While we can’t show every step we use when building our costumes, we will try to shed some light on some aspects of fursuit building. We encourage anyone to give it a crack and experience the enormous creative release it can have. This is a guide from my perspective, and though I cover a lot, there is still a ton of different ways to do everything out there. There are a lot of other guides out there, and we recommend you read them all! After I finished writing this, I found that this tutorial is geared toward intermediate fursuit builders, in regards to the terminology and the fact I don’t go into the ABC’s as much as other tutorials. We recommend a basic knowledge of fursuits and crafting for this guide to be most effective to you. So happy reading and good luck!

Design:
Make sure you know what you want! Concept art is super helpful and keeps you on track for your plans. You’ll want to know your colour patterns well before you get started so you’ll know how much material to buy and where you're going to alter the basic design to incorporate those patterns. Most acceptable design sheets have 3 angles: front, side, and rear views to give an all around look and feel of the costume.

Preparation/tools:
Space space space. It’s hard to find I know. Hardwood or linoleum floors are great for clean up. Good lighting so you can see what you’re doing.  Make sure you have a place to keep your materials like foam and furr, they take up a lot of space and you don’t want to be tripping over them. I find the plastic bags work great. Have a big garbage bag handy always. Clean often, a dirty workspace is tough and sometimes can damage your work (i.e. Sharpies left out).

• Good scissors (cutting everything else and foam)
• Little good scissors (small details)
• Retractable knife (cutting furr and foam)
• Silver (for dark fabrics) and black sharpie
• Pliers – sometimes things get stuck or in narrow places
• Tailors measuring tape
• Firm edge ruler – minimum 12 inches
• A good glue gun with High or adjustable temp
• Lots of long glue sticks
• Pad of paper (for notes and making patterns as I go)
• Pencil (duh)
• Contact cement (for tricky stuff)
• Goop or other super adhesive (for feet pads)
• Bead head pins (with an easily accessible pincushion or we prefer Grab-it’s)
• Thimble (to prevent hand sewing ouchies)
• Hand sewing needles – curved ones work great
• Duct tape - (must be a Canadian thing lol) endless uses, but never use on top of furr.
• Acrylic and Enamel paints
• Slicker brush
• Velcro, zippers and snaps

• Dog Hair trimmer with attachments
• Dremel Rotary Toolwith attachments (my favorite tool)
• Airbrush
• Medical trauma sheers –cuts anything!
• Electric scissors – great on spandex
• Portable fan – for drying latex and paints
• A cutting mat is super useful so you don’t damage the surface you are working on. And watch out for glue gun drips, might want a mat for that too.

Materials:
Suede/viny/ leather pieces for pads, noses, and accents.

Sculpty III of various colors for noses, claws and teeth. You’ll want to bake it as per the directions on the label. Usually 15 min at 225F.  You can paint and even gloss it once its baked and is fairly durable, but not recommended for large pieces or long claws (can break).
 
Fun felt of various colors for insides of head/muzzle, paw pads, and other accents. Lots of black for the inside of the head.
Mesh or see through foam – for the see-through part of the eyes
Plastic Bowl – for the whites of the eyes

Durable, solid colour door mat/gym floor mat – bottoms of feet
Balaclava – a giant sock for your head! These are available in a variety or if you're good at sewing you can make your own. Typically you’ll want a good material that can help moisture wick from the skin. Lycra works well for this. I use the open face model, but the ones with the eye and mouth holes work well too.

Dummy head – available at costume shops and online. The foam ones are cheap and awesome. Or if you plan to make a few heads, perhaps invest in a high quality online model.

Shoes – man slippers, water shoes, neoprene booties, deck shoes, they all work good

Did I mention lots of glue? (50X10 inch mini size, or (20X10 inch wide size) glue sticks?

Fur: ( duh!)
You’ll typically need 4-5 Meters (4.37 yards for imperial troopers) of fur to make your complete suit.

