The Forestry Forum

Rather than reinventing the wheel I welcome advise on best methods to preserve caterpillars and other insect specimens.  

In the past, I have just put caterpillars in rubbing alcohol but the color fades quite a bit over time.  Last weekend I found a variable oak leaf caterpillar which is still alive.  I would like to keep it looking as natural as possible since I do not often find them and I use them to prepare our FFA's forestry team.

Also, most years I can find pine sawflies but this year the only ones I have found were too high for me to easily access.

I have some beetles that I have kept for years in hand sanitizer and others in alcohol but it does not seem to work as well on softer bodied insects.

Thank you for your suggestions,
Kyle

Formaldehyde. 

 smiley_thumbsup

How about embalming them in epoxy?

Quote from: ljohnsaw on October 07, 2019, 11:06:38 PM
How about embalming them in epoxy?

Anything you embed into epoxy needs to be dry. So that works with insects and spiders as you can dry them out and they keep their shape and colour. Caterpillar will likely look more like a raisin after it's dried?

I don't like raisins in my caterpillars :) .

Let me know if you need any gigantic, flesh eating, horse flies for your collection.  Even after hitting them with a 2x they are still in display condition!  ;D

Quote from: Southside on October 08, 2019, 12:18:44 PM
Let me know if you need any gigantic, flesh eating, horse flies for your collection.  Even after hitting them with a 2x they are still in display condition!  ;D

We use a .22 rifle with shotshell and shoot 'em on the wing. ;D ;D
Wudman