We find that many of our customers are curious about how freeze dry taxidermy works. The actual process is called lyophilization. It involves converting the water from a frozen state and turning it into a gaseous state, without going through a liquid state. In other words, the process of pet freeze drying means that the moisture from the animals cells is removed while the animal is frozen in the freeze drying machine.

There are several steps that take place:

1. The pet is placed inside the freeze dry chamber, which is an air-tight vessel.
2. Inside, the animal is frozen solid very rapidly.
3. Once completely frozen the chamber is ‘vacuumed’, essentially taking the water out of the animal cells.
4. Next is the drying process. A vacuum reduces the time it takes for lyophilization to occur. Without it, drying could take anywhere from several months, or even years, to reach its final state.

It’s important to note that drying times differ based on species. Mammals, for instance, freeze dry quicker than other animal types but still they require the minimum of 45 days to be sure that any shrinkage that occurs won’t be noticed.

But species alone isn’t always a factor. For example, the same type of mammal (like a cat or dog) may require more drying time because of other outside factors such as their size, their diets during their lifetimes and the physical environments from which they came.

This is why it’s imperative to pick a freeze-drying taxidermist, like animalpreservation.net, who is experienced in pet freeze drying. Not only is it important to know how to properly freeze-dry an animal, but it’s also critical they can recognize that all animals are not alike, even within the same species.