1 colour suit = 4.5 meters
2 colour suit = 3.5m main colour, 1.5 m second colour
3 colors += 3.5m main, 1.5m second, then add .5-1.5 m for each new colour

 If you wish to incorporate more colors, stick with the formula I just gave and just add on to it. When cutting fur, we highly recommend using a retractable knife as opposed to scissors. Scissors cut the furr fibers and create a horrible mess! While a knife used on the back of the fabric, cuts the backing, and mostly leaves the fibers intact for the benefit of cleanup, and also you wont have any mysterious ‘chunks’ missing in the consistency of the fur.

Fur Quality:
There are different furs out there even of the same colour. If possible, feel the fabric with your paw/hand. It should feel soft and good quality. Check out what’s on the underside of the fabric too. Some furrs have suede on the backs which indicate they will be difficult (but not impossible) to sew, you’ll want to rip the suede backings off these before you sew. Other bad fur to watch for has a gritty appearance and you can see the base of the fabric very easily through the fur. It also helps to keep the same texture furrs when working with different colors, but this is hard to do if your shopping locally sometimes. Recommended places for fabric online: Cr’s Crafts, Montery Mills, Denver Fabrics

Foam:
Foam is used to sculpt things like heads, feet, and other shaped padding. You can find foam at the local fabrics store or even at Wal-Mart etc. that typically comes on rolls vacuum-sealed, typically in green or white. For a suit I will typically buy 2 meters of 1 inch foam. I prefer working with 1 inch foam for most things, though I keep some thicker 3 inch foam hands for larger projects. A note with foam: it will breakdown over time especially if exposed to sun etc. So if you see foam that’s turned very yellow and is hard and crumbly, stay away! You want to use soft ivory/white foam for best results. And the foam usually comes in 24inch wide on the roll. Different densities exist; we use regular density, as high density foam is expensive and is better suited for subtractive foam construction. Foam is an oil product and its price will depend on the oil industry, so be prepared for fluxuations, but watch for sales!

Head:
There are different ways to make a head: ‘toaster head’ foam, carved high density foam, balaclava, mesh, and even moldable plastics. We choose the balaclava method as it provides a snug fit, less materials, it is still pretty breathable, and provides a good comfortable base for the head structure.
The head is the hardest part of the fursuit and will require the greatest amount of time and patience. I try to use ADDITIVE creation versus SUBTRACTIVE, as I have more control over how the different pieces are built, and if you have any experience with Lego, you may know what I mean. Visualize the shape of the piece that you need in all aspects of the head.
Remember, pin before you glue for test fit. And when you do glue, hold the piece down for at least 10 or more seconds, and then if you cant hold longer, throw some pins in there to help it solidify for a least a minute. You may want a second pile for ‘glue pins”

Foaming your head in 9 steps:

1. Put the balaclava on the dummy head. Make sure the dummy head the same around as your head (measure around your head), with room for the nose and chin, otherwise the head will be to small! If you need to, attach something to the base of the dummy head so the head sits at a nice height. Get the balaclava sitting straight as well.
2. Start with the basic muzzle and cheek structures. Many ways to do this. Usually a couple pieces glued together for a square is a good start for a muzzle.
3. Jaw: using a similar technique, make a smaller block. You will want to cut a V in the inside so it will curve around your chin a bit better.
4. Refine the muzzle/jaw/cheeks a bit – make sure there is room underneath for your nose/mouth, round of the corners a bit, but don’t go crazy on trimming just yet.
5. The Brow: All critters need a brow or forehead of some sort, some curved pieces can accent nicely just above the eyes. Also make a bridge piece to connect the brow and muzzle. Make sure you have left space for the eyes, either by cutting out from the foam, or building around where the eyes would be. Try on the head at various points to make sure it fits.
6. Ears: Ears are unique to each suit, so it’s hard to tell you how to cut them. Use reference art or photos to help you here. 1 inch foam works well for most cases. Sometimes ‘fun foam’ works well too for thinner ears. Ill mention that you can put some natural curve into them by pinning them on a curve onto the head. When gluing ears, use a lot of glue. If your ears are larger, I recommend some wire supports.
7. Back of head: Cut some pieces that will fit on the top of the head around the ears and across the back of the head. Some people foam the whole head, others don’t, but we recommend it for stability. Usually the foam on the back of the head will end at the same height of the top of the muzzle. Much lower and you may have trouble putting it on your head!
8. At this point if there is anything you haven’t glued then do so now.
9. It should really start looking like a head now, so now u can carve stuff down for a smooth shape, then add more to areas that need more defining. If you need to add to anything (i.e. muzzle shape) I recommend .5 inch foam, it’s much better for smaller adjustments. Shape it up and play with it! You really have to look hard at your reference art when carving to make sure you get the basic shapes.

