[Nhcoll-l] Hoyer's mounting medium?

[Benjamin Hess]

We are using Hoyer's Mounting Medium for our mite collection, and have not
noticed much deterioration of slides created with this for multiple
decades. We have details for the composition and making Hoyer's, but have
not needed to make any new medium for several years.

   - Per communication, "Regarding deterioration, slides that aren’t ringed
   will go bad fairly quickly. The community has found that Hoyer’s slides
   that are ringed twice with an appropriate sealant (we use red insulating
   varnish) will last for a very long time. One ring is not sufficient, so I
   need to remount specimens from back when this was the case."

If you are in a country (like the United States) that considers chloral
hydrate to be a controlled substance (CS), there are many steps to maintain
any chloral hydrate mixtures and use it. When regulated, you must comply
with the respective state and federal CS licensing and registration. Our
process through the university results in monitoring visits, inventories,
and usage logs among other requirements.

There used to be places to purchase this, but due to the CS requirements,
those seemed to disappear for purchases within the United States (based on
a very brief search). There seems to be international locations where you
may be able to purchase this, but the requirements to import this are quite
strict (movement within the country is also strict).

If you are interested to learn more, please contact me directly.

Sincerely,

Ben

On Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 5:16 PM Schultz, Eric <eric.schultz at uconn.edu>
wrote:

> I wonder if the fine subscribers of the Natural History Collections
> Listserv nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu might be able to help
>
>
>
> *From:* --- Make sure that you have read the Documentation --- <
> EEBDEPT-DL at LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU> *On Behalf Of *Knutie, Sarah
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 19, 2026 4:50 PM
> *To:* EEBDEPT-DL at LISTSERV.UCONN.EDU
> *Subject:* Hoyer's mounting medium?
>
>
>
> Hi Everyone!
>
>
>
> Our Hoyer's mounting medium to mount mites is running out and we cannot
> find a US vendor that sells it anymore, likely because of regulations with
> one of its ingredients... chloral hydrate.
>
>
>
> Does anyone have any Hoyer's mounting medium that they are not using
> anymore?
>
> Or do you have a US vendor that we have not found yet?
>
> Or do you have a recipe for good mounting medium that rivals Hoyer's?
>
>
>
> Unfortunately, the mounting medium from most big name scientific vendors
> does not work well for us.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> Sarah
>
>
>
> Sarah Knutie (she/her/hers)
>
> Associate Professor
>
> Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
>
> Institute for Systems Genomics
>
> University of Connecticut
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-- 

*Benjamin M. Hess | EEB Museums Registrar | **EEB Museums Safety
Representative to the RMC *

University of Michigan | LSA Ecology & Evolutionary Biology | Research
Museums Center

3600 Varsity Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48108-2228

bmhess at umich.edu | 734-764-2432
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