Fantastic! Thank you so much for this. I found a monarch butterfly on the ground walking my dog the other day and thought it'd be a good chance to learn a bit about entomology, this is the only clear tutorial I've found.
What you are all failing to realize is that these butterflies are already dead. I just started to raise monarchs and not every butterfly emerges perfectly. I had to keep one because it's wings were crumpled and he was unable to fly. He passed away after about a week of me hand feeding him. I plan on doing this to immortalize him and treasure his imperfections. This video isn't about killing butterflies you idgits
That is just GORGEOUS. This is a great tutorial. I've been picking up a whole bunch of (recently) dead Red Admirals on my walks home, and now I know how to "fix" them so that I can mount and display them. I also have a few others that I might be able to mount.
This is the absolute best instructional butterfly mounting video I have yet seen. Thank you, I am just starting out learning how to mount my own insects, and this was an unbelievably huge help to me. You are articulate and well spoken, clear, and concise. I only wish it was longer! Thanks again.
I was about to pin my first LBM, starting with the right fore and hind wings. Glad I watched this first, though. Every word was helpful and I'm glad you explained everything you were doing.
buying these butterflies helps save the rain forest because instead of cutting and clearing the land the locals raise and harvest these beautiful butterflies to feed their families, unfortunately there are not enough collectors in the world to stop deforestation but by spreading the hobby like this man is doing he is saving the rain forest and you can to and it doesn't have to be just butterflies, there are amazing beetles, cicadas, mantises the list goes on and you can find them on ebay for sale
Butterflies are so beautiful. I have a picture, that was handmade of African woman with butterfly wings from butterflies that died of natural causes I love it.
This was absolutely incredible and informative. You also have a wonderful, clear voice and give directions very well. Not to mention your specimen came out beautifully!
This is a great video! For those living in the sub tropics or tropics though, I've found that I need to let my specimens dry for at least two weeks before removing pins. Otherwise they droop over time.
Thanks for the video. I actually found a dead butterfly in a parking lot this afternoon (first I've ever found, and I wouldn't dare to kill one). I used similar items I had at home to follow your tutorial; not as professional as your work but I think it worked okay. Again, thank you!
hey dude its channing i love watching your videos so informative. when it comes to insects people this is my guy always has the most beautiful specimens. my house is full of them.
This is all new to me, but now after watching your videoI, I can see the imperfections of other people's pinning on their videos. As an artist, I appreciate and can plainly see that THIS is the way it's done.
Question - once it's dried, how do you "relocate" it on the primary pin? I like mine to have a consistent 1/4 inch showing out the top, but my board won't let the pin sink in far enough... Also, as a note to everyone whining about the "poor bugs", the company he buys from (I recognize it) farms their butterflies "in-house" - they aren't taken from the wild. It's an awesome company.
I put pinesol and water in a crumpled tissue in a jar and put the butterfly on top and waited like 15 mins and it became soft, used wax paper because I dont have any tracing paper but it still turned out ok, had a lot of scratches but the butterfly was still beautiful to me and I'm thankful for this video even if I didnt follow your specific instructions, it was still helpful as I found a mite on the butterfly under the microscope and felt the need that I should do something pretty with it before mites devour it x
hello! very intresting! i raise butterflies and 2 of them die so i put them in my fridge i will love to do this to them....do I have to use any kind of product for the body?
I just finished pinning a swallow tail. My father found it in a window sill at the construction site he was working at. And I had to improvise a lot of tools.
I am wondering if I would need to empty the abdomen of a Cecropia Moth during the mounting process to prevent decay? If so, any tips on this? thanks!!!
I'm curious where you purchased your adjustable spreading board please.. I found a great selection on butterfliesandthings, but there's a minimum of a $500 order to ship to Canada :(
+Kurtise Templeton The chamber relaxes the mucles and hydrates the specimen. It's so you can move the butterfly around easier. If you dont take this step you will most likely damage the specimen.
Is it possible to keep the abdomen "plump" not shriveled, after its mounted? I bought some birdwings and the seller says its not possible to have a life like abdomen - flat or curled abdomens are typical. Thanks for the informative video.
Incredible video, thank you. The only thing I'm confused about is the purpose of removing the head. Do you need to or is this your preference for easier pinning?
@funry7twelve It's very hard because they will shrink...for very large specimens, you may want it to shrink because large abdomen-ed butterflies easily get attacked by beetles and other pests.
If you glue some graph paper to the boards you can get it perfectly symmetrical. Glue down 1 sheet over the whole thing then use a scalpel to cut out the middle strip.
+BlastFromYesterday I'm assuming you mean for a spreading board, like his...? You can use soft woods, cork, foam (compact polystyrene works very well) but not any sort of hard wood or basically anything you'd use to build a structure. haha
Bill Huang YEs, I have tried this method and over time the specimens can catch on the styrofoam pieces as they become elevated. Using soft wood in my experience yield the best results.
Have you ever done this with bees? How difficult is it? Want to have a display case to show people what they look like. This looks very cool, resin is obviously the other option.
ambam1977, this is an excellent video. A question arose at 2:34. "Can I use regular, writing paper?" Your video is so good, it answered my question at 6:05. I have basic entomological knowledge and it has always been a dream of mine to catalogue the Lepidoptera in my region. I live in south-eastern New-Brunswick, in Canada. I started looking into insect collecting this year as I have never seen such an abundance of butterflies and moths in my area and your video has peaked my interest. Thanks!!
No. You can get it at your local craft store. It basically is what tattoo artist/artist use to put over work to make sure they want to add what they are thinking before completely messing something up
@@cassiebrooke2490 I've never pinned insects for mounting, but I know you're supposed to use insect pins (which you can find easily online in packs of 100 pins)
i just had problems getting them soft in the rehydration box, but I figured it out now..it's a matter of patience.. hehe.. love your videos.. it helped me a lot when I started collecting butterflys.
I wish somebody would answer this question! I have been looking for the answer for quite some time and google is useless with providing anything helpful -_-
Hi why do people pin dead butterflies? I'm not having ago and saying your nasty for doing it cos I'm sure the butterfly has died naturally so just wanted to know why pin them & put them in a frame. I love butterflies they are so lovely and the colours and patterns amaze me. Also how long do butterflies really live for?
It can be used for research or as a "decoration" of sorts for people in the field or just someone who is interested or has a passion for certain creatures :)