Preserving a tarantula

crash769

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
144
Dose any one know how I would go about preserving a tarantula and what stuff would I need to get? I am thinking I want to do something like a clear paper weight type deal but I don’t know what the clear stuff is. Is there anything I need to do to the body? ( BTW my mature male rosie died . It was his time and he had a great life. I would just like to keep him forever.)
:(
 

Iktomi

Arachnoservant
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
539
There is an article on how to do it in one of the recent ATS journals...I'll try to find it. It's a pretty involved process, I think.
 

crash769

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
144
I went out and got the stuff to preservea tarantula. I started working on the project tonite. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes and I will post pics of the final project. :-] This is a lot of fun and Im really hoping it turns out well.
 

SpiderFood

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 26, 2003
Messages
274
I dont know if this will help but my wife makes home made glycerin soap and although its not a t I do have a clear bar of soap with a P. emperator (emperor scorp) inside. It was about 7 inches long when it died so we "preserved" her. It sits ontop of my TV in the living room now.

dale
 

Iktomi

Arachnoservant
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 16, 2002
Messages
539
Do you just melt it? And how clear is it?
 

crash769

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
144
I got mold muilder liquid latex rubber and painted it on the inside of a pot. I did that 4 times to make a thick rubber mold for it. Then I took pout-on high closs finish and poured on about a 1/4 in layer on to the bottom of my pan with the mold. I didn't put the T in yet because it says to do it in layers becasue it get very hot if it's thick. It comes as a liquid in two bottles and you have to mix them in a 50:50 ratio. The extra that was in the cup is very hard now and its about 1 inch thick and very clear but the stuff in the mold is still very tacky. I am not sure why it hasn't set up hard yet but im thinking about mixing up another batch. It says it should set in 3 hours and it has been about 4 now.
 

SpiderFood

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 26, 2003
Messages
274
It depends on the company she gets it from. When she got the batch we used for the scorp it was pretty clear. Since she has gotten a couple of batches that had a slight yellow tint. I dont know about your area Wal Mart but ours has small soap kits that have like a 2lb brick of glycerin soap. Maybe you could check that out. If you wanna try email me and I will get the "procedure" from my wife for you.

dalepayne@bellsouth.net

dale
 

caligulathegod

Arachnodeity
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 26, 2002
Messages
391
A scorpion in the soap might actually keep me from using the "guest soap", which I'm not supposed to use.
 

crash769

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
144
I finished preserving the T. Here are some pics. The only problem was that I got some air bubbles stuck in it becasue I let it set overnite and it got hard before I could pop them. I think it turned out very well. My T even kept most of the color. He is just a little darker but other then that he looks good.
 

Attachments

arachnopunks

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
391
Not a bad job for a first go at it, nice work. Working with liquid acylics, fiberglass resins, and the like are a pain in the butt to say the least.
 

Immortal_sin

Arachnotemptress
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 17, 2002
Messages
3,952
good first try! Last year at the ATS conference Rhys Brigida held a workshop on doing this very thing. His first efforts gave trial and error results, but he's now got the procedure down. I guess once you figure it out, it really is easy, and it looks great!
 

SkyeSpider

Spider Queen
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 17, 2002
Messages
1,250
Did you have to cut open the abdomen on your male, or did you just leave him as-is? It looks VERY good and I should be trying this myself soon.

-Bryan
 

The_Phantom

Scarlet O' Hairy
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
1,062
WOW! That looks excellent. Sorry about your little pet though. :( Poor fella. At least he had a good life with you. :)
 

crash769

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
144
I thought about cutting open the abdomen but he is so small so I just left him as is.
 
Top