I bought these butterflies on ebay and should have realized that they would be preserved somehow. Now my whole apartment smells like a museum! I've got them hanging out in the window with some baking soda and all the fans on in the hopes that they'll air out a bit. Any suggestions as to how to get this smell out fast? I'm not crazy about sleeping/eating/living in a chemical fog. Thanks for your help! Ruth
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This is difficult without knowing what the butterflies were preserved with...anyone?
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Comments (10)
If you're smelling something, they were framed incorrectly. I have some framed insects (and used to work at the Museum of Natural History). They cases should be air-tight.
I'd get rid of these and get new ones.
I'd guess formaldahide, which is horrible for your lungs. Folks who work in labs where it's used wear gas masks.
Open the windows for a few days?
reframe them
I would contact the seller of these butterflies and explain how there is horrible off-gassing. They might offer you a discount (or maybe even a refund) that you could put towards a new set or getting them reframed.
Depending on where you live you could open the frames and pull out the foul-smelling culprit which is probably a mothball and is most certainly NOT formaldehyde (which would ruin the specimens). I have pinned and framed insects before, including butterflies, and have done well with not including anything as a preservative. As long as the frames are resealed with more attention to detail afterward, they should last you quite some time.
Depending on where you live you could open the frames and pull out the foul-smelling culprit which is probably a mothball and is most certainly NOT formaldehyde (which would ruin the specimens). I have pinned and framed insects before, including butterflies, and have done well with not including anything as a preservative.
As long as the frames are resealed with more attention to detail afterward, they should last you quite some time. I;d hate to some beautiful butterflies get thrown out, just to buy some new ones. It won't take much skill to reuse those that you have.
With a mothball-scented blanket I had, the following worked wonders:
1) Fill a bowl with baking soda
2) Put 4-5 drops of peppermint essential oil in the baking soda
3) Put the bowl and the blanket together into a sealed box (like a big rubbermaid) for a week or so
I have NO idea how that would affect butterflies, but it works for other bad-smelling things. The peppermint smell dissipates pretty quickly once everything is out of the box.
I work in a natural history museum, it is more than likely naphthalene, the very active ingredient in mothballs. Its probably the frame that they are in, and you will more than likely not get rid of of smell.
So you either need to live with the smell (and in a small amount like this it really isn't that bad, so long as they are not in a heavily used room) or get them re-framed.
The smell basically is masking the nice tasty snacks you have very neatly placed in pins for LIVE insects.
They probably do have a ball or significant amount of treatment sitting in with them so it won't just be aired away unfortunately....
Don't take the advice of some posters and throw these away!!!! I also bought framed butterflies this past Spring and they stunk up the area they were in for a couple weeks and I was WORRIED. But after awhile, the smell went away. Go figure.