Dermestidarium cleans skulls and skeletons with dermestid beetles and offers European mounts, metal coating and repairs to hunters, taxidermy shops, museums and pet owners.
What it sells and how it charges
At its appointment-only shop in Dallas, Oregon, the owner cleans skulls and skeletons with a colony of dermestid beetles. The site lists custom and wholesale skull cleaning in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, together with European mounts, scientific specimens, metal coating, repair and pet memorial services. Pickup and drop-off are available for taxidermy shops near Dallas.
The official skull-cleaning page, checked on 2026-10-01, lists a $25 biohazard fee for specimens in bad condition. It also states that customers who combine skull cleaning with metal coating receive a 20% discount.
How it started
Dermestidarium’s official website, checked on 2026-10-01, gives 2014 as its founding year. On the same site, the founder says the work began as a hobby she had done for several years; after word spread, she became busy enough to turn it into a business. In a Starter Story founder interview update written in 2020, she said she would run the business full time without another part-time job.
The numbers
No income figure is stated in the official material checked on 2026-10-01 or the 2020 Starter Story founder interview update, so no earnings amount is listed. The one-person classification is based on the founder’s statement in that update that she had no employees at that point. The official site, checked on 2026-10-01, describes the skull-and-skeleton work as carried out by the owner with a colony of dermestid beetles. This supports the owner-run description, but the founder’s statement is not a current employee count.
What stands out
- Dermestid beetles are part of the cleaning method itself, and the work takes place at an appointment-only shop.
- The stated customer range includes hunters, taxidermy shops, museums and pet owners, alongside memorial and scientific-specimen work.
- Custom and wholesale cleaning are both listed, with pickup and drop-off available for nearby taxidermy shops.
- A Starter Story founder interview identifies Instagram and word of mouth as customer channels, while wholesale to taxidermists is another listed route.
Sources
Income figures are what the founder reported, or what a payment platform verified, on the date shown. They are not current income and not a prediction of what you will earn. Method & sources · Disclosure