What a coinkydink. I know some of you have been waiting for me to pop up here. I didn't want to post my first experience using this
method, because I used it to finish off the female toeantei I was in the process of relaxing.
However, I just set the male, which started out completely dry. I used moistened paper towels, left the specimen in the glassine,
the ink on my envelopes did not run, but I make labels beforehand.
I used a little Oxine for disinfectant, I first put the specimen in the closed plastic container on 3-20, in the mid-morning.
I checked it twice, and it was looking like it was going to work. No mold, and I just set the male a few minutes ago, this method
is much better than the warm humid way I was using before, the specimen didn't take long to work with, and the wings seemed to
move easily, without bending unnaturally. As well as not being soaked in moisture, which makes things difficult. The specimen
actually seemed like a fresh insect, not one that's been soaked in a warm humid environment.
This is super. I started with the less expensive species, and I just put my O. goliath procus female in the relaxing chamber.
So, I think an extra day wouldn't have hurt with the toeantei male, and the procus female is going to get that extra day, maybe two.
24 hours may work for smaller bodied species, and I'll be trying it sometime with dead leaf mimics, maybe more moisture would have
sped up the process, I don't know. I'm not in a rush, or have a backlog, I've got 4 specimens left to set, including the female
I put in the tupperware tonight.
Now I'm wondering about space again, Ornithoptera are big butterflies, and this method with the cool temperatures, gives me more confidence
about buying dead stock.
I wish I'd have known about this maybe 6 weeks ago, at any rate, I think it's sound, and it worked for me
even if it's not 24 hours for every species, it's better than what I was doing