Foreword:

This guide was made specifically around applying the taxidermy process to an edible brown crab; so it may not be EXACTLY perfect for all species.

But it will very likely work for crabs of similar build or size.

However.

Smaller specimens may not require the stuffing step to keep them structurally stable, or; they may be too fragile to thread wire into in the first place.

So; take this guide as general guidance and not as an exact step-by-step process.

For this process; you will need the following:

1. Tissue paper, toilet paper, or paper napkins; to use as stuffing.
The material must be easy to cut and stuff inside the shell.

2. Super glue. (I personally recommend an XXL bottle of Loctite super glue for this; maybe 2 bottles.)

3. A spool of thin, PVC & Steel Wire. (Around diameter of 0.8mm)

(the kind they use for gardening is my personal recommendation; but do not get the thick wire they use for suspending climbing plants; it will be much too hard to bend)

4. The crab specimen; prepared.

5. Tools to prepare said crab (in next section).

Before you can even begin the taxidermy process; you MUST clean the crab out entirely and carefully as to not break the shell.

The exact tools you can use in this process varies greatly; but I PERSONALLY recommend getting a seafood tool sets as pictured.

(The 2 red arrows point to the 2 tools I primarily used.)



























Once you have these tools; carefully pop the crabs joints and extract ALL the flesh.
(this is Ideally done with a cooked crab, as you can eat the insides, just don't eat the gills or you will get sick)

Once the whole crab is cleaned out; wash it out with clean water and soak it in a weak bleach-water mixture for around 10-15 minutes. (1 part bleach to 9 parts water)

This kills any remaining bacteria, and removes any smell they leave behind.

And rinse thoroughly to remove any traces of flesh.
After that; it should look like this.






















Once the crab is like this; you need to dry out the shell; which can be done in a few ways:
1. Leave it out to dry in a warm, dry room.
2. Use a hair dryer to dry the parts.
3. Put them in a very warm, dry cupboard (I have a hot water tank in a small closet in a room in my house; which does exactly that)

I used all 3 of these methods to quickly dry out the specimen; but do keep in mind some types of crustacean may "fold up" during this process.

I had that exact same issue happen when taxidermying a lobster previously; the head curled inwards; so I created basic wooden supports from sticks to prevent this.

Left head vs right lobster head.
Left had no support stick; right does.





























Anyway, once the crab is dry; you can begin the taxidermy process.

Legs.

(try to avoid getting super glue on any of the crabs joints; only soak the paper inside, as to avoid it locking-up on you and becoming un-poseable.)

Starting with the legs; what you want to do is organise the leg parts into their proper configuration and plan out what goes where.

(for future context; in this specimen the back left leg was missing; so it only has 7 instead of 8.)

Here is what a fully assembled leg should look like on a brown crab:















Assembling the legs:
To assemble the crabs legs; once you have the parts organised, cut tissue paper or stuffing into thin strips; twist it to form spirals, and cut a length of wire 1/3 longer than what the finished limb will be.

From this point; we are starting with the foot; place it on the end of the wire; twist some paper in; then glue it into place.

Once its secured; cut off the excess.


Once the foot is in place; follow these steps.
1. Place the next part on, in the correct orientation; with the joints lined up
2. Stuff it with tissue paper; just like the foot.
3. Once its filled with paper; super glue it in place and let it dry.

Repeat this process with each limb section.




















































Final result; all the limbs should be done.
But I advise attaching the hip joint last; after you figure out which hip socket matches which limb.

Then, trim the wire down to around 1.5-2 inches from the hip joint.

The Claws.

Much like the legs; first step is to organise the claws parts.

When you have them all laid out; start with the mobile digit by stuffing it and creating a protrusion like this with the wire.
Said wire should extend as far into the tip as possible.















Once that's in, glued, and set; stuff the main claw; slide the wire in; and carefully relocate the claw joint by lifting it upwards and pressing it in.



































Once this is done; it should look like this.
















Now; you need to use 3-4 lengths of wire; cut them to length; and put them into both the lower arm and upper arm of the specimen.




























After this; open the joints; stuff the arms firmly with paper, put glue inside; and push the arms together.





































Finished claw should look like this.
Repeat with the other arm.

The body.

Attaching the arms:

Now with all the limbs done; you can begin attaching them all to the body.
This process is fairly easy; stuff the central pelvic area with tissue and we can begin with the arms first.

Said arms are attached by connecting the base of its joint back into the shoulder socket; after its stuffed with paper; and gluing them in place at the base.































































This should firmly attach the arms to the body.
I advise really making sure the base of the arm is strongly connected.

Now; the legs.

Once the arms are securely fixed in place; flip the crab on its back; and begin attaching the legs.

Much like the arms; each leg socket has a point where it was once connected, line these up, slide the wire in and they should fit in naturally.

Once they are lined up; glue the hip socket into place.































Assembled crab underside should look like this, make any necessary adjustments quickly while assembling the crab:



















Once its all dry; flip the crab over, simply line up the shell, and gently press it into place.





















You now have a finished crab.

Your crab is now done.
But do keep in mind; due to how front-heavy this species is; I had to create something to help keep him upright on display as shown in the final image.

Now that your taxidermy crab in finished; its ready for display.
Here, I have him beside an earlier taxidermy project; a lobster I made last year.

I've decided to name them Eugene and Larry.

















For context; Larry was my first actual attempt at this; as you can see his claws are broken from having to cut them open to extract all the flesh.

And they are the wrong way around.

Since then I've refined my methods and no-longer need to cut them open, instead I just use those 2 tools I mentioned earlier to slowly take out everything.

Speaking of which; I removed these from Eugene's claws during the removal of all flesh.























This is the tendon for the muscles in the claw; they pull the claws shut and are what give crabs such grip strength.

These did not go back into him; instead I put them among the other miscellaneous crustacean parts I have stored up; all accumulated from my research into taxidermying crustaceans.

And with that I conclude this guide on Brown Crab taxidermy.

I do hope your efforts in such are successful; and what you've learned here is useful if you wish to perform this on, for example a Blue Crab; Dungeness Crab, Stone Crab; or whatever species captures your interest.

(May create a video version where I read this guide for those who struggle to read.)

Albeit that concludes this guide.
Goodbye.