Preserving an Exoskeleton

[HpVampiress]

Hello all!
I'm new to this forum, and I hope that someone can give me some tips!
A friend of mine's tarantula just molted, and she gave me the exoskeleton! My tarantula has yet to molt yet, so this is quite exciting for me...anyway, I would really like to try to somehow preserve the exoskeleton as a gift to my friend. Anyone have ideas? I thought about somehow preserving it in plastic...like the insects that I've seen in paperweights, but I know nothing about how this is done, or if it would work. Any ideas would be awesome!

 

[Barbedwirecat]

AH the interesting feild of tarantula taxedermy. I have delved into this area because I was trying to make earrings out of two female black widows I was given preseved in formalin. As far as preseving a shed it is very tricky because its very delicate and hard to keep together.

Stare by going to your local crafts store and purchase a canister of REISIN, you will also have to purchase the hardening agent seperatly, you'll know what I mean when you see it. Be prepared, the good stuff isn't too cheap 13 plus bucks a can, plus the hardener. follow the directions to mix it but make sure you have everything in front of you to begin with before you mix, it can set fast. You will also need a mold, or you can make one yourself with pure liquid rubber latex (i reccomend this if they don't have any premade rubber molds) Don't use soap molds or platic molds, the resin will bond with the mold and it will be a sonofapoo to get out. oh and latex gloves.....much and many gloves.

From what I have heard you stuff the abdomen area with cotton to keep its shape (it will be flat otherwise) stuff gentley.

next part-pour a small amount of resin into the mould, this will be your top part of your window, pour gentley or you will have bubbles on the layer or between layers. Let it SET. leave it be....watch some TV, sit back and relax once it has set (NOT HARDENED, just set enough to be very gooey, like jello) then you can pour another layer or you can start with the spider.

take a hypoderpic syringe or curved tip syringe (have a few on hand when the resin sets up in them to grab a new one) and try to fill the legs with the resin and any other area thats fillable. Be careful there might be some leackage. Work as fast but as gentley as you can. any air left will leave you fighting against the pressure of air trying to rise to the surface and you'll have a hell of a time makeing the paperweight.

Place the spider shed on its BACK in the mold, remeber the bottoms the top here so anything you see on the bottom you can cover in felt to hide.

take your syringe again, or if you are getting good at it pour resin around the spider but only a little. do not cover the spider! This had to be done in layers or it will not have a 3D appeance and your spider will try to float away! you can tap the sides gently again to it fills alot of the dead air space and gets rid of excess air bubbles. Again, let it set like jello, have a cookie, your doing great!

Continue to layer this way until you have 3-4 layers and your mold is filled!
Give it a few days to completly harden and pop it out. you should have a pretty good paperweight on your hands! If you need to clean up the surface to give it a shiney texture you can use REALLY fine grit sandpaper (also to shape it) and just keep going over it with finer and finer sandpaper until you can buff it to a clear luster.

Thats pretty much it! Post us up a pic if/when you do this!

PS this is also the way to make a paperweight of a dead T, with a few exceptions. You shouldn't have to fill the legs. And you will have to hollow out the abdomen, I suggest making a surgical slit and removing the parts, then filling with cotton and follow the layering technique above. I know it might seem mean, but someone may want to know at some point.

Questions?