Best Methods to Preserving a Tarantula - Epoxy Resin the best?

[Sambro]

So I'm already doing research ahead of time for 3 males that I cannot find pair partners and expecting them to pass by the end of the year at the latest. I've found some methods of Taxidermy on AB but I wanted to ask some experienced keepers the best way to preserve T's to keep as a display. And also to see if there are any new updated methods, which may not have been considered before. For instance, I can't find a lot of info if you want to encase the T in epoxy resin, which was my first thought when thinking to preserve a T without it decomposing. Throwing them in the bin is not really an option either and it's not how I want to remember my treasures.

So members of the AB, which is your method of preserving your T's? Some photos of some amazing display examples would be greatly appreciated too.

 

[Spoodfood]

You can preserve them dry, or wet. There’s different methods to both options. You can wet preserve in alcohol, very strong alcohol. Like 80% or higher would be best. The problem with this method is you’ll have to change it out if/when it yellows. To dry preserve, you can basically empty them out and stuff them, then put them in a shadow box or on a mantle. Here’s a more detailed description on how that’s done.

1. Empty specimen. Cut open the abdomen vertically between the spinnerets and book lungs. Make a large enough incision to empty the abdomen. Use a very sharp knife for this, I used an exact-o knife. Empty with qtips. Make sure you get as much out as possible so it won’t cause any rotting. Once emptied, place a rolled up cotton ball inside while you empty the carapace to absorb excess moisture. Move onto the carapace and do the same. Make the incision around the naturally circular part between the legs on the underside. The innards here will be tougher and there will be less. Place a temporary cotton ball here to absorb moisture as before.

2. Stuff it. Most use very small torn and rolled pieces of cotton balls. Stuff both the abdomen and the carapace with these. Once stuffed enough to look full but not too much to where you can’t glue it back together, proceed to glue. Glue the abdomen together with super glue, and use the small circular piece to close the carapace.

3. Pin the specimen. You can use any pins you’d like. I used push pins. Pin it in the desired position it will be mounted in on a piece of styrofoam.

4. Dry the specimen. Some people use silica gel. You can place it in any container you wish and pour the gel on top. I’ve heard of people freezing it as well, although I haven’t done this. Or you could just let it dry in the open. Certain methods will take longer. Regardless, I’d leave it for at least a couple weeks or until it doesn’t move and is dry when the pins are removed.

5. Mount the specimen. You could use something naturalistic, like decorated cork bark. You could also use a shadow box. I used a small canvas which I’ll be putting inside a glass box like a shadow box. It’s up to you how you chose to display it.

I’ve only done this once, as I’ve only lost one spider. But this is what it looks like. Be careful unpinning as you could break off a leg. I glued the leg back on as you can see, but it would look better if I didn’t have to do this. There is video tutorials of people doing this as well.

 

[Sambro]

You can preserve them dry, or wet. There’s different methods to both options. You can wet preserve in alcohol, very strong alcohol. Like 80% or higher would be best. The problem with this method is you’ll have to change it out if/when it yellows. To dry preserve, you can basically empty them out and stuff them, then put them in a shadow box or on a mantle. Here’s a more detailed description on how that’s done.
1. Empty specimen. Cut open the abdomen vertically between the spinnerets and book lungs. Make a large enough incision to empty the abdomen. Use a very sharp knife for this, I used an exact-o knife. Empty with qtips. Make sure you get as much out as possible so it won’t cause any rotting. Once emptied, place a rolled up cotton ball inside while you empty the carapace to absorb excess moisture. Move onto the carapace and do the same. Make the incision around the naturally circular part between the legs on the underside. The innards here will be tougher and there will be less. Place a temporary cotton ball here to absorb moisture as before.
2. Stuff it. Most use very small torn and rolled pieces of cotton balls. Stuff both the abdomen and the carapace with these. Once stuffed enough to look full but not too much to where you can’t glue it back together, proceed to glue. Glue the abdomen together with super glue, and use the small circular piece to close the carapace.
3. Pin the specimen. You can use any pins you’d like. I used push pins. Pin it in the desired position it will be mounted in on a piece of styrofoam.
4. Dry the specimen. Some people use silica gel. You can place it in any container you wish and pour the gel on top. I’ve heard of people freezing it as well, although I haven’t done this. Or you could just let it dry in the open. Certain methods will take longer. Regardless, I’d leave it for at least a couple weeks or until it doesn’t move and is dry when the pins are removed.
5. Mount the specimen. You could use something naturalistic, like decorated cork bark. You could also use a shadow box. I used a small canvas which I’ll be putting inside a glass box like a shadow box. It’s up to you how you chose to display it.

I’ve only done this once, as I’ve only lost one spider. But this is what it looks like. Be careful unpinning as you could break off a leg. I glued the leg back on as you can see, but it would look better if I didn’t have to do this. There is video tutorials of people doing this as well.

