Collecting in the wilderness

[Crake]

Hi everyone.

I'm going out on a hiking/camping trip into the Sierra mountain range (CA) in a few days and am planning on netting a few leps along the way. I'll be packing the bare minimum of supplies, but there is one issue that's causing me some concern—I only have airtight containers to store specimens in. Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but I fear that by bringing a ventilated container with me to the backcountry I'm risking potential specimens being attacked by detritivorous insects, or, conversely, that leaving fresh specimens in airtight containers for long periods will cause mold growth. I've been considering this for a while now and I haven't come up with much.

Obviously, there's some sort of solution. A sort of intermediate between extremes, maybe desiccant packs? I assume this is something many members here have done before, so I hope for your advice.

Thanks in advance!

[nomihoudai]

You need dessication packs or you will need to dry the specimen placing them with an open lid under the back window of your car. That's what I used to do. For longer trips without car I would store them in cardboard boxes and freeze it all later. It's not like dermestids or anything can get them when you are on the move.

[evra]

If it’s only a few days I would say use a sealed container and add some PDCB crystals to inhibit mold growth. Don’t leave them sealed up like that for more than a week or ten days though because the wing joints could rot and then the wings might fall off.

[exoticimports]

I’ve kept them in killing containers with rubbing alcohol soaked paper for three to four days with no problem

I’d think your greater concern would be water. .

Chuck

[mikeh]

I doubt you will need to do much of anything. I never had much of an issue with just storing envelopes in a ziploc in a stiff container on these kinds of trips. Maybe open things up and let them air out a bit inw the evening.

The Sierras are still fairly dry, it is not like the rain forest. My biggest concern would be ants or a small mammal getting into my pack.