drying specimens in humid conditions

[Ron Gatrelle]

You do have a dilemma.  Having tried various drying techniques myself I
will just address here for you, and those reading, a couple of pit falls to
avoid.

It was really stupid on my part, but I once used wax paper as pinning
strips and inserted the specimens into the oven. You can figure the rest. A
point here is that techniques that work fine in one situation can be a
disaster in another. I don't expect anyone to be as stupid as I, but just
consider all possibilities before proceeding and ruining good specimens. No
Styrofoam mounting boards in the heat either. Nothing that will warp, melt,
bleed color, etc.

Something needs to cover the entire wings as quick drying will curl them. I
rarely heat dry specimens any more. As in Liz's case, it is the big fat
stuff we do this with. the tiny guys will dry OK on their own. The key word
if FAT. It melts. You may not see it for a several months - but heat begins
to break it down and greatly accelerates greasing. For me, no more
Megathymus (Giant Skippers) in the oven. I now freeze them, slice open
their abdomen, remove the cold contents, stuff with cotton, super glue the
incision, and by now they have thawed and I mount them.

So my bottom line here is that I have no alternative dryer suggestion. Just
a warning to all to think it through before damaging specimens. Very low
heat is essential, drying by evaporation takes time.
Ron

----- Original Message -----
From: "Liz Day" <beebuzz at kiva.net>
Subject: drying specimens in humid conditions


> Hello all,
>
> I'm going to be mounting a lot of big fat moth specimens.  The ambient
> humidity is around 65-85% (including indoors unless I air condition).
This
> is normal for summer here.  In these conditions I've found that
bumblebees
> rot before they dry, so big moths probably would too.   I decided this
> could be fixed by putting the specimens in my car sitting in the sun.   I
> just measured the temperature in there and it's 51C (124F).   This should
> be sufficient to lower the humidity enough, but I worry that the heat
will
> hurt the specimens in some way.  (They are not in direct sun.)   Does
> anyone know?
>
> I'm also gonna try a big cardboard box with an incandescent light bulb in
> it.  The specimens can go in here for a week after the initial drying in
> the car.   Any experience/advice with this type of setup?
>
> (Paying to aircondition the whole apartment for two weeks to dry bugs is
> too painful to consider.  The oven won't work either for various
> reasons.  In the past, specimens dried well under an incandescent desk
> light, but now there are too many of them to fit.)
>
> Thank you....
>
> Liz
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> Liz Day
> Indianapolis, Indiana, central USA  (40 N, ~86 W)
> USDA zone 5b.  Winters ~20F, summers ~85F.  Formerly temperate deciduous
> forest.
> daylight at kiva.net
> www.kiva.net/~daylight
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>
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>
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