Moving jaws:
Accomplished several ways, they are always tricky. Some use an actual hinge; others rely on the flexible properties of their materials. In a balaclava design, due to the snug fit and elastic properties of the cava, the jaw will want to stay shut, and be forced open a bit by your jaw. It is important in this method to remember a few things: does the human jaw have a secure platform on which to push on, and are the materials at the sides of the mouth stretchy, and what force will pull the jaw back up?
Some people put elastic bungees around the head to help add elasticity before foaming. When you foam your head, I find making the jaw and muzzle completely separate from each other until the ‘hinge point” just past the eyes, and helps keep things moving. It almost looks like the head is smiling a lot. Give the inside of the jaw a ‘shelf’ where you will have two positions to put you jaw into: on top, and then also ‘down in front’.
The furr at the sides of the jaw/muzzle should be separate from each other like the foam is underneath, stopping just in front of “the hinge”. Roll the edges of the furr into the ‘smile’.
After you try it all on, and if you still notice jaw movement problems, a quick fix is gluing a piece of  bungee to two squares of black felt, then gluing them inside the sides of the muzzle, almost directly below the eyes. Also don’t be afraid to cut the furr/cava up the ‘smile” if you feel the movement is being hindered.

Furring your head in 8 steps:

1. Using a sharpie, draw on your foam head to mark out where the colors will be. Careful using a sharpie that will go underneath WHITE FUR as it will show through.
2. I usually start at the muzzle because that’s where the fur grain starts from.
3. The pieces used will be very different for every head out there, so my basic advice is this: Take a ‘maximum HXW’ measurement, cut the rectangle out, keeping furr grain in mind, pin it to the general area you want to cover, then using a sharpie and knife mark and trim the piece until you know its exactly the right shape against the head.
4. More pieces = more seams yes, but will fit more accurately around curves.
5.  I prefer to sew my pieces together in advance for nicer seams, but others find it easier to glue each piece on individually and squeeze the seams together. I do advise to cut all your pieces in advance and pin them on the head to make sure they fit. I sometimes leave a bit extra on pieces to allow for mistakes or under- measurements.
6. When gluing, glue in small sections and smooth it down with your hand (feels kinda nice). Furr can come off foam, though not gracefully. So don’t be scared if you need to reposition. And if you go slowly, patiently, and piece by piece, it will all come together.
7. Back of head: using curved shapes like looking down on a canoe can be helpful in creating that dome shaped pocket your melon has to fit into. Think of a beach ball. I usually glue the seam behind the ears and down behind the cheeks, as it’s impossible to glue the whole furr-face around the head/ears if its 100% sewn together.
8. Neck: I don’t glue any gluing on the neck so that the cava can stretch to accommodate you getting it on, I recommend hand sewing it. Think about how long the sides need to be, and that the neck and back can be a little longer.

Fur Trimming:
All good heads deserve trimming. It will bring out the original shape of your foam carve, as well as give a clean and smooth look. You can buy cheap trimmers at Wal-Mart for like $20, however they will suck on heavy pile fur, so you may want to consider getting a good one meant for DOG FUR. Technique: Trimmers can cause trouble if you’re not patient and careful with them. Start out at the nose, apply a gentle constant pressure, and avoid digging the teeth to far into the fabric.  Every fur acts differently under a cutter, so be patient if it takes many tries to see some progress. I recommend trimming the furr on the top of the nose, muzzle, and a bit around the face, and to catch any stray hairs near the mouth or eyes. If you are good, you can create a furr gradient from short to long which has beautiful results. If you mess up, try to level out the furr around it best you can, but try to not mess up in the first place.

