Insects...

Here I will add photos of my insect mounting processes and "artwork". I have been catching and mounting insects for a few months now and have amassed a small collection of 100+ specimens. Many people do not believe this belongs on the other parts of Taxidermy.net, so I will post on here.

Insects are plentiful and are "easy" to acquire, whether by catching them, or buying them unmounted from collectors or other sources. They are pinned while soft and dried in the desired position.

I will post photos of mounted insects and displays. Anyone can comment or add to the thread with their photos. You can ask questions about the process or anything you like and I will try my best to either answer you or post a website link that has the information.

Enjoy!

 

Here is a temporary display box for a portion of my collection...

 

Here is a pic of the main butterfly collection. The insect were free, the pins used cost less than 50 cents and the display cost $3 at a thrift store. Comparing it to these individual species for sale (unmounted) from some entomology web stores and the cost of similar displays, this could be worth $100-$150.

 

Thank you George, you are right. Autocorrect doesn't take into account what the word means! ;D

 

Here is a recent mount of a cicada flushed by a shrew.

 

Here is a piece I just put together today. Most of the insects are from the temporary display box shown above. Could be worth $175+.

 

Basically from the research I've come up with, there is nothing concerning insects that aren't endangered. There are only a couple insects here in Indiana that are endangered so it is easy to keep away from them. CITES protects some rare exotic butterflies like birdwing butterflies because they are collected for being the largest species in the world. You can find tons of the insects on Thorn's Insect Catalog.com that are readily available and aren't endangered. Thank you for all the complements!

 

I've seen their site as well, but I'm not sure if I could get insects from Taiwan to the U.S. without long waiting while in route. Insects may be different than animal skins, mounts, or bones, but I don't want to lose money and get fines/ jail time for smuggling dead moths! ;D I know Thorn's is in Canada and they can ship to the U.S. just fine.

 

I can post a short tutorial on here for pinning/spreading insects if needed... I suppose could post on here and in the tutorial page...

 

Here is a video in the mean time...
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7DWwBL8MU8w&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D7DWwBL8MU8w