[Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

[Benamy,Elana]

Just a caution on the silicone sealant.  The bugs may find the offgassing acetic acid vapor distasteful, but it’s probably not great for the collection either.  Some materials are more vulnerable than others, but an acidic environment should be discouraged.

Elana Benamy
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University


From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Chupasko, Judy
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 10:44 AM
To: Anderson, Gretchen; Mireia Beas-Moix; NHColl
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

Hello All,
I have been working at the Harvard MCZ for 25 years now, Collection Manager for the past 14 years….anyway, after all of this time maintaining our beetle colony and working in an old historical collection with specimens that date back to the 1830’s and old wooden cabinets almost that old ☺ (all new steel cabinets now), I have learned a few things about carrion beetle pests. While the cigar beetles may eat plant material, what I have noticed about our dermestid colony is that they DO NOT like silicone sealant at all.  We have our colonies in old bathtubs up on cinder blocks (waist high) and I had a carpenter custom make wooden framed screened lids.  We sealed the inside of the lid were it meets the screen with clear silicone sealant (like bathtub caulking) and low and behold, they have never chewed their way through the sealant, even though they can burrow through the wood next to it.  I have a feeling that  they dislike the smell/taste of what smells like acetic acid (vinegar smell) in the sealant (probably used as a solvent and quick-drying agent?).  I guess my point is….if you clean out the cases, remove all drawers, HEPA Vac the inside of the cases and drawers, then use the caulking bead to seal cracks and seams……it may help a lot, especially if you do not have the funds to buy new steel cases.  You can also buy new weather stripping (several types of material) at a Home Depot to reseal around the cabinet drawer.

Additionally, we had one area of our collection that constantly had outbreaks of odd and ham beetles (deer skeletal collection).  We tried freezing each specimen drawer (sealed in a large zip or garbage bag) that was infested several times, adding moth balls to the sealed drawers , etc…nothing worked, the pests always came back.  I finally ended up just putting each skeleton in its own (4mil, white block zip bag from Uline)  Ziploc bag and then labeled it nicely with self-adhesive labels.  This prevented future infestations and if the skeletons were already infested, the beetles could not escape the Ziploc bag and thus finally died out, preventing infestation into other drawers of specimens.  I’m not sure if you can slide the herbarium sheets/specimens into a zip bag…..but it would prevent further infestation.  If you think sealing the specimens in zips may cause humidity problems, you can always add Drierite (spelling? Calcium carbonate) or those little sacs that have absorbent material in them (silicone?).
I hope this helps even a little bit, good luck, Judy

Judith M. Chupasko, Curatorial Associate
Mammalogy Department
Harvard University, Northwest Building
52 Oxford Street, Room B215.30
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138,  USA
# 617-495-2469

jchupasko at oeb.harvard.edu<mailto:jchupasko at oeb.harvard.edu>
http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/Departments/Mammalogy/



From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Anderson, Gretchen
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 10:17 AM
To: Mireia Beas-Moix; NHColl
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Advice for pests in collections

Hi Mireia,
Have you considered thoroughly cleaning out the cabinets and looking at some form of sealant for gaps?  Can you clean under the cabinets? My concern is that pyrethrum will still not be a long term solution.  Have you found the source of the infestation, or is it endemic to the institution? Just a few things to think about.

Gretchen Anderson,  Conservator
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
5800 Baum Blvd,  Pittsburgh, PA 15202
Phone (412)665-2607
Andersong at CarnegieMNH.org<mailto:Andersong at CarnegieMNH.org>
http://www.carnegiemnh.org

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu<mailto: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 9:05 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

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