloodedCurios

-OfMothandMoon

-FootesFurCreations (Purchases from hunters and trappers)

-KazsCurios (Scrap from the industry, scavenging)

-EvasFeathers (Scrap from the hunting and ranching industry)

-CrowFoxCurios (many different sources, including regulated fur farms, tannery offcuts, hunting/trapping, antique/vintage)

-EarthSkyBone *CLOSED* (offcuts)

-RabidLlamaCreations (offcuts)

-Naturescurios

-blushinglakes (offcuts)

-thegreenwolf (offcuts)

-RegineSkrydon (ranch offcuts)

-WildHeartedOne

-GrassyCreekTaxidermy (hunting)

-ColdBloodedCurios

-BilodeauFourrureArt (Hunting, trapping, and ranching offcuts, based in canada)

-Valkyrjallure (ranch and hunting offcuts)
-Fibersall

-Ratskullzstudioz (@r4tskullz on youtube) (Ranching offcuts)

-LunaWildStudios (@luna_wildpaws on youtube) (Ranching/hunting offcuts)

-Furmasters (Hunting/ranching scraps)

-Yellowstone traders (Hunting/trapping)

-Millshidefur

-TheLovelyDoveStudios

-Cengascreations

-Swampskullstaxidermy

-TheBeautifulDead

-Railrat

-DeathtaxUSA

-TaxTheDead

-RaidedsoulTaxidermy

-AxeAndBearTrading

-CraftyCrawfordArt

-Me! aCreatureCreates. All my items will have good descriptions of exactly where they came from and how they were processed. I may sell real fur tails, real fur, real bones, pinned insect specimens, etc. Sourcing will always be either secondhand, scrap from regulated industries, scavenged and processed myself, or from regulated hunting

Non etsy reputable shops:

-FacetedFoxDesigns (directly from regulated fur farms and hunting/trapping, contact them on insta)

-OrangeLionTaxidermy (Directly from regulated fur farms and hunting/trapping, buy from their website)

Un-reputable Etsy shops for taxidermy: (I or others have talked to the sellers and have determined their sourcing shady)

-GlacierWear

-PauletteFurCompany

-DakotalineFurs (this could be debatable, the animals are farmed and purchased directly from farmers but are required by the FCUSA to have proper nutrition, vet care, and housing though there is no rule stating enrichment or psychological needs of the animals, these rules may only extend to minks)

-IowaFinestFurs (also debatable, controlled by the ADC)

-ChimeraTaxidermyAU (honestly no solid proof against them, but they state their fur comes from “many different countries” which is too vague for my standards)

How to contact sellers to gain information on a shop:

-Ask where the fur comes from (which country(ies))

-Ask if the fur is hunted or farmed (fact check that the species they are selling is actually hunted or farmed)

-Ask if they buy directly from the hunters/trappers/farmers or offcuts from the tannery or garment makers

-Thank them for their time, don’t indicate you will or will not purchase.

-Do NOT ask if their products are ethical, nearly every seller will say yes no matter where it comes from, this sets them up to believe you purchase any product that is called ethical without actually knowing where it came from.

For faux fur:

-CloudiCrafts

-Drelteo

-HeartShapedEarMarks

-ForestFoxFursuits

-HachickoHobbies (Super realistic!)

-FrozenbreadStudios

-Furbellion

-Black heart custom tails

Bonus points if you make them yourself! There are tons of great tutorials online for all different kinds of tails. I will make a realistic yarn tail tutorial in the future, I use an iron to straighten the yarn which makes a huge difference in quality.

Bones:

How to make sure you get good quality bones:

Red flags: avoid skulls missing nasal turbinates, have lot of teeth that have been unprofessionally glued back in with wood glue with visible residue, skulls and bones that look and feel chalky, flaky, or fragile, any bones labeled “boiled” or “bleached”. Instead look for bones labeled whitened, beetle cleaned, macerated, above ground decomp, etc. Bleaching and boiling both damage the bone structure severely and will make your bones fall apart over time. Any bones that are whitened should be whitened with hydrogen peroxide.

To properly clean bones:

Above ground decomp for whole carcasses, make sure to cover in a cage to prevent scavengers from getting to it and make sure little bones don’t get lost. Bones with small amounts of flesh on them can be macerated in warm water, jumpstart this process with mud from a local pond (contains beneficial bacteria that will eat the flesh)

Degreasing can be done with dish soap in warm water, but may take months, or (more dangerous chemicals) acetone or ammonia can be used for faster results (DISPOSE OF THESE CHEMICALS PROPERLY AND DO THIS OUTSIDE WITH SUPERVISION).

Whitening can be done with hydrogen peroxide, or you can leave them as is.

Hunting and trapping:

Countries and areas with laws surrounding what animals can be hunted, how much, and when can actually improve these animals populations, fund conservation, and keep the general public inclined to keep these animals around. Trapping can be done a few ways: foothold traps, these have a very bad stigma surrounding them but any proper foothold trap shouldn’t cause anything more than superficial bruising to the animal. They are offset to allow bloodflow, have points of movement and the ability to twist fully around as well as have a chain long enough to allow movement, they should never have teeth or sharp edges and ideally are rubber padded. They should be set in a specific area to capture the target species, so they are sized properly to the animal they catch, ensuring they are held by their toes, not their ankles, and should be checked every 12 hours or have constant trail cam surveillance. When done properly, some animals are even found sleeping in the foothold traps (and many catch and release or relocation programs use foothold traps because they don’t cause injury when done properly). Another way trapping can be done is conibear traps, which kill instantly. These have to be utilized carefully and be designed very specifically to the target species to avoid killing a different animal. Usually they snap down on the neck, similar to a mousetrap, and should be designed and set consciously to ensure the animal is actually caught around the neck and freak accidents where animals are not instantly killed are very rare. Snaring is also a form of trapping but I know next to nothing about it so can’t comment.

And a little more self explanatory is hunting, typically done with a gun or high power bow. Hunters should have a clear and confident shot to avoid hitting non critical regions of the animal, ensuring a quick death.