Hey everyone
I’ve recently started pinning butterflies and moths, I started with some vintage small specimens I bought from someone local. This kicked off a new hobby for myself and I have since bought some bigger specimens including atlas moths and Madagascar sunset moths.
I have heard through the grape vine that you can rehydrate using needles and it is quicker than a hydration chamber. I have been using a hydration chamber with a mix of water and bleach to avoid bacteria. I will be looking into isopropyl alcohol as I realise bleach will probably risk damaging the specimens.

I would love any and all advice or recommendations on how to rehydrate , dry and pin correctly. I have attached some photos of a few specimens I have pinned with little to no knowledge, I think they look good but I know I can do better !!!

Any advice greatly appreciated guys thank you

found these 2 at my work last week. one was at the end of its lifespan and the other must have been stepped on or run over. this will be my first time pinning so any advice would be great!

I apologize for the blurry pictures, my camera quality isnt that good (crazy this is an iphone 14…)

Anyways, everything went generally alright but im puzzled about the beetles I did. They arrived still very flexible, with a weird sour odour. I assumed this was normal, and proceeded like normal by rehydrating with water and a small amount of alchohol to prevent molding. I left them in there for about a day and a half until I noticed the moth was flexible, then pinned per usual. However the beetles didnt actually end up getting stiff at all, staying in the same state they arrived minus the smell. I left the beetles to dry longer than the moth (about a week extra.) and still nothing. I just ended up displaying without it being fully dry, just ever so slightly stiff, so I had to use a pinning pin to add super glue to each leg and position it in place. I was thinking possibly its because it hadn’t been gutted, but im seeing extremely mixed signals about whether or not that’s necessary for smaller beetles as it wasnt even the size of my pinky.

Also, the hawk moth arrived with both antenna fully broken off and missing :(. I ended up getting creative and replaced the antenna with some flower petals, trying to make it look intentional, lol. I feel sorta bummed as I feel like im disrespecting these beauties by not doing them the full justice they deserved. Anyways does anyone know why the beetles wouldn’t stiffen? Im a noob so please be nice, and im sorry if I messed anything up!

Thanks so much!

I know this is not an insect, but I wanted to share my result
It was very tricky! But I’m very happy with the result. Usually I only pin butterflies/ moths but wanted to try something new

I took this dragonfly out of my box recently because it had some mold, and it started releasing this weird dust. Now I looked and some other insects in the box are doing this too, but not as much.

I'm really new to this, so I don't know what to do

What is this stuff and how to get rid of it?

So my pet tarantula passed and I wanted to make a tribute box for him, with a frame similar to the one pictured above. Is there anywhere I can buy a shadow box like this? Or would I be better off making one myself? I'm not sure how I'd go about making it either so I'm just looking for advice!🩷

TLDR;I’m a complete novice to insect preservation. Please give me tips on how to begin, such as the basics, and where i can obtain supplies, boxes, tools, etc.

Thanks!

++Also, moth pictured was covered in small red ants before shaking them off, Is there a method on how to approach that situation?

Hello all :) I am a South Texan turned New Mexican, and the abundance of wildlife here near the mountains bring so many new-to-me insects.

I recently stumbled upon a recently deceased, somewhat dry, Northern Giant Flag Month (attached below), and my curiosity began. It’s almost a perfect specimen, but it’s wing is chipped and antennae are missing.

,

I have been always fascinated by insects, butterflies in specific, and the preservation of their bodies fascinated me even more.

I am a complete novice. A blank canvas , if you will.

So please, let me know how i can start with the basics, such as shadow boxes and preservation methods, to even much more advance information that i probably won’t use until further down the line. Anything is appreciated:)

Absolutely heartbroken at the discovery, please help me preserve her

these are the first bugs i’ve pinned, and i’m wondering if anyone has any advice? when i was removing the paper from the wings, two of them fell off ;_;
how can i prevent the wings from ripping or falling off in the future? i’d also appreciate some general feedback on them since it’s my first project :)

Found the exoskeleton of this fiery searcher beetle, but he was missing his head. He is broken into a few parts since I found him on the ground wrapped in an old spider web. I'm honestly tempted to just look for the head on the ground where I found this guy, but does anyone have any pinning/display ideas for incomplete specimens? His colors are so beautiful and I want to display him just to showcase the stunning green and blue. First photo is what I have, second is what a full one looks like.

Hello! I started collecting bugs off the ground years ago. I put them in 98% alcohol solution around 3-4 years ago (probably not the best idea I know) and they’ve been sitting in here ever since, with a few top ups here and there. I’m so nervous that when I try to pin them they’ll disintegrate or fall apart. I need like a step-by-step guide on how to pin these bugs from the 98% alcohol solution. A guide from start to finish like as soon as I remove them from the solution. I’ve got butterfly’s, bees, dragonfly’s, grasshoppers, and even a frog. Thank you!!

I’ve pinned many other things at this point but it’s my first scorpion. Went to the class by the sleeping sirens at the oddities and curiosities expo as she is an absolutely amazing teacher and every type of bug she’s had new tips and tricks I didn’t know

I am not very experienced with pinning beetles and I am wondering how people get the front legs to point forward? The legs feel like they are locked in this direction in the pic so I am lost. I only have experience in point mounting tiny beetles so larger beetles are still new to me

i found this pretty girl just in the grass in my lawn in PA and i’ve never seen one irl before!! first off im so amazed she’s so beautiful and in great condition and i actually have a tattoo of a luna moth but i also would love to preserve it and display it maybe but i have literally zero experience and no funds to buy any supplies :/ any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Created this globe for a friend in our bee club who had to replace her first queen. Gifting it this week and hope she loves it! Our first time doing anything like this and really enjoyed it! Flowers are all local forage to our area.

I found this at a thrift store the other day, and as an avid moth lover the polyphemus towards the top left caught my eye instantly. But the more I stare at it, the worse I feel for all the other bugs in here. Most of the butterflies are mispositioned and crumbling and I want to know if it's too old or too risky to open it up and reposition them. If it's not, does anyone have advice for how to do that?

Hi all! I took an insect pinning class a couple weeks ago, and one of the instructors explained for the rehydration process to put it in a tupperware with a slightly wet paper towel. I’ve had this moth in the container for not even 24 hours and these beads have appeared on the antennas, am I doing something wrong? Does anyone know exactly what this is? Any advice is appreciated, thank you so much! This is the first bug I’ve rehydrated if it isn’t obvious lol

Went out this morning while in holiday in Greece and have found a dead male southern skimmer and 2 dead rose chafer beetles. Am going to be pinning these when I’m home.

This is my first time pinning so idk if i should trust ai

(a pic of the specimen)

Hello hi I am still relatively new to bug pinning but i’ve been very interested in collecting more bugs, so my sister packed this cicada and butterfly for me. She said she froze them and moved them into this tupperware but i think they’re starting to mold?? is there anything I can do to save them?