Preserving in Resin

[Ellithain]

My little guys are still very young so I have yet to lose a mantis, but when I do, I want to preserve them in resin so I can still look back at my first mantis, and remember them. Does anyone do this? Is it possible? If so, does anyone have a good tutorial? I've seen a thread about pinning but not on this. 

 

[kwright]

I haven't done this as I have yet to lose a mantis as well. Have you looked into tutorials or DIYs?

 

[Ellithain]

Yes I have, I couldn't find any on youtube specifically on mantids but there were a few on preserving beetles and bees. The bees seemed fine without having to scrape out their insides. Perhaps they are simply small enough that the moisture didn't effect the resin. However, I know with the rhinoceros beetles it was vital you know how to cut them open (without damaging the specimen irreparably) and for lack of a less gross term scrape the innards out in order to avoid bubbles forming in the resin and making it impossible to see through. 

 

[Rick]

I think Yen Saw has done this or knows someone who has. 

 

[PowerHobo]

With rhino beetles, you can pose and pin (without penetrating) your specimen, and allow them to either dry in a container with mothballs, or naturally in a garage or something (it stinks something fierce) if you live in a fairly arid place. I would imagine you can do the same with mantids. Once they're thoroughly dried the risk to the resin is minimal.

With beetles it's sometimes beneficial to slit open the end of the abdomen and not necessarily scoop out the insides, which will shrink as it desiccates anyway, but kind of just use a toothpick to push them about and make a void. This is mainly so you can pour a bit of resin into the void to help the specimen not float as you pour your encapsulating resin. 

Either way I'd highly recommend you get some practice in with specimens you don't care so much about.

 

[Ellithain]

I live in Minnesota where it’s all swamp land so not super arid.. maybe in winter? But I’ll definitely get some practice before hand! Backyard bugs here I come!