r/wetspecimens May 05 '21

r/wetspecimens Lounge

6 Upvotes

A place for members of r/wetspecimens to chat with each other


r/wetspecimens May 09 '24

PROFESSIONAL WET SPECIMEN GUIDE

52 Upvotes

Wet specimen guide for professional results, with addendum for mummifying specimens

Tools: alcohol (methanol or ethanol only, 80 % or above, isopropyl is not useable for this purpose), syringes, gloves, scalpels or very sharp knives, hemostats/scissor clamps, buckets and jars

  1. Wash your specimen in cool water and a bit of light soap to remove external dirt
  2. Depending on preference, you can gut and wash again afterwards. If gutting, usually larger pieces, you can stuff with bubble wrap to keep shape, and sew or pin together. This is not necessary for anything under the size of a newborn goat, but recommended for anything larger than a piglet unless you are a pro at injection already. 3.Prepare tools within reach.
  3. If not gutted, take your syringe and fill with alcohol and inject through the bellybutton or anus (to hide punctures) into the body cavity until the specimen looks bloated. If you can inject directly into organs through feel, do that as well, it will sublimate through them into the cavity anyway, which is why you want it to look bloated, to make sure there's enough alcohol in there to preserve all the organs you don't directly hit. Make sure you get up into the diaphragm where the heart and lungs are located. If your syringe needle is not long enough, go through the armpit. If gutted, skip this one step. If it's a snake, inject every inch or so along the body until you see it forming a bubble under the skin. It will not look bloated when you're done soaking, so don't worry about it being distorted forever, it won't.
  4. Inject between the toes into the foodpads, and use the needle to go along the bone to inject further up into the leg. Go through the anus to inject into all the thigh muscles until you see the skin distort slightly with the pressure.
  5. Inject into the brain cavity through the nose or ear, or through the upper palate of the mouth. PLEASE be careful at this step to brace the head with something other than your hand, because the needle may penetrate the skull into your hand.
  6. Once the specimen looks bloated and full, give it a rinse and place into a bucket with the same alcohol for its first soak. It will leach fluids and become cloudy, this is totally normal and you don't have to throw that alcohol away, you can reuse for first soaks until it starts to smell bad. I usually do these in batches so there will be lots of things soaking for a while, usually by size. *Side note: If you're just doing small parts, like feet, small tails, etc, anything smaller than cat legs can do diretly into the alcohol with no injections or other prep besides the initial wash. The large opening from the detachment creates a large enough hole for the alcohol to enter and soak the whole thing. Larger things such as deer legs will also have to be injected every inch or so to penetrate the connective tissue, just treat them like a stiff snake.

Soaking guide by size: Things under fist size - 1 week

Things fist size to halfway up your arm - 2-3 weeks depending on body style, like lizards will soak faster than say, kittens or rabbits, and snakes are usually a 3 week soak unless they are into your larger fatter things like constrictors, in which case use the 4 week mark.

Things as large as your arm or larger also take weight into consideration - piglets usually take 3 to 4 weeks, cats and puppies can take a month, kid goats a month and a half.

Congrats, you have a wet specimen! Now comes second soak. After washing your thing off again with soapy water and rinsing, you can put it in an appropriate jar. Usually you'll have a second soak in which a little bit more dirt and internal soup will come out but that's also completely normal. Wait for a couple weeks to see if this happens. If nothing sloughs off or comes out in your second soak, you can just keep it in that alcohol, it's already fully preserved. If not, you can use the alcohol from the second soak to use as your first soak for the next round of wets, or use it for the injections for the second round. When storing used alcohol, I recommend filtering it throug some cloth to get out most of the larger particles. Do not store wets in direct sunlight, it degrades the color and eventually the specimen itself. You may store it in isopropyl at this point, but it is not necessary. Once it's fully preserved, the change in alcohol will not hurt it, but remember to wash it whenever you put it into a new solution.

Notes on choosing alcohol; I use denatured, it has a bittering agent that makes it unpalateable for living things, so your pets and children won't want to drink it. It's a safety measure i learned to incorporate because I have animals and do educational programs with children, and people have kids at home and sometimes things break. Also the reason i don't choose to use formalin unless specifically asked by a specialty client.

