# Pinning insects



## KevinsWither (Aug 14, 2015)

I need advice relevant for pinning praying mantids. Especially this female. She died of natural causes and I want to pin the bug. But I want to begin, but I do not know where to start. What size pins are good? Could I use small sewing pins?


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## jo1718 (Aug 15, 2015)

I suggest you do a lot of reading on the subject since there are a lot of ways to do it. No, you can't use sewing pins. They can rust and aren't recommended to pin insects. Sizes depend on the insect . For mantids A size 3 should be fine.


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## klawfran3 (Aug 15, 2015)

Mantids tend to discolor when drying. I have not found a way to stop discoloration in my pinned mantids except to dry them as quickly as possible.
To properly pin one, get a large piece of styrofoam and spread the mantis out on it. Then take an insect pin (size 2-3 is good) and push it through the right hand side of the thorax near the base of the wings. Then spread out one wing so that the lower edge of the front wing is perpendicular to the body. Move the top edge of the lower wing so it meets bottom of the top wing. Hold this setup down with a piece of paper (preferable glassine), and then use pins to tightly hold the paper in place by pushing them through the paper near the wings. This will keep the wing flat and uncurled, and hold it in place without damage.
Use crisscrossed pins to set the legs in a spread position (both pins crossing over the limb and holding it in place) and the raptoral arms straight above the head "spread eagle", as this exposes good identifying characteristics of the mantids inner forelimbs. 
Let this setup dry for about a week and then carefully remove the pins. If this was a wild caught specimen, this is where you would add the notecards telling you where, when, and who collected it, and also what species and order it is in. Good luck with your mantis, just be warned if it is green that I will guarantee you it will turn brownish.

This is at least how I pin my caught mantids, I know a lot of people pin them upside down and spread that way or even just put a pin through it and let it dry, no positioning. I'm probably going to try the upside down one on my next mantis because it looks interesting.


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## KevinsWither (Aug 15, 2015)

Do I need a display case? Anything else I need to buy to do this?


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## klawfran3 (Aug 16, 2015)

If you want a display case you can get one. I keep my mounted bugs in cardboard boxes with a foam insert at the bottom for the pins to go in to. Add a little chemicals to keep the bugs from eating your specimens and you're good to go!


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## KevinsWither (Aug 16, 2015)

Oh, like moth balls prehaps? Visual instructions for pinning mantids? Could scorpions be pinned too?


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## klawfran3 (Aug 16, 2015)

KevinsWither said:


> Oh, like moth balls prehaps? Visual instructions for pinning mantids? Could scorpions be pinned too?


 Moth balls work well for that. 
This guy has an OK video for pinning it, but he does not spread the wings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4h6B-nAOhQ

This is not my photo so here is a link to the image host, this is what it should look like when drying http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2738/4399770570_d81158f2ff.jpg


I have never pinned a scorpion, last time I checked arachnids were stored in alcohol. If you google "dry mounting scorpions" I'm sure you can find a website that shows you how to do that.


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