Muzzle:
 Coat the inside of the muzzle with black felt, watch for glue edges. You can airbrush/paint around the edges to make it a smooth transition from furr to mouth.

Nose:
Several ways: sculpty, foam/latex, regular foam and suede/leather. Helps to mount larger noses to the foam before you furr as it will give a cleaner look. A piece of advice, don’t mount the nose too high unless you want the super toony look. Most noses should be within an inch of the upper lip. Also, look at photos of the species muzzle to see the shape on top of the muzzle needed. Is it flat? Curved down?
 For reptiles and dragons, glue on a double sided triangle of the matching furr/fabric folded in a pinched C shape after the head is furred. Or, if they are large nostrils, carve them into the foam and furr them as you would the rest of the head.

Ears:
Put in place in the foaming stage, can be thick or thin, depending on how toony or realistic you want to be. For thin, doubled up fun foam will actually hold up well once the furr and glue is in place. For toony, go with a 1-2 inch foam, with extra puffiness around the edges of the front of the ear. Using a photo reference can help greatly in getting the shape right. Make sure they are even, and take into account the curve of the head on the bottom edge of the ear. All ears should be anchored down with some extra foam, or cotton pieces. Use lots of glue when putting the ear in position. In general, longer lighter color inside the ears always looks good. For the inside, you can use the general shape of the ear, but for the outside of the ear, I recommend a cone or tracing the inside shape and adding 2 inches around it.

Eyes:
Eyes make or break the suit. Take your time to make them look good! Using a sharpie mark out on a white plastic bowl or hard material the whites of the eyes and if you want you can draw the irises on here if you have black pupil material later on. Cut them out carefully; avoid chunky angles if you can. I find a dremmel tool gives the smoothest results, and its fun! Using the mesh, back the plastic over the hole where you see out of. You can use paint/prisma-colours or a sharpie to mark the pupil and/or iris on the mesh. Don’t forget the white twinkle! Mount the whole piece on the head with a secure amount of glue. Then cut and glue on eyelids and eyebrows from felt or leather. You can make a lot of expression with this part, so refer to your concept art often! Eyes are the most important part, so don’t rush them.
Placement: eyes should nestle nicely in between the cheekbones and the bridge of the nose. If the eyes are too far apart, you will have vision problems and you suit will have a displeasing look.  Typically on costumes and in nature the pupils are directly above the corners of the mouth.

Glass eyes:
Most often have to be custom ordered and you mount them on black mesh and line it up so you can see out of the eye ducts.  We recommend a 30-44mm sizes. I find putting the mesh in place before you furr the head; will help keep a clean look on the eyes. Accent with leather strips, sculpty, felt, or anything you can get your hands on! Glass eye heads typically have lesser vision than toony ones. Be careful to not obstruct your vision to much. On the other hand, try to not have the eyes to far apart, or it will look fish-eyed.

Eyebrows:
Untrue to nature, but very useful with fursuits. Eyebrows are a helpful for conveying emotion in your character. Felt and airbrushing are common.

Teeth:
Sculpty white works very well, but if they are large teeth you may have to anchor them into the foam. Or you can buy a taxidermy jaw set, but be careful what you wish for, they are life-size to the species! Be sure to cut the set down to the correct length of the mouth, or you could cut up your face when you put the head on. Lips can be created with a rolled over piece of felt or leather for a realistic look. Some people make entire mouths out of sculpty and hand paint them. These are very beautiful, but can also be fragile.

Tongue:
Pink fun foam, felt, or soft pink fleece is most common. Some people even carve them out of sculpty or cast them in realistic feeling latex. Don’t make the tongue too big or it will overpower the mouth. If using a taxidermy set, the tongue that comes with it looks good.

