[Nhcoll-l] Outdoor Dermestid Beetle Colony

[Barry OConnor]

Be sure whatever you construct is really bug proof. Some years ago during a building renovation, we moved our colony to the roof of the museum. Despite precautions, “wild” dermestids were able to invade and brought in a mite that almost wiped the colony out.
- Barry

Sent from my iPhone

Barry M. OConnor
Emeritus Curator & Professor
University of Michigan
Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Museum of Zoology
Research Museums Center
3600 Varsity Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-2888
Phone: 734-763-4354
E-mail: bmoc at umich.edu

> On Jun 18, 2020, at 11:17 AM, Dakota Rowsey <drowsey at asu.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hello:
> 
> Arizona State University Biocollections is looking into buying/building an outdoor dermestid beetle enclosure. Does anyone have any experience in keeping an active outdoor colony? I am interested in finding ways to keeping the area at an optimal temperature and humidity (the structure itself would be under a shade canopy, but I still worry about diel temperature fluctuations), as well as keeping the area dark and keeping out other unwanted pests.
> 
> Thanks for any help!
> Dakota Rowsey
> 
> -- 
> Dakota M. Rowsey, Ph.D. (he/his)
> Currently: Brown Postdoctoral Fellow, Field Museum of Natural History
> Soon: Vertebrate Collections Manager, Arizona State University Biocollections
> 
> 
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