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There are just no really nice ways to kill animals, insects included, so if you have serious worries of any kind about this, think of something else to do.

Stilling Without Killing

Surely there has to be a better way to do studio stacking rather than to always kill the insects, or at least you'd hope it is possible to make something. This insect chiller chamber is an in-progress project of mine using Arduino to drive some peltier elements and fans in a temperature controlled chamber.

I hope to to cool insects down to levels at which they stop moving, but don't die. This is a tricky project as it incorporates programming, electronics and micro engineering and I do not expect it to be complete until some time in 2014.

Freezer for stilling insects for studio shots of preserved specimens. There are no nice ways to kill animals, insects included, so if you have serious worries of any kind about this, think of something else to do.

Killing Insects

There are no clear guidelines about what constitutes the best or most humane way to kill insects but common sense should tell you that if insects are sentient organisms, none of them are going to be a heaps of fun.

The quicker the better is a sensible principle as long as specimens are intact and useable afterwards so you don't repeat the exercise unneccessarily.

Consumer Stilling

The standard consumer means to still insects for preservation is to freeze or boil them. This makes for clean specimens with their body features preserved, although different types of insects do lend themselves to different methods.

Chemical Stilling

Ethyl acetate, used to kill insects, regarded by many as the most satisfactory liquid killing agent.

Entomology has used chemicals to kill insects for study since entomology began. There are a lot of chemicals for insect study that can be bought online, and although the use of some of these is very dangerous, most of them are perfectly ok for the non-specialist to use.

Ethyl acetate is regarded by many as the most satisfactory liquid killing agent and its fumes are less toxic to humans than those of other substances used to kill insects.

Although it usually stuns insects very quickly, it actually kills them slowly and insects should be exposed in a killing jar longer rather than shorter.

Controversial

Stilling insects for macro is controversial, and it's not for everyone. There are occasions and purposes for which it's appropriate, and there are times when other techniques are better. Simple solution - if it's not for you, then don't do it: there are plenty of alternative styles of macro. But posting anonymous comments on a false name on websites for people who do have to do this is a little bit infantile and I don't have time for it.

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