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Post by drcyclops on Oct 8, 2018 13:14:23 GMT
I have 10 gram silica packs. I plan to place in shadow boxes with dried Acherontia specimens. I assume this will help control the humidity in the display. Thanks.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 8, 2018 13:23:42 GMT
I have 10 gram silica packs. I plan to place in shadow boxes with dried Acherontia specimens. I assume this will help control the humidity in the display. Thanks. Not really.
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Post by drcyclops on Oct 8, 2018 13:32:08 GMT
Any suggestions?
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Post by Paul K on Oct 8, 2018 14:46:22 GMT
I made few shadow boxes for display about 15 years ago and they are doing fine. I keep them on the wall in hallway where is not much sunlight and they are seem to fade colours very slow as there is almost no difference between the specimens in cabinets and those on the wall. What I did is paint all frame with clear coat two times to make sure the wood is sealed and also I sealed with clear silicone glass and the opening permanently so the frame is shut forever. There is no any pest nor humidity control chemical inside. I want to add that one of the frame I gave to my mother and it is hanging in her bathroom where the shower is taken almost every day for 15 years, the humidity is very high there and there is absolutely no wing movement or mold. Paul
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Post by Paul K on Oct 8, 2018 14:48:30 GMT
I want to add that the shadow boxes are from Dollar Store and that time they only cost $1.00 each
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Post by Paul K on Oct 8, 2018 14:55:59 GMT
If you don't seal properly boxes the silica gel will absorb moisture from all world very quickly and then will be useless, if you seal the box properly, there is no need for silica gel to be there.
Paul
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Post by drcyclops on Oct 8, 2018 16:18:10 GMT
Thanks Paul
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Post by luehdorfia on Oct 8, 2018 16:36:25 GMT
But during the drying process of the specimens while they are still in the boards you can use silica gel. I have severe problems with book lice when drying specimens, so after many many attempts of finding a pest free place I resorted to putting my spreading boards into airtight plastic boxes, and 300g of silica gel (which can be reused after baking) and then freeze it first then take it out of the freezer have the silica gel dry the specimens, then put the specimens into a drawer and then freeze the whole drawer again. That’s the only way for me to get perfect specimens.
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Post by Ed on Oct 27, 2018 19:23:35 GMT
I hear very often of people using silica gel, personally I prefer to use calcium chloride as it is cheaper, and easy to find in my area. Most swimming pool supply stores stock them in bulk buckets and are very cheap. When using it to dry specimens you can just fill an air tight tub with CaCl2 half way and place your specimen into it. You must be careful as it can cause wooden spreading boards to crack and the CaCl2 will continue to hydrate itself until in is in solution. So using it in a non airtight frame might result in a CaCl2 solution forming. Supposedly you can heat the CaCl2 • H2O to remove the water, but I’ve been using my tub for a while now without needing to heat the CaCl2. Has anyone else tried Calcium chloride?
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Post by johnml on Oct 28, 2018 9:40:24 GMT
But during the drying process of the specimens while they are still in the boards you can use silica gel. I have severe problems with book lice when drying specimens, so after many many attempts of finding a pest free place I resorted to putting my spreading boards into airtight plastic boxes, and 300g of silica gel (which can be reused after baking) and then freeze it first then take it out of the freezer have the silica gel dry the specimens, then put the specimens into a drawer and then freeze the whole drawer again. That’s the only way for me to get perfect specimens. I had problems with Mites/Book lice on the Spreading/Setting boards so I bought a small chest of drawers and sprayed the inside of the drawers with Permethrin.I put the boards with specimens on into the drawers until they are dry.You can also spray the boards themselves when empty.It has cured the problem,I now spray the inside of all my cabinet drawers and boxes too.
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Post by Adam Cotton on Oct 28, 2018 10:50:17 GMT
Psocids like to hide in the pinholes, both on setting boards and in specimen drawers. Spraying the drying cabinet and empty setting boards with permethrin is a very good idea.
Adam.
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ren
Aurelian
Natural History Fan
Posts: 100
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Post by ren on Nov 2, 2018 13:59:07 GMT
Paul K, those frames look great! Is that regular glass or UV protection glass?
I am also framing specimens.
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Post by Paul K on Nov 2, 2018 14:15:03 GMT
It is just regular glass ($1.00 frame which came with glass so I highly doubt it is UV). I don’t frame my specimens, I only did this once as it is quite time consuming work to do it right. Also those are my double specimens which I have collected.
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Post by impairbear on Sept 5, 2020 10:06:54 GMT
But during the drying process of the specimens while they are still in the boards you can use silica gel. I have severe problems with book lice when drying specimens, so after many many attempts of finding a pest free place I resorted to putting my spreading boards into airtight plastic boxes, and 300g of silica gel (which can be reused after baking) and then freeze it first then take it out of the freezer have the silica gel dry the specimens, then put the specimens into a drawer and then freeze the whole drawer again. That’s the only way for me to get perfect specimens. I had problems with Mites/Book lice on the Spreading/Setting boards so I bought a small chest of drawers and sprayed the inside of the drawers with Permethrin.I put the boards with specimens on into the drawers until they are dry.You can also spray the boards themselves when empty.It has cured the problem,I now spray the inside of all my cabinet drawers and boxes too. Apologies for commenting on an old post, however I have noticed some very small mite like creatures on my spreading boards and also in some of my storage containers. I have put some specimens in shadow boxes and occasionally during this process a small mite will drop off the specimen, although it’s almost impossible to see them until they do. Am I at risk of these damaging the specimens like museum beetles do? Or are they more of an annoyance than anything?
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Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 5, 2020 14:58:20 GMT
These are almost certainly Psocids (book lice), and yes they will eat the whole specimen eventually.
I suggest you freeze the shadow boxes for 3 days, take them out for a week or 10 days and then freeze them again for another 3 days. A second round of freezing is necessary to kill small individuals that hatch out of eggs which will not be killed by the first freeze. Eggs hatch in a week, so all should die in the second freeze.
Adam.
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