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<p class="MsoNormal">Nick<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is the colony young or not had a chance to have age classes evenly distributed? After a colony has all age classes (eggs, various larval instars, adults) evenly distributed the colony works at a consistent pace. In my experience, a lack
of greasy bones in the colony means the first instars (smallest larva) have difficulty getting enough to eat. I think of that age larvae as “grease suckers”. That can lead to a missing generation down the line, slowing the colony’s ability to work well. I’ll
put greasy bones of a roast chicken, turkey, pork chop bone, ham bone, etc. in as a “nursery” for those young ones.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Are there locations for pupae to develop? I scatter bits of corrugated cardboard (bigger corrugations) in the colony as places for pupation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is the colony contained and aging? My colony is contained in a plexiglass terrarium. When the level of shed larval skins and dermestid poo builds to a certain point it begins to self-compost and the dermestids become more interested in
finding a way out than doing the work. Then it is time to restart the colony.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Check for mites. Usually indicated by adults with elytra held out of normal position. Can also be indicated by masses of the little beasts looking like dust moving across surfaces.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Check for spiders or other predators impacting the beetle colony.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Check for fungus or mold resulting from too much moisture.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Check for the tissue being too dry (rock hard). Moisten a little until they can chomp it.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Were the bison remains treated in some way prior to being added to the colony? Example, someone spritzing the dried skull with insecticide to prevent or stop an insect infestation before it got to you. I had one idiot do that and it killed
my colony overnight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Were the bison treated by a veterinarian in some way prior to death? I’ve had specimens where the euthanizing drug persisted in tissue and the beetles avoided that tissue.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Had the tissue rotted prior to being dried? Beetles will avoid tissue that had been rotten.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Good luck! <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thomas<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">PS - I’ll be visiting Alberta (Calgary) in a couple of weeks. Would love to pop over to see your operation but won’t have time on this trip.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Thomas E. Labedz (Mr.), Collections Manager<o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Division of Zoology and Division of Botany<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">University of Nebraska State Museum<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">Morrill Hall<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">645 North 14th Street<br>
Lincoln, NE 68588-0338<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">402/472-8366<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"></span><a href="mailto:tlabedz1@unl.edu"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">tlabedz1@unl.edu</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">
</span></span><a href="http://www.museum.unl.edu"><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">www.museum.unl.edu</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"></span></a><span style="mso-bookmark:_Hlk69471918"></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>From:</b> Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu> <b>
On Behalf Of </b>Nick Cairns<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, July 21, 2023 9:39 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] dermestid colony slowing down<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:tomato">Non-NU Email</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning everyone, <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">We're having an issue with our dermestid colony. Despite seemingly good temperature and humidity the colony is failing to process the modest amounts of material we are putting in with them. They've mostly been stripping bison mandibles
for the last few months but seems to be consistently slowing down. We've tried warming them up and subdividing them but it's still slow. Any advice or experience with this would be greatly appreciated. <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Best,<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Nick<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Non-avian curator<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Royal Alberta Museum<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Edmonton Alberta, Canada <o:p></o:p></p>
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