I vote we just call it a ‘thing-a-ma-jobber.’
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I used one of those puffers that you use on camera lens with a small piece of cotton wool soaked lightly in amyl acetate poked inside it (removing nozzle to do so). I have a tray that I carry when in the field, and the puffer sits in one corner with the nozzle pointing upward, and it doesn’t take long after each use for the vapours to build up again.
a warning though, amyl acetate will melt polystyrene, something I discovered when one of my styrene Petri dish sit-stills went very cloudy and unusable!
When using the methyl acetate, whether to kill, or to knock out, can also be done this way rather than using the methods already stated for this.
You’ll need a sealable vial or container large enough to fit the insect inside of.
Get one (or more depending on the # of and size of the insect(s)) cotton balls, and wet these with the methyl acetate. After adding these to the container(s), you need to get the insect(s) into it, and seal the lid as soon as you can so that they do not escape.
To kill the insect, normally you just leave it in there for 20 to 24 hours if you want to be sure that it is dead. But some insects need to stay in it for longer, or else it may not actually be dead. I found this out with a large scarab that I had caught when visiting a friend out of state, I was about to pin it, and the beetle had disappeared, then I found it crawling around on the floor. I then recaptured it and then tried again, but I just left it there for a few days to be safe. If the methyl acetate-wetted cotton balls stay wet in the sealed container with the(usually beetles last longest) insect, you can actually store it like that for a couple of years, and once you want to use it, you can still manipulate the limbs and wings and everything.
To knock them out, they will only normally need to be in it for an hour or less. But when you take it out in this state to examine it, or to photograph it, it may still move a bit. As in twitchy limbs or antennae, this happens a lot with Tenebrionidae, Carabidae, and other lighter-built beetles which have limbs that do not lock upon death. Do NOT, let the insect (or arthropoda in general) stay in the methyl acetate for more time than needed, this will kill the organism! So, every roughly fifteen to twenty minutes you should check on the insect, and make sure that it still shows signs of life. When you think it has been knocked out, you can take it to wherever you are doing whatever it is that you are doing, but make sure that if you aren’t keeping the insect afterwards, that you it or them recoop. and then let it go where it was found.
If you think this method can be improved efficiently, and safely, please comment/reply with your idea, thanks!
I use the amyl acetate also for killing, but it works best as an oxygen depleter, ie upright container with the amyl acetate cotton ball, heavier than air so displaces the air fairly quickly, but if you seal the container too soon, you actually trap the air inside the container too, making it take considerably longer to work. If you leave the lid sitting on top of the container with a very slight gap, or cover with gauze and rubber band to hold it there, the air displaces more easily, and then after just a couple minutes place the lid more firmly, and expiration is usually achieved in 1-10 mins depending on size and species…
What is the difference between amyl acetate, and methyl acetate?
But you should still wait more than 10 minutes when trying to kill a specimen.
For spiders/insects crawling around the house, I will cover with a clear container, slide a piece of (usually laminated) paper underneath (carefully to avoid injuring the insect), flip the container over and put on a lid. Then refrigerate to calm/slow the catch down. Photograph and release.
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