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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 5, 2012 14:35:57 GMT -8
I've been wanting to collect spiders for a few months now, but I can't seem to find any type of preservative for them. I've read in multiple places that I'm supposed to use 80% pure ethyl/ethanol/grain alcohol, but I can't find ANY anywhere for sale with that percent. I have rubbing alcohol, but I've read that it damages the spider? I heard from someone else that I can use Everclear 151, but I'd like more opinions on that. There has to be other spider collectors here that can help out and give me a link to someplace selling any type of spider preserver, right?
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Post by Chris Grinter on Apr 5, 2012 16:52:28 GMT -8
For general collection you should use a 75% solution of Ethyl Alcohol, so 151 (~75%) is a perfect. No real need for anything higher unless you are collecting for molecular work. 75% will keep the spider limber enough for manipulation, once you get 85%+ the specimen will get very brittle and you'll break the legs every time you try to move them.
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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 5, 2012 17:20:03 GMT -8
Is there any way to cut the 191 with water to make it more like 151? (I can only seem to find the 191 in stores)
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Post by Chris Grinter on Apr 5, 2012 17:47:57 GMT -8
Yes, it's pretty simple - just add water proportionally until you get to 75% dilution. Pour 75mL of 191 and add water until you reach 95mL, giving you a solution of 75% EtOH.
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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 5, 2012 19:17:04 GMT -8
Thanks for the help!
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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 8, 2012 11:07:29 GMT -8
New question.. Some of the spiders with lighter/white colors have turned darker, almost brown. My father suggested it's because the vials are not totally full, that the oxygen is doing it? Or maybe it's just the alcohol itself?
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Post by Chris Grinter on Apr 8, 2012 13:23:18 GMT -8
Discoloration is sometimes impossible to avoid and might be caused by a bit of internal rotting. Usually this can be solved by slightly upping your alcohol %, although some species will always discolor after preservation. However you might have something unintentionally changing the color. Do you have labels in any of the vials with ink? What are you corking them with? Are you using 70-80% alcohol?
Air won't be a problem no matter how much is in the vial.
Another method for fixing colors (and genitalia) is by dropping a live spider into boiling water for a second or two. Then you should transfer to 80% ethanol - excess water in the spider will bring it down to 70-75%.
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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 8, 2012 15:50:01 GMT -8
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Post by Chris Grinter on Apr 8, 2012 17:32:28 GMT -8
The vials look great, some of the really old rubber stopper type vials deposit a weird funk on specimens. But you won't have any problems with those other than evaporation. You've probably just run into species that lose their color when they die, not much you can do to fix that. Things would only really be rotting if you missed the mark on your dilution significantly - like 50% ethanol or something. It doesn't hurt to be accurate, but as long as you're precise in your proportions you can get to a round 70 or 80% easily with any volume. I'm also not a spider-collector, so someone might have better tips to save the color... And it's usually a good idea to put the labels inside the vials, labels on the outside will fall off and get lost. You can write with indelible-ink (and let it dry for a minute) or pencil. Most arts-and-craft stores carry these: www.sakuraofamerica.com/Pen-Archival (I use the smallest size) And they are the standard for archival pens for collections. |
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Post by sarrowhart on Apr 12, 2012 21:05:12 GMT -8
Thank you for all your help! I'm surprised you know so much when you don't even collect them. ^-^
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