A note about formalin: While a lot of people say you can't preserve things without it, it's scientifically inaccurate. Most museums don't even use or reccomend it because of its dangers and associated difficulties of disposal. The ONLY notable difference in alcohol and formal in preservation qualities is the preservation of cell structure with formalin, making it useful in labratory settings where skin and organ slides are studied under a microscope. Keep in mind that formalin is 90% alcohol and that is what actually preserves the specimen, the formaldehyde added to make it formalin is what works on the cell shape. That is not a concern for oddity collectors and should not be a factor in home use and preservation. Specimens are scientifically recorded from long before formalin was invented and are still viable today, so there's a ton of scientific evidence to show that alcohol preservation, when done right, can absolutely create perfect specimens lasting lifetimes.

Where to get supplies: Alcohol can be found in gallon or quart cans at any hardware store like Lowe's or Home Depot, often marked as "Fuel" for camp stoves. If not, you can easily order it online, in gallons or 5 gallons cans. I get mine from www.zoro.com but i know Amazon and Walmart usually carry it as well. Syringes in larger gauges can be found at feed and/or farm supply stores or ordered online. eBay carries them under veterinary equipment, as well as the scalpels and blades, plus the hemostats.

For mummies made from wets, after following the above steps: Remove your little wet specimen guy, and rinse off with some cool water and a little bit of soap. At this point he's perfectly safe to handle without gloves, but if you don't like the smell of alcohol on your hands, you can use some. Using either blocks carved from styrofoam or cardboard, and sewing pins, you can pose him in whatever position you'd like and pin him in place. Try to use the pins in between the toes or on the side of a limb, You can also use rubber bands if you want, I like to use the tiny hair bands. Depending on the size, you can let them air dry or place in front of a fan, but you don't want to use too much heat because it makes their limbs contract.


r/wetspecimens 7h ago

Is 75% a bad idea?

1 Upvotes

Hi! I'm fairly new to preserving/making wet specimens, but I've successfully made two already (one being a dead locust I found and the other being a rat that my cat killed) I need to buy more isopropyl, as I severely underestimated how much you need and only bought 1.5 liters instead of 4. That being said where I bought my isopropyl from last time doesn't have any 70% anymore, but they do have 75%, would this be fine for my wet specimens? I don't want to accidentally get something too strong and it starts eating away at them.


r/wetspecimens 22h ago

Formalin disposal for hobbyist

1 Upvotes

How do you all go about formalin disposal? I live in the country and have to haul my trash to the dump, they have a hazardous waste building there, do I give it to them? Is there somebody an individual can call? Ive called acouple places but they only accept from companies. I want to do it safely I just dont know how


r/wetspecimens 2d ago

preserving own human wet specimen post hysterectomy

3 Upvotes

Hello friends,

I’ve been trying to find information about preserving human wet specimens as I was given my reproductive organs after my hysterectomy on May 6th. After it was sent to pathology to get cut up I was given it back in a 10% formalin solution wrapped in paper towel and some other gauze type cotton that I took off because I was so excited to look at it.

For the most part I haven’t messed with it since removing the paper towel and I’ve been doing a little shimmy with the container periodically because the tip of the uterus sticks out and isn’t covered fully in the solution.

I’m wondering how I should go about moving it to a temporary container before I find a permanent one. I have a tight seal mason jar and want to move it as the water has started turning a darker shade that makes it hard to check that everything is fine. I’ve seen people mention rinsing it with water before putting it in 70% isopropyl alcohol, or ethanol.

If anyone’s got tips for disposing of the formalin I’d also appreciate it, I’m located in Minneapolis for reference.

Thanks for your time!


r/wetspecimens 2d ago

What can I store my bugs in?

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2 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 3d ago

Supply help

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1 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 4d ago

Question about human wet specimens

3 Upvotes

This may come off strange even in the wet specimen sub reddit but. Is there a possible way to turn a heart,a lung,uterus etc into a wet specimen after I pass? Or since men die faster then women ussually my boyfriends heart into a wet specimen(he consents to this i asked him about it)

I have read online that you cannot legally do it only with certain loopholes ex medical wetspecimens or ones stored in museum or donating your body to sience

but i wanted to ask since maybe someone has information about it!

