I want to preserve herps (reptiles and amphibians) in fluid filled
jars for study. I have read to use Formalin but I can't seem to find
it at any local drugstores. I have also read to use alcohol but I'm
only 19 so I can't legally have it. I was wondering if there was an
easier chemical to use that would be easy for me to get and not cost
a lot of money. I'm a college guy so I don't have a lot of cash and
the University won't sell me any chemicals. Could I use isopropyl
rubbing alcohol or what would that do to my specimens? Any help would
be great. I love reading stuff on this site. Thanks again.
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Click the Reptiles section postings. Scroll down to Feb 19, 2001 under a posting called "Solution to Preserve Snakes", and then scroll down further to archives of 2000, and look at the posting of "Preserving a tiger snake" on November 7, 2000.
Many taxidermy supply houses also sell formalin in smaller quantities, check the search button and type in Formaldehyde.
Preservation of herps is possible with only alcohol, BUT the alcohol MUST have direct contact with all surfaces such that permeation is only required to a depth of 1/8 to 3/16 inches. Thus a small salamander such as Plethodon cinereus could be placed in Isopropyl or denatured Ethyl Alcohol (from a hardware store), and it would be preserved. However reptiles have a more immpermeable surface and a small lizard, Anole or Cnemidophorus or the like, would need numerous slits cut in the belly to allow access to the inside of the animal to allow preservation. Pure Alcohol preservation is not nearly as good at formalin preservation BUT it allows later analysis by a molecular laboratory. DNA analysis at the Molecular lab here can only be profitably done if the tissue being analyzed is fresh or has been preserved in Ethyl Alcohol. Usually when the curators go into the field (Two recently came back from Argentina and one is about to go to Brazil) they bring parts of the tissue back in Alcohol but preserve the rest with Formalin as outlined in the Michigan cite referred to in one of the above previous cites.
If you would attempt to preserve a large specimen with alcohol alone, there would be decomposition deep in the tissue and it would forever smell rotton.