I skun two fox last night that I had in the freezer and they both had green belly, actually the cross fox had some "brownish green" belly.(thank god they were froze, cause man did it stink)
here is the background.
Both fox were snared about a month ago.
it was -20+ for a week straight, and I started a new job.
I finally got to check em 4 days after the cold snap, so techincally they could have been there for 11 days, whcih I doubt because no birds hit em and they were pretty solid then..

anyways, the green belly is around the wee wee's and the crotch area and that is it.
I fleshed them very very well, taking caution to get all the green belly off.
however, the hide still has a light greenish tint to it.
after fleshing and stretching, I rubbed Heavy amounts of borax over the effected area..

My question is.. What are the odds or chances of slippage in the tanning process, and what can i do to prevent this NOW that it happened (i realize taking em out of the snares earlier would prevent this)

thanks

I would say you have a 50% chance either way. There is nothing more you can do to the hides...once tainted always tainted.

Alot of guys recommend a mix of 5 to 1 water and bleach misted over the green areas

It kills the bacteria that is causing the green belly

Though your rapid Borax treatment should kill it as well!

MikeD

There is nothing quite so breath takeing as SPOILED FURS !lol

You didn't trust our opinion?

i posted here first.

So...are 30-50% of the wolves out there no good??? or have bad bellies?

Not at all, were talking a couple fox here not wolves,but there is a difference between the fat being green or the skin being green.The fat will scrap off with no effects but the skin will stay green / gray looking when dry and most likely pull or shed when tanned..thats all i'm saying.

I would take a 50/50 bleach-water mix and stray the area down on the flesh side... then flesh the fox, then borax the fur side, turn it and borax the flesh side... and tack it on the board, let the get tacky, then turn it, and bora the crap out of it again... and put it fur side out...

I haven't had one slip yet... but some folks would tell you I don't know nothing anyway.... LOL....

I'd say you have better than a 50% chance of some slip on the pelts in that area.

You can stop the green if you get on it fast, however once it gets into the leather all bets are off when it comes to slip.

Most animals will go green in the belly relativly quickly, but if you can flesh most of it off and then mist it with bleach it usually stops it cold 90% of the time as it's not penetrated the leather.

Depending on how long it's been in the leather and attacked the hair roots is your problem. Simply misting or fleshing after this fact will not help this problem.

Only thing you can do now is wait until they get back and learn from this as to how long you can wait in your ambient temps and area!

If your are saying 50% chance of slippage, then 30-50 percent of wolves will have slippage. Wolves get green belly within hours. The only way to avoid green belly on a wolf is to skin it in the field and it must be caught with a foothold. Naturally, you can't always do this.

I have a hard time believing that 50% of our wolves have slippage. That number is MUCH, MUCH lower.

Kusko, i'm as shocked as you are. Over 50% of my fox have had green belly and I'm batting 0 for slippage. Who knows....

I've never skinned a muskrat in North Carolina that didn't have green belly. I find it hard to believe they're all bad too.

I have skinned a lot of fox and wolves. Most were NOT warm and had been frozen for a while. Probably the overwhelming majority had green belly. I've yet to have one slip.

All animals can have green belly and be fine, just in case you never read the whole text I wrote, I said when it gets into the leather, Big Difference!!! than just having it laying on the surface on the fat and underneath layer right agianst the leather. Misting with bleach after removing this will almost garuantee the bacteria dieing and not moving into the LEATHER.

It's much more noticeable on thin skinned animals then any thing else, however just cause you see it on the skin from the fur side does not neccessarily mean that it's in the leather.

I've dealt with it for years on peoples animals brought in and know exactly when a pelt will slip or not just by the coloring and the amount of darkness in the green when it's IN the leather.

I've got wolf and almost every other animal besides that only the bellies have slippage, an absolute sure sign of green belly.

There are always exceptions to everything with the cold temps being the best excuse for northern animals being able to get away with green on the belly.

Most will find that the heavy grease animals are almost immune to this happening to the LEATHER, though it will show up in different degrees even in them if they are left long enough with out being cold. The have so much grease and fat on the inside of them that the green has a long time before it gets to the actual LEATHER!!

A good prime example is Badgers, they almost always will go green quickly on the belly very dark as well, yet when working them down you will find that this green almost always will scrape off, leaving just a very light green that needs misting with bleach which after it's done will return to almost the same color as the surrounding area.

Ever tried white vinegar on them Grit?

Yeah come to think of it I've never seen a beaver with green belly.

Yea tried the vinegar, white, yellow, clear, apple, all work, but the bleach to me is the quickest surest killer of that bacteria.

I also will use the mist on ermine pelts that have been stained yellow, works well, but not as well as perioxide does.

Thanks Grit, once again I learned something new, lol.

Probably anything thats a high acidic PH will work on green bellies, though I would not use any of the high concentrated acids, just as a disclaimer for some youth here trying to be extra bright and have access to chemicals!!

Your welcome J, makes my day just a little brighter when you know you have helped a professional out LOL!!