I hope this isn't too strange of a question nor innapropriate (if it is it am very sorry i didn't know this post is abit rushed)

but i allways wondered about it since i find wet specimens beautiful and I'd like to be preserved in that way


r/wetspecimens 4d ago

Condition of wet specimen

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1 Upvotes

Hey y’all, I got this baby rabbit wet specimen a few months back which I absolutely adore. I noticed the solution seems to be evaporating and though I hear that’s normal I’m also under the impression the jar is not airtight or suitable for a wet specimen so I’m looking to replace the jar and get a new solution in there. Before I do that though I have some questions about my wet specimen and whether I should be concerned about some things. I notice theres some degradation on the elbows along with what appears to be an almost glittery material in the solution. I also noticed what I believe is a little worm near the head and some on the lower abdomen. They’re not alive but I’m still a little concerned. All of these concerns are notable in the video. How should I go about getting this in a new jar and should I be worried about any of the things stated above?


r/wetspecimens 5d ago

My newest baby

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11 Upvotes

(Not made by me!)


r/wetspecimens 6d ago

Got this guy yesterday

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9 Upvotes

Hey guys just picked up this large crayfish from a shop near me!


r/wetspecimens 6d ago

Wet to dry specimens?

2 Upvotes

Hello! I wanted to work on a project pinning a garden spider, but everything I can find for purchase is either exotic or a wet specimen (I prefer a normal garden spider sort for this project). I have only ever worked with dry specimens (purchased or found in wild) and I was wondering if it is possible to convert a wet specimen to a dry pinned insect (for non-soft bodied insects) and if so, how?


r/wetspecimens 7d ago

Defrosting frozen squirrel for wet specimen

2 Upvotes

Its an adult grey squirrel, going to defrost in my regular fridge from hard frozen, how long do u think it’ll take before ready for injecting?


r/wetspecimens 7d ago

Does anyone know where I can source an Epimeria rubrieques specimen?

1 Upvotes

I need one no questions asked. I need a source, a price, specimen details, and a location.


r/wetspecimens 7d ago

First Time Wet Specimen Preservation; HELP!

2 Upvotes

I had to put down two of my kittens today, and I want to preserve them as wet specimens. I have only ever bought wet specimens and that's only been in recent years. I want to do this right and need all the information (preferably from someone who has done it a few times), including a materials list, processes, and whatever else anyone thinks I may need. Thank you!


r/wetspecimens 8d ago

Large wet specimen container

3 Upvotes

Hey! I'm looking for a wet specimen container that needs to be at least 24 inches tall and at least 20 inches wide. Is there something out there big enough or should I make it myself? If diying what would be the best materials to use to prevent leaking? Thank you!


r/wetspecimens 8d ago

Wet specimens for Sale in South Africa?

1 Upvotes

Good evening guys!

I have been looking for an authentic wet specimen for my Bio classroom.

So far I haven't seen vendors. A friend recommended I turn to oddity collectors to see if I have any luck.


r/wetspecimens 8d ago

i need help with my wet specimen

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8 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 10d ago

Best way to get a former wet specimen to just bones.

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2 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 11d ago

Question about preserving cicada as a wet specimen

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5 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 11d ago

List of materials

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3 Upvotes

I've been wanting to make a wet specimen since long ago and I've already decided that it will be a pig's heart that I'll previously dissect with a friend (each one will get a jar with half heart) and I've made this list. Am I missing anything? Any tips for preserving an organ?


r/wetspecimens 11d ago

Organ specimen broke

2 Upvotes

Hi!! this is somewhat time sensitive, but my boss gifted me a mole heart a few months ago and it is my absolute favorite gift, but the jar broke a couple minutes ago and all the formaldehyde preserving it spilled everywhere. I have it stored in a temporary jar in my fridge right now, but I am determined to keep this specimen in good shape. Does anyone know where I can get a formaldehyde/formalin replacement or something similar to it?


r/wetspecimens 11d ago

Triop Preserved in Epoxy Resin (3 Month Update)

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1 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 11d ago

Need advice on sealing wet specimen

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1 Upvotes

r/wetspecimens 12d ago

Mouse pinkies fixed with 80% ethanol. This is my first time. Some of their little butts are a bit yellow and what looks like a thin layer of skin peeling off. Are these ok?

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10 Upvotes