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Post by wollastoni on Nov 10, 2020 9:33:03 GMT -8
With the coming new version of InsectNet core site (see other topic), it would be great to strongly enrich the content of Insectnet to help beginners learn about insect collecting, breeding and so on.
These are the topics which would be helpful for beginners :
COLLECTING TECHNIQUES :
. how to spread a butterfly / moth ?
. how to paper a butterfly ?
. how to rehydrate a butterfly ?
. how to label a butterfly ?
. how to organize a collection ?
. how to protect your collection from pest ?
. how to identify a butterfly ?
. how to trap butterflies and moths?
BREEDING TECHNIQUES
. how to breed a butterfly ?
. how to pair live butterflies ?
. how to keep your butterfly breeding facility free of disease ?
. which material to breed butterfly
. breeding fiche per species
...
PHOTOGRAPHY TECHNIQUES
. how to shoot a live butterfly ?
. which material
I have good knowledge in entomology but my English is not perfect and I am not a good breeder.
Anyone wants to work on some articles ?
Do you see other useful topics for beginners ?
If you want to help, please let me know. Of course you will have full credit on the article.
Adam, you're the best breeder I know. It would be great if you could help for the breeding articles !
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 10, 2020 13:36:54 GMT -8
Your english is better than my French.
Perhaps housing for adult butterflies, I see a lot of pictures of small enclosures, and really, nothing except a small room is
big enough for butterflies. Feeding as well, sugar water isn't good enough, and there are alternatives. Hand feeding could be addressed.
The importance of lighting for breeding, as well as keeping adult butterflies. A day night cycle is important for larva, and enough light as well.
Overwintering techniques.
Hand pairing is a tough one, I'm just learning how to do it, and it's not as easy as you tube videos would have a person think.
Handling larva, another difficulty, as well as technique for keeping food plant fresh and avoiding a drowning, the method I see used
often, is to me, unfathomable, a box with larva and branches tossed in, I suppose that eliminates larva drowning, but it requires constant
observation, as opposed to using branches in water, that I can leave for several days sometimes.
The importance of patience.
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Post by wingedwishes on Nov 10, 2020 14:10:02 GMT -8
There are some really good videos out there that may make this task easier.
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 10, 2020 17:25:55 GMT -8
There are some really good videos out there that may make this task easier. Perhaps, I'm going to assume you're talking about hand pairing. Sometimes, it is easy, but not every species is the same, angles of copulation, age of participants (the insects) and other factors can't be addressed for every scenario. When I had my first success, it was just like it was shown. But it didn't work everytime, or with every species I tried. I got a feel for it, but it's something that takes experience, certainly a tutorial is going to help, but without trying, with success and failures, it's just one of those things you need to get bug dust on your hands to figure out. I've got about a 50% success rate, better than 0 for sure. |
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Post by wingedwishes on Nov 10, 2020 19:48:13 GMT -8
Oh, I intended the meaning to include all of the topics listed by Wollastoni. For me 1.read it 2.see it 3.do it
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 11, 2020 2:50:32 GMT -8
Yes we can include some Youtube videos inside the articles (existing or new videos).
The article will have to be at least 500 words to get Google positions on them.
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 11, 2020 8:49:40 GMT -8
Yes we can include some Youtube videos inside the articles (existing or new videos). The article will have to be at least 500 words to get Google positions on them. If someone were inclined to contribute to this endeavor, where would such a person send their information contribution to? What about simple photographs? Not everything needs to be a video. |
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 11, 2020 9:37:28 GMT -8
They can send their text to contact.insectnet@gmail.com and we will discuss it.
I will do myself the COLLECTING and PHOTOGRAPHYING technique.
I do need help of a specialist for the BREEDING section.
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Post by exoticimports on Nov 11, 2020 14:20:04 GMT -8
About setting/ spreading, nothing speaks like video. There are many on BoobTube www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+spread+butterflyIt's unclear if you want to link to external sources or not; if you do want to use BoobTube, it would be best to review a number of videos, and pick the best one...keeping in mind there is setting for beginners, and setting for the advanced entomologists. Chuck |
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 11, 2020 16:26:53 GMT -8
About setting/ spreading, nothing speaks like video. There are many on BoobTube www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+spread+butterflyIt's unclear if you want to link to external sources or not; if you do want to use BoobTube, it would be best to review a number of videos, and pick the best one...keeping in mind there is setting for beginners, and setting for the advanced entomologists. Chuck Boobtube. I can't touch that. What's a "link"?  I know how to use one, but making one- woosh fly by. I've notice people have a variety of different techniques for spreading lepidoptera, I use glass slides, posterboard strips and a few pins. I could be doing it wrong, but I think it's working. They lay flat and after a time, they dry out. My boards are flat, I see angled boards offered, maybe someone could explain the advantages of an angled board (to me) for a start. |
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 12, 2020 2:34:34 GMT -8
About setting/ spreading, nothing speaks like video. There are many on BoobTube www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+spread+butterflyIt's unclear if you want to link to external sources or not; if you do want to use BoobTube, it would be best to review a number of videos, and pick the best one...keeping in mind there is setting for beginners, and setting for the advanced entomologists. Chuck Sure, we will include some Youtube videos when useful (for spreading, for rehydrating and so on). Text is also key to get visitors from Google. (which can be 80% of visits). And we can of course show 2 or 3 spreading methods. (I know each collectors has his own) |
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 12, 2020 2:49:04 GMT -8
My boards are flat, I see angled boards offered, maybe someone could explain the advantages of an angled board (to me) for a start. Angled boards have 2 advantages : - with time, wings tends to go down a little bit, you compensate that effect. - on species with reflects (Apatura, Morpho, metalmarks...), the results is nicer with beautiful light effects. This said, the angle must not be too important or the result won't be that nice. I personnally use these adjustable angle boards that I buy on Amazon : amzn.to/36oHtpk |
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Post by kevinkk on Nov 12, 2020 8:53:42 GMT -8
The above is a quote of a quote, I'm the one using flat boards.
Anyway, I'll give this a go, and there is a lot to go over. I can do more than write complaining and eloquent letters
to the local newspaper about the annoying subdivision next door and other things that annoy me about the city.Don't ask,
you'll be sorry.
Everyone is going to have a different approach for doing the exact same thing(s), and you don't know until you try, maybe
my effort will get used, maybe not. At the very least- I'll have my rearing instructions for future customers ready to go, instead
of spending time answering basic after basic question- not that I mind, it just takes time. Time better spent doing other stuff.
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Post by wollastoni on Nov 15, 2020 8:02:44 GMT -8
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Post by tv on Dec 20, 2020 20:50:48 GMT -8
I looked through your article on spreading butterflies and it is very nicely done.
I sent you a PM a month ago because I noticed that all the topics you proposed are specifically for butterflies/moths, and there are definitely tricks to pinning and spreading the other insect orders. I hadn't heard anything back. If you think this type of article would be useful, and are interested in any help with it, let me know.
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I know how to use one, but making one- woosh fly by.
