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Mantid Discussions
General Mantid Discussions
My Guide for Relaxing/Spreading/Pinning Mantid Specimens
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<blockquote data-quote="Hypoponera" data-source="post: 77257" data-attributes="member: 1001"><p>Outstanding write-up Joel!</p><p></p><p>I have only two things to add.</p><p></p><p>1) Dermestid beetles will eat up dried insect collections. They have managed to get into a couple of my sealed wood/glass display cases. After loosing nearly all of my giant moth collection, I was told to place moth balls into the case to gas the beetles and larvae. So all my cases have that odd mothball smell now! But I have not had any more trouble with dermestids.</p><p></p><p>2) If you are like me and lack patience, you can speed up the relaxing of dried specimens. I lay a large mouthed canning jar on its side and fill half the volume with paper towels. Wet the paper towels to nearly soaked. Place your speciemen on a flat piece of metal. I use a piece of sheet brass from the local hard ware store. Folded and pressed aluminum foil should also work. The sheet needs to be small enough to fit into the jar mouth, but large enough to hold the bug. Seal the jar with the lid. Lay the jar in the oven with the paper towel side down, sheet and bug laying on top of the towels. Turn the oven on to its lowest setting. Mine goes down to 170F. Check in an hour. If you do not see water drops forming on the inside, upper surface of the jar, then your lid isn't sealing well. If sealed, most large mantid speciemens should be ready to remove in two hours or less.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hypoponera, post: 77257, member: 1001"] Outstanding write-up Joel! I have only two things to add. 1) Dermestid beetles will eat up dried insect collections. They have managed to get into a couple of my sealed wood/glass display cases. After loosing nearly all of my giant moth collection, I was told to place moth balls into the case to gas the beetles and larvae. So all my cases have that odd mothball smell now! But I have not had any more trouble with dermestids. 2) If you are like me and lack patience, you can speed up the relaxing of dried specimens. I lay a large mouthed canning jar on its side and fill half the volume with paper towels. Wet the paper towels to nearly soaked. Place your speciemen on a flat piece of metal. I use a piece of sheet brass from the local hard ware store. Folded and pressed aluminum foil should also work. The sheet needs to be small enough to fit into the jar mouth, but large enough to hold the bug. Seal the jar with the lid. Lay the jar in the oven with the paper towel side down, sheet and bug laying on top of the towels. Turn the oven on to its lowest setting. Mine goes down to 170F. Check in an hour. If you do not see water drops forming on the inside, upper surface of the jar, then your lid isn't sealing well. If sealed, most large mantid speciemens should be ready to remove in two hours or less. [/QUOTE]
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Mantid Discussions
General Mantid Discussions
My Guide for Relaxing/Spreading/Pinning Mantid Specimens
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