# Drying and Pinning Insects



## Kaddock (Dec 6, 2009)

I have been drying and pinning insects my whole life, but just recently got interested in doing it like an adult  

I have been attempting to make my subjects look well spread and easy to observe and it's not too hard. The issue I am having is with the abdomen in some subjects. For instance, if my mantid dies on a full stomach, sometimes I find that it's abdomen already smells rotten, as though it had been dying long before the rest of the insect... On more healthy specimens that get weak and die of age i haven't really had so much of a problem, but I am wondering if anyone has a technique for saving the whole body for display when the abdominal contents are going sour...


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## Rick (Dec 6, 2009)

I've pinned a few that had full abdomens. It just takes longer for it to dry, but I have never had any odor outside of the normal slight odor they all seem to have.


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## batsofchaos (Dec 8, 2009)

I know that a lot of professional pinners will gut abdomens and stuff them with cotton on large species, both to lower the chance of decay and to help maintain the original shape of the abdomen. You can generally hide the marks of surgery through careful display mounting.

I'd agree that nine times out of ten it's unnecessary. Pin it how you want, toss it in a dark box and load it up with silica packets to cure.


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## Rick (Dec 8, 2009)

batsofchaos said:


> I know that a lot of professional pinners will gut abdomens and stuff them with cotton on large species, both to lower the chance of decay and to help maintain the original shape of the abdomen. You can generally hide the marks of surgery through careful display mounting.I'd agree that nine times out of ten it's unnecessary. Pin it how you want, toss it in a dark box and load it up with silica packets to cure.


I tried to remove the contents of an abdomen once but it just turned into a mess.


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## batsofchaos (Dec 8, 2009)

I'd imagine it would need a delicate touch. I've never tried gutting and stuffing, so I have no personal experience to share, I just know that it is done by some. On the whole, I think it's largely unnecessary.


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## Ntsees (Dec 8, 2009)

In the past, I've had a few instances where the abdomen does become smelly. This usually occurs during the winter when there's more moisture in the air compared to the rest of the year. What I learned from this? Well, I learned to pin a mantid only during the hot summer months. The heat dries it up quicker so that I don't have the slowwww decay and drying. Also, I tend to pin mantids that are not so gorged when they die (i.e. males and slim females).


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## Kaddock (Dec 12, 2009)

Ntsees said:


> In the past, I've had a few instances where the abdomen does become smelly. This usually occurs during the winter when there's more moisture in the air compared to the rest of the year. What I learned from this? Well, I learned to pin a mantid only during the hot summer months. The heat dries it up quicker so that I don't have the slowwww decay and drying. Also, I tend to pin mantids that are not so gorged when they die (i.e. males and slim females).


I had thought the same thing from remembering my early insect collecting years: during the summer months I would leave them out to dry, so I am drying this one under a lamp to see how that works.

One problem that I have had with the mantids is the browning of the of the exoskeleton... so much color lost, I haven't had this problem with other insects.


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## Rick (Dec 12, 2009)

Kaddock said:


> I had thought the same thing from remembering my early insect collecting years: during the summer months I would leave them out to dry, so I am drying this one under a lamp to see how that works. One problem that I have had with the mantids is the browning of the of the exoskeleton... so much color lost, I haven't had this problem with other insects.


I have the same problem with browing. Another member here told me to inject with alcohol to lessen it. Have not tried it yet.


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## Kaddock (Sep 23, 2010)

I know this subject is long dead... But I just pinned my female N. spinosa and had a massive lizard sized gut rot out. The whole room smells like a decaying mouse. I've been dousing the corpse with ethanol in a desperate attempt to save the gorey mess... The male however, pinned very nicely and the abdomen kept it's shape 85%.

 

They apparently were already elderly when I received them, and both seemed to die of old age and no visible abnormalities that I could make out. The female managed to lay a bunch of eggs, which are still inflated. Right after she died I had a large brood of pinheads hatch out of her substrate, so I haven't dug her eggs out yet.  

Overall, an amazing pet, and very gentle and interactive (unless alarmed). Due to the short lifespan, I'd definitely want nymphs if I tried them again though.


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