Preserving a dead spider.

[Tim Benzedrine]

Haha good advice... but
I prefer the stirmi thongs that @TimBenzedrine makes

I have to admit though that I should have put more thought into the banana hammocks I made.

 

[sschind]

What about freezing or more specifically freeze drying. I know when most things are freeze dried they are done at super low temps very quickly but a few year back I had a few Deroplatys lobata (dead leaf mantids) pass away and I froze them for about 6 months. After that I took them out and they not only held their shape but did not decay or smell at all. I hide them in containers of dead oak leaves and challenge the kids at my shows to find them. I have a nice big female G. pulchripes in my freezer all pinned out right now. She has been in there for a few years now so if it is going to work it should be safe but I don't want to risk it until I have a plan for her. She is holding place next to my Vietnamese centipede and giant African millipede among others. Yes my freezer would freak out most people. I have more dead animals than I have food, well people food anyway. Bugs, frozen rodents, the occasional passed away lizard or frog. My 3.5 foot savanna monitor that passed away from a tumor and my nephews pet rabbit that died 7 or 8 years ago (I'm waiting in case he wants to bury it but he is almost 16 now so he has probably forgotten about it)

 

[Greasylake]

What about freezing or more specifically freeze drying. I know when most things are freeze dried they are done at super low temps very quickly but a few year back I had a few Deroplatys lobata (dead leaf mantids) pass away and I froze them for about 6 months. After that I took them out and they not only held their shape but did not decay or smell at all. I hide them in containers of dead oak leaves and challenge the kids at my shows to find them. I have a nice big female G. pulchripes in my freezer all pinned out right now. She has been in there for a few years now so if it is going to work it should be safe but I don't want to risk it until I have a plan for her. She is holding place next to my Vietnamese centipede and giant African millipede among others. Yes my freezer would freak out most people. I have more dead animals than I have food, well people food anyway. Bugs, frozen rodents, the occasional passed away lizard or frog. My 3.5 foot savanna monitor that passed away from a tumor and my nephews pet rabbit that died 7 or 8 years ago (I'm waiting in case he wants to bury it but he is almost 16 now so he has probably forgotten about it)

That takes much longer than alcohol though, the biggest drawback for that is time, and whether other people would be okay with dead animals next to tomorrows dinner.

 

[sschind]

That takes much longer than alcohol though, the biggest drawback for that is time, and whether other people would be okay with dead animals next to tomorrows dinner.

I get that, for me I'm not really in a hurry so I have time.

There is also the hand sanitizer method which involves first purging all the moisture usually using alcohol then suspending the item in a sealed vial of jar of a certain type of hand sanitizer. Supposedly the item will "float" suspended in the jar for a good length of time rather than settle. It works best for smaller animals though as it is crucial to get all the water out.

 

[Bug Bane]

What about freezing or more specifically freeze drying. I know when most things are freeze dried they are done at super low temps very quickly but a few year back I had a few Deroplatys lobata (dead leaf mantids) pass away and I froze them for about 6 months. After that I took them out and they not only held their shape but did not decay or smell at all. I hide them in containers of dead oak leaves and challenge the kids at my shows to find them. I have a nice big female G. pulchripes in my freezer all pinned out right now. She has been in there for a few years now so if it is going to work it should be safe but I don't want to risk it until I have a plan for her. She is holding place next to my Vietnamese centipede and giant African millipede among others. Yes my freezer would freak out most people. I have more dead animals than I have food, well people food anyway. Bugs, frozen rodents, the occasional passed away lizard or frog.

My freezer is the same way! I have a turtle that passed and an alligator gar head for the skull and of course the rest are bugs.

 

[MrsHaas]

What about freezing or more specifically freeze drying. I know when most things are freeze dried they are done at super low temps very quickly but a few year back I had a few Deroplatys lobata (dead leaf mantids) pass away and I froze them for about 6 months. After that I took them out and they not only held their shape but did not decay or smell at all. I hide them in containers of dead oak leaves and challenge the kids at my shows to find them. I have a nice big female G. pulchripes in my freezer all pinned out right now. She has been in there for a few years now so if it is going to work it should be safe but I don't want to risk it until I have a plan for her. She is holding place next to my Vietnamese centipede and giant African millipede among others. Yes my freezer would freak out most people. I have more dead animals than I have food, well people food anyway. Bugs, frozen rodents, the occasional passed away lizard or frog. My 3.5 foot savanna monitor that passed away from a tumor and my nephews pet rabbit that died 7 or 8 years ago (I'm waiting in case he wants to bury it but he is almost 16 now so he has probably forgotten about it)

I freeze dry

 

[Greasylake]

I get that, for me I'm not really in a hurry so I have time.