Hair:
Most common is the hair ‘floof’. Trick for it is to sew a 3-6 inch wide tube of furr. For a fun effect, you can even stuff it. Hand sew the flat back edge to the back of the head upside down (go through the head), then flip it over and put a few stitches through the flop and the top of the head. More interesting effects can be achieved by using several smaller tubes together, and even inserting in bendable wire for things like Mohawks etc. A ponytail can be faked by hair spraying the furr on the back of the head back, then attaching a tube at the nape of the neck, with lots more hairspray slicking and a good looking hair-tie.
Wigs are good, however they have downsides. They are hard to maintain, expensive, and are a challenge to put on. We found the best way was to cut 2 large relief cute in the sides of the wig (which is dome shaped), then using those slits, positioning the wig in front and behind the ears. Glue the wig down as you would a piece of furr, but go a little lighter on the glue to prevent oozing into the roots.
Want hair that naturally stands up? Try putting a piece of long pile furr on upside down, the grain will naturally want to spike upwards.

Whiskers:
We recommend a thick fishing line or weed-whacker material for whiskers. To insert, make a small and deep incision on the furred muzzle, then holding it open with your hand,  pump in some hot glue, careful top not have too much at the entrance or it will ooze, then insert the whisker. Move it around to make sure you have the position right, then close up the gap by holding it together with your hand. Feel free to trim the whisker once the glue has set.

Body:
A body is a basic jumpsuit. Simplicity/McCalls sell patterns that work very well. Always do test patterns on cheap cotton, sew it up, then pin and mark adjustments while you (or the duct tape dummy) have it on. Try to tuck the furr fibers into the seam as you go along, it will help it look better. Also, pin everything before you sew it, as machines can make fabrics shift and cause a ‘curl’ in the seam. An extra line of stitching at the crotch and top of the neck is recommended for durability. Don’t cut the arms and legs too short, you will need the length if you are an active performer and don’t want your ankles/wrists showing.

Trim the size:
If you put the suit on and it is still baggy, some areas you can take it in are from the ankle, all the way up the side seam, all the way up to the wrist. Arms and legs will usually be most obvious for trimming. Turn the suit inside out, and mark and pin where you will trim. careful to not trim too much!
For more active suits, you can put in ‘diamond’ shaped pieces in the armpits and crotch to allow for extra movement. Always make sure in any suit there is some basic room in the armpits, crotch and butt.
Curved shapes are fun, I will try to explain this, but it is hard. Be sure to pin securely the inside curve with the outside. Force the outside shape to become that of the inside one. And even though they are completely shapes when put back to back, the inside curve one is what you want to follow. (Imagine a moon shape sewn onto the side of a circle for an example). General note on all curves, it helps to cut in small ‘relief’ notches every .5 to 1 inches to help relieve the stress put on the fabric.

Zippers:
Zippers are usually a pain. Try to get a zipper between 20-26 inches that color matches pretty good to the fabric it will be attached to. Use a zipperfoot on your machine, this is what they are meant for. Watch your thread color too. Depending on your skill with a machine, you can try to carefully line up the edge of the zipper teeth just a hair inside the fabric, or you can do a ‘rollover’ where you sew the zipper backwards onto the outside of the fabric, then roll it inside and sew it again, this allows for no visible fabric edge. Be sure to brush out any furr trapped in under the seam for a smooth look. It is common to place the zipper a few inches from the top of the neck, and then using a snap or clasp to finish the job.

Brush out and Trim up:
Dog hair slicker brushes work great for getting most of the hair out of seams. For those stubborn areas, use a walnut picker or other pointed, yet not sharp tool. Furr tends to hide seams well, and you can make it seamless if you give it a hand. On furr with different color guard hairs that its undercoat, it may require a bit more seam picking to get the seam to disappear completely. Once all the seams are brushed out, you may go back inside and carefully trim down extra on your seams. A serger always gives the best look but it a whole different chapter. Be sure to give your suit a thorough shake out OUTSIDE afterwards, as there will be many loose hairs.

