I have seen crabs that have been preserved by letting them sit in some sort of solution that eats the meat out of them, but leaves the shell intact. The empty shell and legs are then filled with foam from a hole in the belly of the crab. The crab does NOT have to be disassembled or cleaned prior to the soak, only posed in the manner you want. I'd like to know if anyone has information on what this solution is. I've spent a lot of time looking for the information myself, but cannot find it anywhere. There are a lot of crabs here and I will have plenty to practice with if anyone even has a guess, please post it. I'm also interested in the most economical source for whatever chemical this is (or mixture of) ... Thanks ! Jeannie
High Jeannie--
If you can find such a chemical, I'd certainly want to know what it is, because I will have learned something new today.
If I am "out of line" with my answer, let me apologize now, but your story sounds like something that a taxidermist might tell someone that knows very little about taxidermy. In south louisiana, there is a simple and old-fashioned method used to preserve shellfish for gift shops and things like that.
just throw your crab in a bucket of formeldehyde mix,wait about a month, and then retreive it, pose it, and let it dry. then coat the critter with white glue or something similar for strength.
A slightly updated version will work fine--
first,inject rubbing alcohol or balmex in all the joints, then toss it in a bucket of alcohol for a week or two, next pose it, then when dry, coat the entire crab with Mod podge.--that will add flex and strenght to the joints.
the flesh isn't eaten out, it dries up and is preserved.the joints aren't filled with foam, but coated on the outside for strength.
this method works fine for crawfish and other shellfish that are hand sized or smaller. for anything larger, it's still a good idea to clean out most of the meat first.
Hope that helps.
Dave
Of course, you could always have them freeze dried. I'm a little biased here as that is what I do for a living. Just had to throw it in, though. The other ideas presented are perfectly acceptable. Have a good day.
David
Bruce has a product called Preserve-It. You mix this up with water and soak the crab in it. It's a lot safer than anything else.
I do right many crabs and here is the method I use. After the crab
is dead, put him in the microwave on 50% for l0 min. at a time.
Keep turning him over each time. This will take right many times
doing this, but it will help dry the meat up. Put paper towels under
the crabs, it will be messy. The crab will turn red. Do not let the
crab get to hot each time. It will make the shell crack. After you
have done this a number of times, take out of oven and mix denatured
alcohol and dry preservative (half & half). Use a big syringe and
inject all in the crab. Legs, body, every where, until it is running
out. You have to work fast, because the dry preservative tries to
set up on you. Be sure to use a big syringe. I get mine from the
vets. Then you pose the crab, and each day you set it out in the
sun until it gets dry, with no smell. This one taxidermist told me
that she puts the crabs in her attic to let them dry, after posing.
It's like a low temp. oven, makes sense. After throughly dry, paint
them.
Lots of luck
taxilady
I'll go beat up this guy and get the info from him, and if there really isn't a magic soaking recipie, I will try the alcohol and balmex injection since that sounds less labor-intensive than nuking them. if there really IS something new, I'll let all you nice people know so that you can do it too :) thanks! Jeannie............ ps no, dave you weren't out of line.. I know the feeling sometimes! (having your leg pulled)
Just like mentioned above, but use formaldahyde once dry I use WASCO inject a cast. Shoot up the joints and roll this around inside the crustation. Dont forget to paint them. Seal with your favorite sealer or gloss. John C
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