[Nhcoll-l] prepping frozen herps

[Bentley, Andrew Charles]

Hi Tonya

It is true that frozen specimens do not make ideal ethanol specimens as the formalin and ethanol do not pervade the tissues as well when frozen an thawed.  You can counteract some of that by injecting with formalin into all body cavities and leaving it soaking in formalin for a little longer.  It also helps to step the specimen up through concentrations of ethanol to ensure good preservation throughout the specimen.

Andy
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>
USA<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>

Tel: (785) 864-3863<tel:%28785%29%20864-3863>
Fax: (785) 864-5335<tel:%28785%29%20864-5335>
Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace)
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 11:26 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] prepping frozen herps

Hello all,

I have read (in John Simmon's book on herpetological collecting, among other places) that frozen snake and lizard specimens do not make suitable formalin-preserved specimens, and should be instead skeletonised. We have quite a few herp specimens in the freezer that we have been planning on prepping as 'pickles' (fixed in formalin and then stored in ETOH), but  I haven't started yet because of the concern that it may not be worthwhile. I wonder if any of you could weigh in on this and tell me what your experiences have been, and whether or not you would bother preserving these specimens in spirit, or if we should just prep them as skeletons?

Thanks!

Tonya

-------------------------------------------------
Dr. Tonya M. Haff
Collection Manager
Australian National Wildlife Collection
CSIRO

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20220427/4e26da51/attachment.html>