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Post by ttasane on Oct 22, 2015 9:52:48 GMT
How long you keep your Moths and Butterflies on the spreadingboard?
I personally keep 30-45 days, and also keep them few days in hot to get tensions out from wings (45 degrees c).
I have heard that many people keep their insects only few days on the board.
My experience shows that keeping insects only few days on the spreadingboard ends with curved and gravitated wings after a couple of years and only some individuals stay nice.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 22, 2015 10:11:17 GMT
Welcome to the forum ttasane.
I personally let my butterflies one month on the spreading board and it works well.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 22, 2015 11:05:28 GMT
I keep my butterflies on board about a week if not to much humidity in the room . You can easily check if abdomen is dry and if not move then the specimen is most likely ready to take off.
I have noticed that some specimens tend to move wings up or down but I think it is mostly caused by change in humidity inside a drawer rather then not enough time on board. I reset some of them and keep on board for very long time and they still spring up.
I have never problem with fresh specimens only once that were previously papered.
Also now before spreading I move gently wings up and down to break the tension and I think that helps too.
Paul
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Post by cabintom on Oct 22, 2015 13:48:15 GMT
5 days, maybe a week. One good day of hunting in the forest here and I have much too much volume to leave things on the boards for too long. Besides, once it's dry, it's dry.
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Post by deliasfanatic on Oct 22, 2015 13:50:45 GMT
Agreed with Paul's comments. I find that the secret to stop "springing" in the drawer is to relax sufficiently, rather than keeping them on the boards for a long time. For me, small specimens = about 5 days; medium size = 6-7 days; large or injected, about 10 days.
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Post by africaone on Oct 22, 2015 14:00:44 GMT
2-3 weeks , sometimes more (sometimes in very dry condition a few days if not important or not for collection)
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Post by bobw on Oct 22, 2015 14:31:42 GMT
2 weeks if relaxed, 4 weeks if freshly killed, sometimes longer if I don't need the boards. In the summer when it's humid I've still had them spring after this so then I give them 20 minutes in a cool oven (80°) to finish them off.
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Post by nomad on Oct 22, 2015 17:54:43 GMT
I have a friend who uses a specially made heated drying cupboard. He specimens are dry within a few days and remain perfectly flat.
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antho
New Aurelian
Thank you for the add. Regards
Posts: 21 
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Post by antho on Oct 23, 2015 0:27:30 GMT
4-6 weeks for everything fresh
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Post by cabintom on Oct 23, 2015 6:36:00 GMT
Seems like I'm on the shorter end of things. I'll need to take a closer look at how my specimens are holding up...
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Post by Paul K on Oct 23, 2015 6:48:44 GMT
Tom
I dried my specimens for one week in Bangkok and they were perfectly dry .
When rain season came and humidity in my room increased the abdomens started to be soft again and some wings moved.
Once the specimen is dry it will not stay dry unless you are controlling humidity. Forget silica gel pockets- they don't work.
Paul
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2015 9:43:29 GMT
I have always found relaxed material needs longer than freshly killed, as Danny said, proper relaxing is the key, I find 3-4 weeks sufficient for all freshly killed stuff but sometimes longer for papered material.
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Post by cabintom on Oct 23, 2015 14:07:31 GMT
I wish there was a way to test the humidity of the specimen itself.
I sometimes lightly push on the antennae to make sure there is very little play... but of course this is a good way to break antennae.
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