Moths eating taxidermy

[johny]

In a very short time I have developed a Casing Moth infestation.
They are decimating the dozen scalp mounts I've made.
Hair falling out in clumps.
Easy to identify the culprit. The thing that look like rice are the larva casings.
CASING MOTHS 1.jpg

My plan to save as much as possible is to freeze them outside--hopefully kill the bugs ---it is -10C today.
Then spray heavily with Bug Be Gone pyrethrin spray.
Plus thorough vacuuming the wall, carpet and furniture underneath the mounts. Then spray the same area with pyrethrin.

Anyone else had this problem?
How did you handle it?

[Fox]

How did you cure that hide before mounting? Or did you just cut the antlers off and leave the skin to dry?

[fratri]

How did you cure that hide before mounting? Or did you just cut the antlers off and leave the skin to dry?

This ^^^^^^^^needs to be answered first. If you did not cure them, they will not last.

[johny]

How did you cure that hide before mounting? Or did you just cut the antlers off and leave the skin to dry?

Cut the top of skull off.
With a surgical grade scalpel, it takes about an hour to cut and plane away all the muscle/fat etc.
The skin is peeled away from the skull.
Then stuffed with pickling salt with weekly changes for 5 weeks.
By then, the hide is stiff and dry.

This type of mount has lasted upwards of 27 years since I first started doing it.
Only in the last month have Casing Moths found their way into the house and infested the mounts.

[johny]

Lots of on-line references to moth eaten taxidermy.
Apparently 30+ years ago it was legal to have Arsenic is the curing solutions and bug infestations were much less as a result.
You can see the tubes the larva live in and the hair damage more clearly in the close up.
CASING MOTH 2.jpg

Mercifully, they have not touched any of my bird mounts or my Booner--done professionally so maybe taxidermists still have a way of leaving residual bug deterring chemical?

Again any advice about other chemical deterrents?
Or worse---- could these bugs spread to my closets and start eating wool clothes?