There is also the hand sanitizer method which involves first purging all the moisture usually using alcohol then suspending the item in a sealed vial of jar of a certain type of hand sanitizer. Supposedly the item will "float" suspended in the jar for a good length of time rather than settle. It works best for smaller animals though as it is crucial to get all the water out.

Hand sanitizer and other alcohols will bleach the colors over the time. According to my old biology teacher who worked in a lab for some time and made hundreds of wet specimens, acetone is the way to go. It preserves the colors better than anything else and it doesn't have bubbles like hand sanitizer, but you need to get the really strong stuff that they use in nail salons.

 

[sschind]

Hand sanitizer and other alcohols will bleach the colors over the time. According to my old biology teacher who worked in a lab for some time and made hundreds of wet specimens, acetone is the way to go. It preserves the colors better than anything else and it doesn't have bubbles like hand sanitizer, but you need to get the really strong stuff that they use in nail salons.

Good to know. I think the big appeal of the hand sanitzer method is that the specimen stays suspended in the vial rather than settling to the bottom as I think it would in a less viscous liquid.

I'm wondering if it would work with my D. diadema molts. They always seem to get broken up eventually when I just pin them no matter how much care I take.

 

[sschind]

I freeze dry

Do you just stick them in the freezer like I do or do you use something with lower temps that may be faster (Dry Ice? Liquid Nitrogen?)

 

[Greasylake]

Good to know. I think the big appeal of the hand sanitzer method is that the specimen stays suspended in the vial rather than settling to the bottom as I think it would in a less viscous liquid.

I'm wondering if it would work with my D. diadema molts. They always seem to get broken up eventually when I just pin them no matter how much care I take.

If you wanted to suspended it maybe you could glue a toothpick to the bottom of the container and secure the molt to it before adding the alcohol? That would keep it suspended and it could look pretty nice.

 

[Bug Bane]

Good to know. I think the big appeal of the hand sanitzer method is that the specimen stays suspended in the vial rather than settling to the bottom as I think it would in a less viscous liquid.

I'm wondering if it would work with my D. diadema molts. They always seem to get broken up eventually when I just pin them no matter how much care I take.

You could maybe even try carefully using epoxy resin too. I’ve never tried to before personally. Since you have a live specimen you have a replenished supply to experiment with.

 

[Greasylake]

You could maybe even try carefully using epoxy resin too. I’ve never tried to before personally. Since you have a live specimen you have a replenished supply to experiment with.

I tried epoxy resin with a flower once. You have to be really careful not to get any bubbles and not to get it anywhere you don't want it, like your table, because it won't come off. It also smells really strong so if you're going to use it make sure you're outside. I dont know what it would do to a animal, but it turned a pink flower white after only a few hours.

 

[Bug Bane]

I tried epoxy resin with a flower once. You have to be really careful not to get any bubbles and not to get it anywhere you don't want it, like your table, because it won't come off. It also smells really strong so if you're going to use it make sure you're outside. I dont know what it would do to a animal, but it turned a pink flower white after only a few hours.

I didn’t know it discolored things.

 

[Greasylake]

I didn’t know it discolored things.

I'm not sure it's supposed to, but that's what it did to the flower.

 

[Bug Bane]

I'm not sure it's supposed to, but that's what it did to the flower.

Did you dry the flower first?

 

[Greasylake]

Did you dry the flower first?

No I didnt. I didnt think that would make a difference but it might be worth a shot.

 

[Bug Bane]

No I didnt. I didnt think that would make a difference but it might be worth a shot.

It might be. It might turn white when it dries anyway, that might just be it’s dead color. Only one way to find out is to try.

 

[sschind]

I tried epoxy resin with a flower once. You have to be really careful not to get any bubbles and not to get it anywhere you don't want it, like your table, because it won't come off. It also smells really strong so if you're going to use it make sure you're outside. I dont know what it would do to a animal, but it turned a pink flower white after only a few hours.

Those are good reasons why I never went the resin route. Those who can do it well maker some pretty cool things but I'm not sure I would have the patience. With my molts I was thinking maybe just some non yellowing lacquer or something since they are dry and pretty thin I wouldn't have to make it so deep.

Like Bane says I have a replenishing supply so if I ruin a few no big deal

 

[Bug Bane]

Those are good reasons why I never went the resin route. Those who can do it well maker some pretty cool things but I'm not sure I would have the patience. With my molts I was thinking maybe just some non yellowing lacquer or something since they are dry and pretty thin I wouldn't have to make it so deep.

Like Bane says I have a replenishing supply so if I ruin a few no big deal

Do you think if you could somehow stuff it with cotton or something like that it would be firmer and easier to work with? Or is it to fragile to try? If you start experimenting you might want to get another spider so you get motlings twice as fast

 

[Sicarius1]

Viking funeral all the way!