Ladies and Gentlemen...This is how I'd preserve my Mantids..

Ok... so looking at my female twitching and what looks to be dying slowly I just put her in the freezer for a few minutes and let her pass as quickly as possible.. :angel:

I got her out and let her thaw out. I wanted to preserve her somehow and I looked from pinning, to just letting them dry and putting them in a jar filled with hand sanitizer..

I leaned more toward pinning but I liked the fact you can position the insects in the hand sanitizer solution... so I thought to myself.. what if I pin her in a position and then when she dries, put her in the hand sanitizer ..

So I pinned her and I'm now letting her dry... Now.. it took me a few hours to get her just right.. BUT before I show it... I'd like to know something from those of you that have pinned before..

When pinning and letting dry.. Is there a way to keep them more stable so they don't just fall apart when moving them. AND will the wings dry in place when they are positioned open ?

-Nate

When I pinned moths I would put a pin through each wing to hold them out the way I want them held them down with slips of paper. You could use pins on both sides of each leg and wing then use paper.

Important, I put the moths body in a trench so the wings are level with the surface of what they were pinned to. I used styrofoam. I dug out the trench easily. That way it looked its best.

If you are worried about breakage put in alcohol, not hand sanitizer though.

I've pinned mantids in cool positions for fun and then they just dried up in those positions. Did thread displays, them holding on to crickets, and just looking normal. The hard part is that their arms will fight to curl back up into position, as do their wings and other legs. I needed a lot of pens, and sometimes I'd come back to find the arm somehow moved out of position (this is when the mantis is dead, btw).

I was reading up on this and asked Orin about it and he gave me the name Bioquip, I believe.

I think their kits come with some kind of glue.

I would really like to do this but from what I read with a larger mantis like a Rhombodera you would have to cut the abdomen and scoop everything out and then use the glue to glue it back together.

I just don't know if I can do that.

But don't you have to position them when they are still soft? Then they dry out in the position you want?

I tried both alcohol and pinning preservation. Alcohol preserves the color better but it's a big waste of money and room. Pinning is way better if you lack space to put the jars but the color preservation isn't very good at all.

As fleurdejoo says, you need to position them while they are soft so you'll need a lot of pins. And yes, the wings will stay in position once dry. I usually wait 2 or 3 days before removing all the pins.

Dry mantids aren't that easy to break, though.

I had to make an insect collection for a biology class... I found that instead of putting pins through the wings themselves, I could cut out a narrow strip of paper and then pin it on both sides taught across the wing. And it is helpful to have a trench, like Sticky said. But if you can get everything positioned before drying, I think it should stay that way.

By the way, sorry about your mantis.

I did the wings a bit differently. I put a bit of hot glue on the tips of two pins and used them as a grip to catch the inner wings in place. The top wings I just put to pins behind it to hold it up.

Here she is. In threat display.. More like attack mode I wanted ;/

Rick said:

If you are worried about breakage put in alcohol, not hand sanitizer though.

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I've worked with hand sanitizer before and its better than using alcochol because the specimen can be moved into a position and it looked pretty cool.. here's a video I found on it..

I would be really interested in the hand sanitizer if it could solidify afterwards, so I could use only one or 2 containers as molds. But since it doesn't I cannot afford to waste so many containers for insects.

Nice setup for your mantis. Next time try getting a pin or needle through the mantis between the upper enlongated thorax and the lower thorax, in the soft spot. This could help you better handle the mantis and make it stand up. It also prevents them from moving around while you work on positioning the legs and wings.

Here's an example:

Nice pinning job!! I like the use of the extra piece pieceof foam to position the arms. Very clever.

Actually, the foam was to avoid pinning the middle and damaging the mantis. I didn't want to damage it in any way so I put the foam as a stabilizer, that way when it dries the legs will be keeping it up.. I hope

It will stay up for sure but you'll need something to prevent the mantis from moving around when you remove the pins like glue or ductape or something. Just for the record those 2 solutions won't work on styrofoam

indeed. Though I think it would be an easy enough process.

Would nail polish remover work with keeping the mantid from decaying? I was told that if you let them dry out for a day and then put nail polish remover on them it will keep them looking fresh. Is this true?

MantidBro said:

Would nail polish remover work with keeping the mantid from decaying? I was told that if you let them dry out for a day and then put nail polish remover on them it will keep them looking fresh. Is this true?

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I'm not sure I never used it. I have heard of polish remover being used as a way of killing a specimen. It might though. I'd research a bit further into that if your really interested in using it.

Scruffy Aphid Herder said:

I'm not sure I never used it. I have heard of polish remover being used as a way of killing a specimen. It might though. I'd research a bit further into that if your really interested in using it.

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Okay thanks

I was looking forward for nail polish remover but I can't find any clear and decent sized bottles to test this out. There are only microscopic bottles on sale that are good for nothing.... Except for what it's really meant to.

The first thing that went through my mind when I thought of preserving a mantid, was spraying it with hairspray. Couldn't that be done after the mantis has been pinned and dried? Wouldn't that allow the mantis to preserve it's shape and etc.?