Entomology

[AmeraucanaHank]

Hi,
One of my favorite hobbies is Entomology! I show my collections at my county fair thru 4-H.
If you want to learn how to properly pin, mount, and identify an insect let me know and I will gladly show you on this thread! I hope you learn more about God's 2nd coolest animals (1st being chickens) on earth; BUGS!!!


Warning! This thread is NOT for you if you are weird about killing insects.

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

Ready to learn?!? @Kiki,@StinkyAcres, @BigBlueHen53, @BenlynFarm, @OneHappyDuckie, @hirundinidae, @All4Eggz, @Idaho Chicken Bungalow, @Chikyboy, and @Sussex19 Here we go!
1. Pop your insect in the freezer for a few minutes, make sure it's died before you start pinning! If you found it died then look at the video I posted above.
2. Lay your butterfly, moth or skipper's body on your furrow on the mounting block(Styrofoam covered in parchment or wax paper).
3. Then stick a pin right in the middle of the thorax like so...

4. Then with forceps or a pencil also works fine too. Move the wings so they are symmetrical with each other, it's easiest to move the wing on the topst most part of the butterflies wing there is a hard line that is easy to move without damaging the wing here is a couple pictures to help:

(Where the easy to move part is)

(with the forceps)

(with a pencil)
5. Next with your little pieces of parchment paper put it on the symmetrical wings to hold it down with pins:

Now you wait about a week for it to dry in that position then your done! And you can proudly put entomologist in your tags!

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! stay tuned for more future posts!


P.s: My butterfly I found surprisingly in a great position most are going to be a bit harder. But my first butterflies weren't great at all! So if you like it and want to get good at it keep on trying!
AmeraucanaHank

 

[BenlynFarm]

Following along! We just joined 4H this year so I figure Entomolgy would be a good project for my son to start. We caught a huge grasshopper this week to start his collection!

 

[StinkyAcres]

Ya, I think it was a female male are usually brown FYI. Did you see her babies hatch?

Me too! I found a GIANT white one in my backyard on my peas about a year ago!

Wow! Me too! I found this one last year. Biggest one I've ever seen! Is it a male Chinese Mantis?

 

[AmeraucanaHank]

Neat! Love bugs, especially Butterflies, Dragonflies/damselflies, and Tiger Beetles. Pinning isn't for me but I enjoy looking at collections. Following!

So happy you will be following! Here's my newest edition:

 

[StinkyAcres]

I would like learn how to pin and mount an insect! I've always wanted to preserve the dead butterflies I find.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I've kept dead butterflies and moths before, but they disintegrated after a few years. Is there an easy way to stop that from happening?

 

[StinkyAcres]

They aren't supposed do that. Are you sure they didn't get eaten by small white bugs?

Oh, interesting. I don't remember seeing bugs on them. My storage method was not ideal - they were loose in a clear box that got moved around quite a bit.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Count me in! I have several butterflies I'd like to (1) properly identify and (2) preserve and display.

 

[Sussex19]

I'm interested in this, although I can't do it myself because I'm such a softy.
But I would like to find out about it.