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Post by joniverson on Jul 25, 2020 14:44:06 GMT -8
I just got done pinning four Saturniidae I caught recently. How do you dry them? I just have them on a shelf for now, but have been thinking about using an unused car I have and placing them in the shade of course. The car would certainly dry them quicker, but temps of 120 F might be an issue. How about under an incandescent placed a short distance away? Any thoughts welcome.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2020 15:14:15 GMT -8
I used to have my boards on a hardware cloth rack above several 25w bulbs. Now I use an laboratory incubator set to 115 degrees. Before I put them in, I let them sit on the boards for two days if they were fresh caught.....then into the incubator for 36 to 48 hours and voila. Bear in mind that all wing surfaces are covered to prevent curling. When I take them out, I let them sit for a few hours to get to room temp which also helps prevent curling of the wings. Sitting out on a shelf might take quite a while depending on humidity of the room.
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Post by joniverson on Jul 25, 2020 16:31:01 GMT -8
I used to have my boards on a hardware cloth rack above several 25w bulbs. Now I use an laboratory incubator set to 115 degrees. Before I put them in, I let them sit on the boards for two days if they were fresh caught.....then into the incubator for 36 to 48 hours and voila. Bear in mind that all wing surfaces are covered to prevent curling. When I take them out, I let them sit for a few hours to get to room temp which also helps prevent curling of the wings. Sitting out on a shelf might take quite a while depending on humidity of the room. Thanks for the information. I'm going to check out the temperature of the broken car tomorrow and check the max temperature of the shady spots. Perhaps I will use the car. A few weeks ago, I dried a single large moth in a container with enough silica gel to keep the humidity less than 10%. In three days, it seemed completely dry. Unfortunately, the board I used this time is too large to fit into any of my silica gel containers. |
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Post by exoticimports on Jul 25, 2020 17:46:00 GMT -8
Independent of family or size, and heat/ humidity, I find that if left too long specimens dry to the pin and can’t be height adjusted. There a fine line when wings are dry and thorax internals are not that I pull them off the board, adjust height on pin, add labels, then allow to dry another day or so.
Chuck
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Post by Paul K on Jul 25, 2020 18:11:07 GMT -8
I kept my Silkmoths ( A.atlas, H.cecropia and others) on board for 4 to 6 weeks and they are perfectly dry. Humidity inside my apartment around 55% and during summer months sometime can reach 75%.
I think the dry rack could be very helpful in tropics where humidity often reach 90% or higher, but then again if collecting room has such high humidity there will be always an issue.
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Post by Paul K on Jul 25, 2020 18:16:01 GMT -8
I used to have my boards on a hardware cloth rack above several 25w bulbs. Now I use an laboratory incubator set to 115 degrees. Before I put them in, I let them sit on the boards for two days if they were fresh caught.....then into the incubator for 36 to 48 hours and voila. Bear in mind that all wing surfaces are covered to prevent curling. When I take them out, I let them sit for a few hours to get to room temp which also helps prevent curling of the wings. Sitting out on a shelf might take quite a while depending on humidity of the room. Thanks for the information. I'm going to check out the temperature of the broken car tomorrow and check the max temperature of the shady spots. Perhaps I will use the car. A few weeks ago, I dried a single large moth in a container with enough silica gel to keep the humidity less than 10%. In three days, it seemed completely dry. Unfortunately, the board I used this time is too large to fit into any of my silica gel containers. Humidity in your car certainly is higher than in your house, especially during the night and on top of that ants can get to your specimens. Honestly you don’t need a drier unless your space is very limited and you have to prepare hundreds of specimen in short time. |
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Post by joniverson on Aug 16, 2020 16:10:26 GMT -8
Just a quick update. I have been drying all my later Saturniidae with silica gel. I place both the moth and silica (on a jar lid) inside of a zip lock bag large enough to comfortably contain both. Note that the moth is on the spreading board, so the bag has to be large enough for this. I find that even my largest specimens this year took no longer than 5 days to dry. I just put a Papilio glaucus in a bag with gel and it was dry the next day. I don't use pins through the center of the specimen, and I made sure I cover all wing areas during spreading. If the gel indicator turns pink, I recharge in the microwave at 50% power for 2- 5 min depending on how much gel I am using. By the way, I actually had three Eacles imperialis spread on the same board and put the board and silica into a large zip lock bag. They were dry within 5 days.
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Post by kevinkk on Aug 16, 2020 18:56:08 GMT -8
Another interesting, but left field topic for me. I let all my specimens dry naturally, large moths take about 8-10 days, I have set boards in front of a heater fan before, but it was gifting season and time was an issue.
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Post by exoticimports on Aug 17, 2020 5:48:24 GMT -8
Winter, with humidity about 35%, large saturnids take about 3 days. Summer, humidity (in room) about 48%, takes about 6 days.
Chuck
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Post by Paul K on Aug 17, 2020 6:02:02 GMT -8
In my opinion inserting board with silica gel into a ziplock bag does not make any difference, moisture is trapped in the bag and silica gel can absorb only as much as little and has to be replaced.
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Post by joniverson on Aug 17, 2020 6:51:53 GMT -8
In my opinion inserting board with silica gel into a ziplock bag does not make any difference, moisture is trapped in the bag and silica gel can absorb only as much as little and has to be replaced. Depends on how much or how little silica is added. I tend to add quite a lot because I have a large supply. For me, it definitely does make a difference in drying speed. When I did my first test, I also placed a small hygrometer into the bag. I use enough gel so that, within two hours, humidity drops from whatever it is in the room (usually 50-75%) down to 10- 15% in the bag. If the specimen and board are small enough and I place them into a sealed Tupperware type container, humidity quickly drops to around 5%. If humidity starts to increase and/or the gel starts showing more pink than blue indicating crystals, I take it out for recharging.
I did say 5 days for the largest specimens, but this is only an estimate. That was the first time I took out any specimen (after 5 days), but I suspect they're actually dry after a day or two at the most.
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Post by wingedwishes on Sept 3, 2020 12:56:55 GMT -8
I dry on a board about a week and then move them to a coated metal screen upside down so I can still keep the wings flat. I use a ceramic heating bulb from a pet store to keep any color bleaching from strong light. I find that, for me, too much heat can drive oils out of the body and stain the moth. Maybe not the best way but it works for me.
Tyson
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