Brian,<br>When you say "a bit of a cockroach problem," what do you mean? Do you see the cockroaches daily? Have they been eating things in your collection? Have you done sticky trapping to gauge their density and areas of concentration? Does your museum have an integrated pest management plan?<br>
<br>The pesticides recommended may be useful if you are in a situation where you need to knock back a large population in order to gain control of it, but there are other solutions to your problem. I have attached an MSDS for each product--as you can see, they are not without human health risks. Both chemicals are designed to linger in the environment for long-term control, which is usually considered unacceptable in a museum situation. With all due respect to pest control professionals, their methodology is usually oriented towards home, office, and warehouse control by repeated application of chemicals; few have museum working around scientific collections.<br>
<br>If you are not over-run by cockroaches (overrun meaning that you see cockroaches everyday and find fresh frass each morning) then you might consider instead a program of sticky trapping to determine where the cockroaches refuge and using boric acid powder selectively in those areas. At the same time, you need to figure out why the cockroaches are in your building (it usually indicates you have a humidity problem or a cleanliness problem).<br>
<br>Cockroaches are serious collection pests and people can develop allergies to their frass, but you should exhaust non-chemical means of control before using chemicals, and then try using milder chemicals before moving on to the two recommended to you unless the building has a very large large cockroach problem.<br>
<br>--John<br><br>John E. Simmons<br>Museologica<br>128 E. Burnside Street<br>Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010<br><a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com" target="_blank">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a><br>303-681-5708<br>
<a href="http://www.museologica.com" target="_blank">www.museologica.com</a><br>and<br>Adjunct Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br>University Park, Pennsylvania<br>
and<br>Lecturer in Art<br>Juniata College<br>Huntingdon, Pennsylvania<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 2, 2012 at 4:32 PM, Brian Sidlauskas <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brian.sidlauskas@oregonstate.edu" target="_blank">brian.sidlauskas@oregonstate.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Dear NHCOLL Braintrust,<br>
<br>
We're having a bit of a cockroach problem in the academic building that<br>
houses most of Oregon State's vertebrate collections. The pest control<br>
people want to spray " Tempo SC Ultra" and "Suspend SC" along the<br>
baseboards in rooms that contain fluid collections as well as preserved<br>
skins and skeletal materials. Is there anything that I need to be<br>
worried about before I tell them to go ahead?<br>
<br>
Thanks,<br>
<br>
-- Brian<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
***************************************<br>
<br>
Brian Sidlauskas<br>
Assistant Professor<br>
Department of Fisheries and Wildlife<br>
104 Nash Hall<br>
Oregon State University<br>
Corvallis, OR 97331-3803<br>
<br>
Voice: <a href="tel:541-737-1939" value="+15417371939">541-737-1939</a><br>
Fax: <a href="tel:541-737-3590" value="+15417373590">541-737-3590</a><br>
Email: <a href="mailto:brian.sidlauskas@oregonstate.edu">brian.sidlauskas@oregonstate.edu</a><br>
Web: <a href="http://people.oregonstate.edu/~sidlausb/" target="_blank">http://people.oregonstate.edu/~sidlausb/</a><br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><br><br>