Preserving with minimal color loss

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guapoalto049

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Everyone post your thoughts and/or experience on preserving mantids. What do you do? Does it work? Is there color loss?

I'm interested in using some type of resin to coat the insects, but if anyone has any experence please share it.

Pinning is great, but what types of preparation are best for display? There is a ton of info on the net, but nothing really addressing color loss which is my main concern. I just want green mantids to stay green!!

 
guapoalto049 said:
Everyone post your thoughts and/or experience on preserving mantids. What do you do? Does it work? Is there color loss?

I'm interested in using some type of resin to coat the insects, but if anyone has any experence please share it.

Pinning is great, but what types of preparation are best for display? There is a ton of info on the net, but nothing really addressing color loss which is my main concern. I just want green mantids to stay green!!
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I had correspondence with a taxidermist that told me I can preserve mantis color and shape by removing the organs of the abdomen, but leaving the layer of fatty tissue(retains color) and then stuffing it with "cotton wool soaked with mothball solution". I haven't even tried to pin or preserve a mantis, but I thought I would repeat the info, cause it sounds like it would look nicer than the flattened and shriveled appearance that many pinned insects have.

Sorry, my memory is bad. :blink: I reread the message I got from him and had to edit. :rolleyes: Not steel wool. :lol: Cotton wool soaked in mothball solution. I am not sure if that should be wet or dry, soaked cotton wool?

 
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Ah that sounds like good info. I've never tried to remove the gut contents, maybe I'll give it a try when my grumpy old lady budwing croaks!

Maybe the bacteria in the gut begin to eat the dead mantid? Makes sense, even we have bacteria in our digestive system.

 
guapoalto049 said:
Ah that sounds like good info. I've never tried to remove the gut contents, maybe I'll give it a try when my grumpy old lady budwing croaks!

Maybe the bacteria in the gut begin to eat the dead mantid? Makes sense, even we have bacteria in our digestive system.
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yes, this is the way to go. The mantid's last meal rots in the gut as it is attacked by anaerbic bacteria.

 
Nice, thanks Phil and likebugs.

Now once the specimen is pinned, should I use a desiccator for the mantid? We used calcium chloride crystals in our organic labs, so I may give this a try.

Has anyone used silica packets or any type of desiccant for drying the mantid?

I may use these in the actual display case too.

 
Here's a link to one of my more favorite sites:http://www.phasmatodea.com/web/guest/189

It says that the problem with acetone, as likebugs mentioned, is thatit will will remove subcuticular lipds and has a section on drying. I know that Superfreak used this method on mantids and said in her scientific, ladylike way hat they eded up "looking like ######"

 
I only preserve those that haven't eaten alot since I don't like to gut them out before drying. Typically they would be males since they don't have all that stored food. But, my method of preserving them would be to dry them up in the sun as quickly as possible (and at the same time to not cook them). One of my professors once said something about using ~nail polish to preserve color, but I've never tried that method.

 
Ntsees said:
I only preserve those that haven't eaten alot since I don't like to gut them out before drying. Typically they would be males since they don't have all that stored food. But, my method of preserving them would be to dry them up in the sun as quickly as possible (and at the same time to not cook them). One of my professors once said something about using ~nail polish to preserve color, but I've never tried that method.
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I think he meant acetone, nail polish remover! :p

 
Thanks for the link Phil, and the nail polish idea might be neat to try! I go fishing around in my girlfriend's room :p

So I'm thinking this is the plan:

-Disembowel the mantid

-fill the belly up with cotton balls soaked in moth ball soln,

-sew it back up,

-dry the specimen in an airtight container with either silica or CaCl,

-cover her in clear nail polish!

FYI I also heard preserving mantids in hand sanitizer is a quick and easy way of doing things.

 
How about slathering clear nail polish on it? That may be neat.

Acetone I think would be a little harsh on the chitin, considering its polysaccharide...

 
The following are ideas I have heard of, nothing I can promise from experience.

Using a real freeze drier should work on soft bodied insects, with some, but minimal, color dulling. If you have access to such.

In place of a real freeze drier a frost free freezer can be used, but that involves periods of 6 months - 1 year. Also, the bug must be open to the air of the freezer (not sealed).

I have been reading about people using baking soda to preserve crayfish. Basically you put the crayfish in the middle of a sealed container of baking soda. My only test was too wet and a failure.

But the idea is supposed to be that all microscopic decomposers die while the crayfish dries out. A period of about 1 month.

 
I already posted this image in the forum and i will post it again. I'm preserving my mantids in jars filled with alcohol. The main downsides are obviously the alcohol cost and space so next time i'll try drying them in the sun. A couple of years ago i didn't know a damn thing about preservation and i thought the more alcohol the better it preserves.

The results of that thought are well shown in the image. The jars with the yellowish liquid have alcohol 96% and the ones that are transparent have alcohol 70%. The difference is quite remarkable. Although not very noticeable in the picture, the mantids preserved in alcohol 70% have only a very slight discoloration while the other 2 in 96% alcohol are catastrophically discolored.

The advantages are that it's easy to do and it's quite interesting to observe. But you pay a price for this technique, which is huuuh... High.

conservedcollection2.jpg


 
I do like the alcohol technique, I've done that since I was a kid.

I like the idea of pinned specimens in that multiple species can be compared, and it can be hung on a wall.

 
I usually just put my mantises in the freezer for a month and then when I want to pin them, I would take them out, position, spread and pin them on starofoam. Let it dry for 1-2 weeks. The color is there, but slight faded just a little. Then after it dries, I put them in shadow boxes according to their size.

 

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