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Post by simosg on Nov 2, 2011 12:50:26 GMT -8
Ready. Attachments:
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2011 13:49:23 GMT -8
lovely spreading job, I agree with Hannes, you cant leave a specimen on the boards for too long, better to let it dry properly than have to reset it later because it was taken off too soon, this happened to me with a lovely female agrias narcissus which I had to redo, for charaxes/prepona/agrias I would say a minimum of 4 weeks.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2011 13:50:53 GMT -8
I left this one on the boards for 8 weeks !!!!!!!!! Attachments:
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Post by saturniidave on Nov 2, 2011 18:29:33 GMT -8
When I did mine I put it on the radiator for 7 days just to be sure. It was fine!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2011 20:43:30 GMT -8
I tend to think along the lines of papilio28570. I dry mine on a convectional heat rack(I've posted pics before) in a humidity-controlled room. I can be assured of full dryness in a few days with this method. When mild heat is allowed to bring up dry air arouund the specimen from in the dry room around the specimen, the wait time is greatly shortened. Those are merely my thoughts----others will have opinions of their own which makes for an interesting read.
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Post by nomihoudai on Nov 3, 2011 1:59:05 GMT -8
I will never use the radiator again, I had relaxed some specimen with great care and cold water to not get them greasy. Then I put them close to the radiator for drying but it was too close and it resulted in a greasy mess... A friend of mine told me about the fact that warm water already would make specimen greasy, the first moment I believed this to be wrong and nonsense, but after thinking he is totally right. Conventional butter does melt at about 25°C, the grease in the butterflies is similar to it.
So I wonder how you manage to use your radiators and not result in greasy specimen.
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 3, 2011 2:49:10 GMT -8
Claude, I don't use radiator also for this kind of problems + it might deform the spreading boards.
About hot water, replace it with cold gin, it won't grease your specimens.
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Post by thanos on Nov 3, 2011 4:03:30 GMT -8
I never had any problems from the radiator. And if will happen sometime maybe to have,I know how to degrease perfectly and easily.
Thanos
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Post by bobw on Nov 3, 2011 4:39:31 GMT -8
It seems that different things work for different people. I've always had problems getting specimens dry enough. It's usually quite humid here in Southern England, but nowhere near as much as many other places. I always leave specimens on boards for at least a month, but in at least 50% of cases the wings soon start to lift or drop back. I've tried leaving them above a radiator but immediately had to throw away all my setting boards and replace them as they became bowed. I always have problems getting specimens relaxed enough; things like Charaxes and Prepona are usually impossible to set even after a week in the relaxing box! I've tried everybody's suggestions - I tried gin but it didn't work for me.
It's all very frustrating!
Bob
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2011 9:28:24 GMT -8
Bob, have you tried putting the specimens in direct contact with the damp towels in the relaxing box (not for ornithoptera though), I have just set 1 prepona and 1 agrias and they were very supple after 3 days, hardly no resistance at all.
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Post by nomihoudai on Nov 3, 2011 15:03:27 GMT -8
@olivier, I used now a method with cold water and styrofoam where the specimen do not touch the water at all, works great for Lycaenidae and I also rerelaxed a Morpho using it within a day. I just didn't feel like posting my setup here as it is just a combination of already posted stuff by Bill and vwman when I remember correctly. No need to waste the gin, I will drink that myself  |
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Post by lordpandarus on Nov 3, 2011 21:55:09 GMT -8
Bob, have you tried putting the specimens in direct contact with the damp towels in the relaxing box (not for ornithoptera though), I have just set 1 prepona and 1 agrias and they were very supple after 3 days, hardly no resistance at all. yes that's my method for all butterflies . My last resort is dipping the thorax in boiling water if it's too stiff after 2 days . I never inject anything You shouldn't be afraid to put specimens directly in between damp (not dripping wet) paper towels. Put the paper towel under warm tap water and squeeze out all the water you can after. It's extremely rare I've had water stains |
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Post by bobw on Nov 4, 2011 1:41:15 GMT -8
I use fairly damp paper towels in the bottom of the box, then a sheet of plastazote to isolate the specimens from the wet paper, then layer the specimens between sheets of toilet paper on top of this. The toilet paper soon becomes damp once the box is closed, but it has little effect on tough Charaxinae.
Bob
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2011 3:41:00 GMT -8
also to free up any resistance there may be left I squeeze the thorax with tweezers from underneath the specimen to break the strong muscles and make the wings open and close, usually after vthis, even with the strongest specimens a slight touch with the setting needle on the strongest vein is all that is required.
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Post by rdlp18 on Feb 9, 2012 7:36:38 GMT -8
Hi all,
I'm new to this forum. I need advice on hydrating the wings of saturniids. I've done this many times before without any difficulty but I have an individual (Atlas moth) who is especially rigid. It's been sitting in a hydrating chamber for weeks. Should I just inject water into the thorax or are there any other methods for more effective hydration of the wing muscles? I really don't want to mess up this specimen.
Thanks,
Robin
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