Preservation

[goaethic]

A few questions:

Is it possible to rehydrate a dried smaller spider (black widow, jumping spider, grass spider, etc), so the abdomen can be reinflated via resin or such?

I don't want to kill spiders in order to collect them, so is there a way to relax their curled legs once they've passed through other means?

Is it possible to pin smaller spiders?

 

[Edan bandoot]

Possible, people stuff them with cotten

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Yes, you can relax them in a humidity chamber - there are plenty of tutorials online for this, but in essence the cheap and accessible version is to put some moist batting (like quilt stuffing) in a Tupperware container and place the critter inside (I like to set them on a bit of wax paper so they don’t get tangled in the batting) and seal it up for a few days. Some people add a few drops of bleach to the water to inhibit mould - a good idea if you might not get to it within a few days. You can stuff the abdomen with a bit of cotton.

 

[goaethic]

Yes, you can relax them in a humidity chamber - there are plenty of tutorials online for this, but in essence the cheap and accessible version is to put some moist batting (like quilt stuffing) in a Tupperware container and place the critter inside (I like to set them on a bit of wax paper so they don’t get tangled in the batting) and seal it up for a few days. Some people add a few drops of bleach to the water to inhibit mould - a good idea if you might not get to it within a few days. You can stuff the abdomen with a bit of cotton.

If I intend to cast them into resin, would the cotton filled abdomen hold up okay? Do you think?

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

If I intend to cast them into resin, would the cotton filled abdomen hold up okay? Do you think?

I’m sorry, I don’t know the answer to this. I know I’ve seen at least one thread here where people were discussing resin casting - I suggest searching for that to see if they stuffed the abdomens at all.