Wing Drup

[Robert Beiriger]

Dear all:

    Living in humid South Florida, drying specimens during the summer is not
the problem, since most of us leave are A/C on 24 hours a day.  They do dry
rather well this way.  During the rest of the year is when we have our
problems.  During these periods,  I  leaving my specimens on the boards for
at least 2 months.  To be sure my wings do not drup, I do a finish drying in
the oven.  The oven is set on the lowest heat level (on my oven this level
is about 120-125 degree F).  A slow dry over this period and the finish
drying in the oven tends to prevent wing drup.

Robert Beiriger
Loxahatchee, FL
----- Original Message -----
From: Liz Day <beebuzz at kiva.net>
To: <LEPS-L at lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2001 11:59 AM
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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