Digitigrade:
Human legs and dog/digitigrade legs are not the same. Many costumes have padding in the legs to provide the illusion of digi. Essentially, the reverse knee is padded on the back of the human calf, and the rounded upper leg is padded on top of the human thigh. There are many varieties of how much padding and how extreme the digi will be. The pads themselves are commonly sewn to a lycra under suit, or to the costume itself.
Now the costume itself will need to be altered to help accommodate the padding. The front of the thigh needs to be brought out for the pad, behind the real knee needs to be brought in, as does the front of the shin, and the back of the calf needs to be extended for the pad. To do this, you will add 2 extra seams to the legs of the costume. One down the front, and one down the back.  Try laying the suit on its side to see this. Best idea for deciding where to sew these seams is to put the costume on, place in the pads, and pin and mark where the tapering needs to take place.

Hands:
Look at a ski glove or any glove and notice that the thumb is opposable. Try making a 4 (or 3) fingered hand as you usually would, but leave the thumb out. Use the sandwich or tubular fingers as you feel comfortable. Then cut a small 1.5 inch hole just inward of the side seam, where you can hand sew the thumb on. And Poof! Opposable thumbs! Much more comfortable to wear. If you don’t want opposable, the good ol sandwich method is great, be sure to leave at least ½ inch on either side of ever finger or it will be too tight. Also, take note of real hands, the fingers are different lengths. The middle usually the longest, index is medium sized, and pinky and thumb the smallest. Some fingers you may want 3 pieces to make the finger larger or a specific shape.

Pads:
Paw pads have lots of different techniques. Some people glue them on after trimming the furr down, which is a quickie, but will wear out over time. We recommend sewing vinyl ones directly onto the furr. Depending on your sewing machine experience, you may want to hand sew with a simple - - - - - - around each pad.

Claws:
The most basic claws out there are cone shaped sculpty, glued directly onto the ends of the fingers. Another common shape is an elongated and curved tear drop, glued on top of the finger, for more of a predator look. This one has an advantage in that the gluing surface on the claw is big, and as well not all of it is sticking off the finger to break. For a great ‘stick’, some claws have a hole through the base where they are further sewn into the finger. And even another way, would be to give the claw a flared base, and bring it up through the finger, cut a hole in the end of the finger, and push it though and secure it glue.
Premade claws are great and super durable, just sometimes tougher to adhere to the fingers. If you are inclined, try casting some yourself out of resin!
When gluing claws on, try to part the furr away from where you are about to put the claw. Be sure to sand or scratch up the bottom of the claw to give it a better surface to adhere to. Don’t use too much hot glue or it will ooze out from the sides. Just enough glue to cover the bottom of the claw.

Feet:
Feet are typically based off a shoe of some sort of shoe. It’s always nice to have a comfortable nice fitting, and easy to slip into shoe. Toes can be carved out of thick foam, or small pieces glued into blocks. Look at the anatomy of an animal’s foot to understand where the raised knuckles should be. Make sure the toes aren’t too splayed out, and all mostly face forward. The side toes will be a slightly longer and narrower shape than the middle ones, and usually sit back a little bit too. A little foam all the way around the foot, smooth it all out and you have a foamed foot!
Furring a foot is similar to a head. Cut the pieces out, trim them up, then fit them on to make sure they fit well. Be sure to tuck the fur down in between the toes for some definition. You my want to make a tube to cover the ankles. I like to sew my feet pieces together as one ‘boot’ then glue it down in one piece. This allows me to attach the ankle tube easily. Some designs include a zipper down the back of the ankle for a snug fit.

Feet Bottoms:
They should be a durable material like gym-floor mat or door mat. Unless you want show style paw pads, then treat it just like the rest of the foot, and sew or glue matching paw pads on the bottom. They look great and are fun to have, however wear out a bit sooner and need to be cleaned often.

