betta132
New Aurelian
Roughly 50% of an idea what I'm doing.
Posts: 22 
Country: Central Texas
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Post by betta132 on Sept 17, 2016 23:05:04 GMT
There are some nice katydids with long antennae near my house, and I'd like to have a completely intact specimen, but that's turning out to be a challenge. I just caught one and put it in a bag in the freezer, as I don't have a kill jar, but its antennae broke while it was in there. The antennae were really flexible while it was alive, so I'm pretty sure the problem was just that frozen-solid antennae are ultra-fragile. How do I avoid this in future? I'm guessing a chemical kill jar would be best, but how can I keep it from leaping into things and injuring itself? Is there a really, really fast chemical agent I could use without probably poisoning myself?
I feel kinda bad now. This pretty thing kept itself completely intact its entire life, even those hair-thin antennae, and then I come in and mess it all up.
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Post by Paul K on Sept 18, 2016 2:11:26 GMT
Ethyl acetate is pretty fast killing agent.
I am not sure which insect but some can be dropped directly into the aceton or alcohol and they die right away.
Moths and butterflies can not be kill that way as the scales will wash off.
Paul
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Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 18, 2016 12:34:18 GMT
Problem is Ethyl acetate will turn the green colour of Tettigoniids (Katydids is the old name) yellow. I agree the best thing to do is freeze the specimen - very carefully, especially when taking it out of the freezer! Then as soon as it is thawed out you must cut the underside of the abdomen open and pull everything inside out, using scissors to cut the ends of the gut, then stuff the abdomen with cotton wool. If you don't do this the specimen will turn sickly yellow. Even after all that there will be a certain amount of discoloration. See the 3rd post down this page for a photo showing it being done here: collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/1088/beautiful?page=7#page=6Adam. |
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Post by Paul K on Sept 18, 2016 12:51:50 GMT
Problem is Ethyl acetate will turn the green colour of Tettigoniids (Katydids is the old name) yellow. I agree the best thing to do is freeze the specimen - very carefully, especially when taking it out of the freezer! Then as soon as it is thawed out you must cut the underside of the abdomen open and pull everything inside out, using scissors to cut the ends of the gut, then stuff the abdomen with cotton wool. If you don't do this the specimen will turn sickly yellow. Even after all that there will be a certain amount of discoloration. See the 3rd post down this page for a photo showing it being done here: collector-secret.proboards.com/thread/1088/beautiful?page=7#page=6Adam. Interesting, is it possible Acetone change colour of my Cicade from Blue to black? ( I used Acetone as I still didn't buy that time EA in Chiang Mai ) Paul |
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Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 18, 2016 19:11:06 GMT
Yes it is possible. Did you inject it or drown it in acetone? I seem to remember that the way to kill cicadas is by ethyl acetate injection, but only a tiny amount injected into the head.
Adam.
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Post by mothman27 on Sept 19, 2016 2:36:22 GMT
I always freeze katydids and cicadas in a plastic bag and then try to pin them as soon as possible(katydids).
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Post by Paul K on Sept 19, 2016 3:31:16 GMT
Yes it is possible. Did you inject it or drown it in acetone? I seem to remember that the way to kill cicadas is by ethyl acetate injection, but only a tiny amount injected into the head. Adam. Killing jar with acetone fumes. Other wise I inject most of moths and beetles with ammonia . I keep them in killing jar with fumes of ethyl acetate until they don't move and then inject them with ammonia to actually kill them. I found if kept too long until they really dead make them stiffed. Second problem the jar some times sweat inside and often ruin specimen. Paul |
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