unable to relax stag beetle?

[JonIverson]

I caught a stag beetle a week ago and placed it in denatured alcohol with the goal of both preserving and pinning and drying later. However, despite using both steam and trying a relaxing chamber, I have been unable to get the limbs to loosen. I had it in a water sponge/ moth ball chamber for 24 hours and not a bit softer; today, I've been trying near boiling water with glass inverted, beetle on top, and covered. After a couple of hours, still stiff. Any ideas would be welcome. Thank you!

 

[myrmecophile]

Toss it briefly into near boiling water, should relax it right up and not damage it.

 

[JonIverson]

Toss it briefly into near boiling water, should relax it right up and not damage it.

I tried this yesterday after reading about it online. Didn't work.

 

[Ranitomeya]

Alcohol hardens the joints and makes exoskeleton less flexible and it also causes all the muscles to contract.
You won't be able to get it relaxed after soaking in alcohol--you'll need to force the limbs loose and snap the muscles within now that they've gotten stuck in the contracted position. It will feel like you're breaking its limbs, but they won't actually fall apart if they're properly hydrated.

 

[Duriana]

On seeing the title I thought this was about a stressed beetle.

 

[The wolf]

On seeing the title I thought this was about a stressed beetle.

Same here