[Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

[Dietrich, Elizabeth]

We had a large red-legged ham beetle outbreak.  The beetles were present in steel cabinets with gaskets which contained greasy bones.  Once the insects had become numerous enough to run out of food, they were able to escape the cabinets by going past the gaskets.  We used painters tape to seal the gaskets and its sticky surface worked to capture escapees.  We also used double stick tape on the floors and preformed inspections to determine how far the insects had spread.  We vacuumed under all cabinets where possible and the aisles in the storage area.  The insects were roaming the entire area looking for food sources, but were only inside mammal cabinets.  After much discussion with staff, conservator, industrial hygienist and pesticide applicators, we used the following procedure to treat the entire area.  The area was closed over a weekend and the treatment applied.

An outside contractor provided a crack and crevice treatment on all three floors of the POD 2 particularly underneath cases where sanitation is not readily feasible.

·         The Contractor used a combination of Tempo SC Ultra insecticide and Nyguard IGR applied at the maximum allowable concentrations in a water base solution to floors beneath all cabinets in Pod 2, cracks and crevices.  (The amount of water applied to surfaces is similar to mopping with a wrung out mop and surfaces quickly dried.  This combo was not applied to surfaces with which humans would come in contact.)
Other methods were used to address the infested specimens and cabinets.  Mammals staff have also revised procedures for bringing new skeletal material from the osteoprep lab into the collection storage area.

I would not recommend pyrethrin because some people are allergic and I believe it comes in an oily base.

You are on the right track with freezing and bagging specimens and cleaning the cabinet.  We have actually used CO2 on some of the cabinets due to the problems with cleaning areas inside the drawer tracks, etc.  This was accomplished by moving the cabinets into our CO2 chamber.


From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Amanda Neill
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 12:26 PM
To: Mireia Beas-Moix; NHColl
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

Hi Mireia,

We use Gentrol in the BRIT Herbarium.  We have had no outbreaks since we started using it a couple of years ago:

http://zoecon.com/familyofproducts.php?family=Gentrol<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://zoecon.com/familyofproducts.php?family%3DGentrol&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=zmbc%2BzvrG7DgW%2B8o263vYdXpfj55bV0%2BpOK7RWxMKvM%3D%0A&s=25afae2cdf65066c64b222df2cc1be38be2124e73a063e3bb4702539993a46f5>
“(S)-Hydroprene, the active ingredient in Gentrol, prevents pest larvae from progressing to the adult stage, either causing sterility of adults or preventing the emergence of insects from the pupal stage.  Since the baby bugs can’t grow up, they die, and since the adults can’t breed, the entire population will die out rapidly.  This chemical has no effect on humans and is safe for use in hospitals, schools, and places where food is prepared.  There is very little odor and what little there is will dissipate quickly.”
It is sprayed lightly on the inside of our cabinet doors every quarter I think, and does not seem to leave any residue.
Amanda

Amanda K. Neill |  Director of the Herbarium (BRIT-SMU-VDB) |  817.546.1842 |  BRIT.org<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://www.brit.org/&k=diZKtJPqj4jWksRIF4bjkw%3D%3D%0A&r=Fg8uxBA2IYsyw9X3MwZMhg%3D%3D%0A&m=zmbc%2BzvrG7DgW%2B8o263vYdXpfj55bV0%2BpOK7RWxMKvM%3D%0A&s=2f2aa511709f3b95d60fcfc99517bd7a210fc2adf7b4ac3ecd8212d1f7fb7189>  | Botanical Research Institute of Texas  | 1700 University Dr., Fort Worth, TX 76107-3400 USA | Think Before You Print


From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Mireia Beas-Moix
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 8:05 AM
To: NHColl
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

Hi all,

We discovered a cigarette beetle pest infestation in one of our herbarium rooms. We bagged the specimens, proceeded with the two-cycle freezing treatment and cleaned the cabinets thoroughly. However, the cabinets in that room are old and do not seal properly.

We follow an integrated pest management program for our collections and avoid the use of chemicals. However, in this case we are considering spraying the cabinets with some pesticide to eliminate any possible beetle remains and avoid the development of a new outbreak.

After some research, it looks like pyrethrum has been used in some collections, although others mention that it did not work at all. What is your advice?

Thank you,

--
Mireia Beas-Moix
Collections Manager
Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration
University of California Santa Barbara
Harder South, Rm 1009
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9615

beas-moix at ccber.ucsb.edu<mailto:beas-moix at ccber.ucsb.edu>
Office 805 893 2401
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20140529/82d3be86/attachment.html