Snaps:
Snaps and clasps are useful anywhere! They can hold the legs of a body to the ankles to prevent any skin from showing when running around, they can allow for a hidden escape flap for hands, and even tack heads down to necks for a flawless finish. Take 10 stitches to put in and bam! Tons of uses.

Tail:
Typically separate, as to enjoy the benefits of half suiting. But also is good to be separate due to the stress the fabric will be under from the weight of the tail. Attached tails are OK if they are small, like a bear, rabbit or lynx etc.
Most tails are 2 or 4 piece, depending on the complexity. To turn the tail inside out, don’t fuss with doing with our hands, instead, get a yardstick or broom handle, and push the tip onto it, then pull the fabric down and it will be right side out in seconds! Stuff with polyfill, using a long stick or your arm. Weather you stuff it hard or soft, it’s a personal preference. Medium is good too. Leave a bit of room for the loop. Attachments to the belt can be either the furr itself folded over in a loop and sewn down, or straps/loops sewn in the end (easier if your machine isn’t very powerful).

Carved Foam tails:
 These are awesome! They provide a stable, light, smooth, solid shape inside larger sized tails. For a dragon tail for example, get about 5 inch think of foam ( or 2+3, 1+4 etc), and draw the side shape of your desired tail on it. More than 4 ft and you will find the tail will begin to buckle under its weight, so don’t go too crazy! Find the angle which the tail will sit on your bum, and cut the base off to match. Furring the tail is easy in 2 or three pieces depending on your design. 3 pieces is good if you have an ‘underbelly’ color, and it shaped in an elongated triangle. The other 2 pieces will closely match he outline of the carved tail, with a little bit added in to cover the curve around. Once sewn together, turn inside out and carefully insert the foam and push the fabric right side out onto the tail slowly, as opposed to pushing the tail through. You will find less wrinkles and its much easier. Glue down the ends, or attach it to a fullsuit (re-enforce LOTS!) and you’ve got it!

Some tails include armatures for additional support or poseabilliy. Typically, some coat hangars or delrin rod work very nicely. In extreme cases, we have welded and built a harness onto a very large tail.

Other interesting stuff:

Spikes:
A great addition to any reptilian critter. Again, many ways to do these. An easy and cost effective way is to make them out of a soft vinyl. Be sure to use a short - - - - - stitch and then stuff with polyfill firmly and evenly. Then glue directly onto the head, hand sew on as claws, or machine sew a bunch of them directly into a bodysuit seam.
Other methods involve casting out of resin, sculpting with apoxie-sculpt, and many more!

Scales:
Ordinarily, most fur suit reptiles are made of furr. But not always. Some furrs can mimic scales nicely. Or maybe go with a pre-patterned fabric, however keep in mind, seams will not hide as easily and the fabric typically has not as much stretch as furr.
On heads, scales can be made with latex, vinyl, or even fun foam (cut individually, and looks amazing).

Casting 101:
For Example if you want to cast a dog nose.

1. Carve the nose out of clay – oil clay is firmer and doesn’t dry out, wet clay can dry out but is nice and soft. Use photo refrence from the actual animal, it will help lots.
2. Create a dam around the piece out of clay or other waterproof material at least ½ inch higher than your piece. Make sure the piece is flat against the tray or surface you are using.
3. You may want some release agent on your model to help it come out of the plaster – Vaseline or Ease-Off works good
4. Mix your plaster nice and thick – pour gently onto the piece, watch for bubbles
5. Let harden a few hours- plaster will get warm
6. Pull off dam, and pull out clay model (may take some time, but be careful to not scrape the plaster when removing clay.
7. Wash out and dry the plaster mould
8. Pour in latex (you can premix some paint into it), and slosh around until every surface area is covered, as well as a little on the edge. Drain off the excess back into the latex container.
9. Put under a fan and the latex should dry in about an hour or two depending on how thick it is.
10. Pull the latex out, and trim off any excess around the edges with scissors. And there you have it! Try for a few more layers to toughen the latex up, then glue in some supportive foam and you did it!