Using butane on butterflies

[Adam Cotton]

jcb489 wrote this in the Presentation section, and I have started a new thread to discuss his question here:


Hi everyone, I am a new member but have visited your site often over the years. I am interested mainly in North American leps (primarily butterflies) and have been collecting for approximately 22 years. One question I have right off the bat is in regards to something I read recently about killing butterflies in the net with butane (the kind you use to fill lighters). Does anyone have experience with this? I think it might be a good way to dispatch small butterflies without damage in the net quickly. Any help on this would be appreciated. Best Regards, John.

[exoticimports]

Interesting

[jhyatt]

Ive never tried it. I bet butane wouldn't stay put in the net on a windy day long enough to kill the bug. If you spray an insect with butane from a liquefied container it'd probably come out cold
enough to stun the insect into immobility for a while, though.

jh

[africaone]

may it is to put the part of net with the butterfly inside in a jar of Butane (as some does with ethylacetate) ?

[LEPMAN]

I don’t see the advantages of using butane.

[fishnbugz]

It may be possible to freeze an insect with butane, a re-filling container where you could direct the flow onto the bug. I've never tried it, this is the first I've heard of this method; but I know it gets cold filling a lighter, and the line can get ice-cold when using a propane cookstove.

[leptraps]

I have never tried Butane nor any of the other gases. I use Potassium Cyanide. Six (6) ounce straight side clear glass jars. Quick kill. Jars usually last about three years. I make four new jars every other year.

I set the old jars with dried out contents in the sun. I clean the jars and re-use them. I do not take any chances. I where "Rubber" gloves and a face shield whenever I work with Potassium Cyanide. Again, I take no chances.

I also have quart dump jars of Potassium Cyanide. As I fill my smaller jars I paper my specimens and place them in a dump jar where they remain for an hour or so. The dump jar is a 20 ounce straight side clear glass jar.

I remove the papered specimens from the dump jars and place them into plastic Lock & Lock containers and into a cooler.


I would like to learn/hear how some of you process specimens once you have it in the net, trap or on a wall.

[LEPMAN]

I don’t really like kill jars and while catching Charaxes I realized how inconvenient the pinching method can be but using a syringe is a hassle and absolutely terrible. So I resorted to using chloroform inside those tiny fish shaped soy sauce bottles that are common in Asian countries. I then use a tiny drop of cyanoacrylate or epoxy to secure a small glass capillary tube to the end. With a few dozen of these it’s super convenient to tie a string around the fish tail and use it when necessary. Not to mention the plastic is more chloroform compatible.