Wow, this is amazing, and a very detailed guide! Thank you, I'm defiantly going towards a dry mounting similar to what information you've provided.
I going to do some shopping for some airtight display cases and possibly try the epoxy resin method too.

 

[Spoodfood]

Wow, this is amazing, and a very detailed guide! Thank you, I'm defiantly going towards a dry mounting similar to what information you've provided.
I going to do some shopping for some airtight display cases and possibly try the epoxy resin method too.

There’s a lot of shadow boxes and things on Etsy!

 

[CommanderBacon]

You can preserve them dry, or wet. There’s different methods to both options. You can wet preserve in alcohol, very strong alcohol. Like 80% or higher would be best. The problem with this method is you’ll have to change it out if/when it yellows. To dry preserve, you can basically empty them out and stuff them, then put them in a shadow box or on a mantle. Here’s a more detailed description on how that’s done.
1. Empty specimen. Cut open the abdomen vertically between the spinnerets and book lungs. Make a large enough incision to empty the abdomen. Use a very sharp knife for this, I used an exact-o knife. Empty with qtips. Make sure you get as much out as possible so it won’t cause any rotting. Once emptied, place a rolled up cotton ball inside while you empty the carapace to absorb excess moisture. Move onto the carapace and do the same. Make the incision around the naturally circular part between the legs on the underside. The innards here will be tougher and there will be less. Place a temporary cotton ball here to absorb moisture as before.
2. Stuff it. Most use very small torn and rolled pieces of cotton balls. Stuff both the abdomen and the carapace with these. Once stuffed enough to look full but not too much to where you can’t glue it back together, proceed to glue. Glue the abdomen together with super glue, and use the small circular piece to close the carapace.
3. Pin the specimen. You can use any pins you’d like. I used push pins. Pin it in the desired position it will be mounted in on a piece of styrofoam.
4. Dry the specimen. Some people use silica gel. You can place it in any container you wish and pour the gel on top. I’ve heard of people freezing it as well, although I haven’t done this. Or you could just let it dry in the open. Certain methods will take longer. Regardless, I’d leave it for at least a couple weeks or until it doesn’t move and is dry when the pins are removed.
5. Mount the specimen. You could use something naturalistic, like decorated cork bark. You could also use a shadow box. I used a small canvas which I’ll be putting inside a glass box like a shadow box. It’s up to you how you chose to display it.

I’ve only done this once, as I’ve only lost one spider. But this is what it looks like. Be careful unpinning as you could break off a leg. I glued the leg back on as you can see, but it would look better if I didn’t have to do this. There is video tutorials of people doing this as well.
View attachment 389740

Yours looks pretty good! This is my only attempt and it looks kind of wonky imo. In hindsight, I could have done a better job, but I ended up boiling it for about 30 seconds as I saw Nick Krueger do to preserve the color, and the spider curled up. Also it smelled weird.

I think boiling it made it more difficult to pose the legs, but it was very easy to remove the innards.

Another method I've heard being used is slowly mummifying it by freezing it for a week or so, then pulling it out to defrost, then repeating the process until it hardens up. I suspect it may shrivel a bit if you do this.

 

[RoachCoach]

I’ve only done this once

Seriously impressive for real. The one last thing I would recommend is taking precautions for hide beetles. They ate my entire collection of cicadae.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Preserving them in resin also can work quite well. My fiance has preserved squid, fish, insects, lizards, etc. of various sizes using resin molds. For a large specimen, it'll probably be more difficult, though. When Nebula, my C. versicolor died due to a bad molt, he cast her in resin to preserve her and it turned out very nice. Some discoloration can happen with time, however.

 

[RoachCoach]

Preserving them in resin also can work quite well. My fiance has preserved squid, fish, insects, lizards, etc. of various sizes using resin molds. For a large specimen, it'll probably be more difficult, though. When Nebula, my C. versicolor died due to a bad molt, he cast her in resin to preserve her and it turned out very nice. Some discoloration can happen with time, however. View attachment 389895 View attachment 389896

A small vacuum chamber can get rid of those air bubbles when casting.

 

[Wolfram1]

Another method I've heard being used is slowly mummifying it by freezing it for a week or so, then pulling it out to defrost, then repeating the process until it hardens up. I suspect it may shrivel a bit if you do this.

View attachment 389749

do you perhaps happen to know were i could find a description/tutorial on this method


As far as i know all mumification processes rely on drying the specimen but i cant seem to wrap my head around how a spider could dry in a regular freezer? Especially if you unfreeze its mushy internals over and over


oh, and good luck to the OP, no matter the method you choose when the time comes, sad they wont reproduce

 

[Wolfram1]

I guess i found how it can be done but the equipment used seems to be expensive, what you were taking about was probably a homebrew method of this process.

Freeze-drying

Introduction to freeze drying

What is freeze drying? What are freeze dryers used for? Here are the basics of freeze drying, from a simple explanation of how it works, to the equipment needed to start preserving lyophilized samples

www.labconco.com