molding collection in the tropics

Martha Rosett Lutz lutzrun at avalon.net
Thu Oct 17 11:15:23 EDT 2002


John Shuey wrote:

"Problem two - mold.  Because of the humidity (the station is in a small
clearing in premontane rainforest), mold is hitting the collection pretty
hard.  Two things come to mind.  I could send some desiccant, but they would
have to constantly change and dry it out (this is a really damp place).
And, if could send something that would at least kill the current batch of
mold, that would help a lot - but I have no idea what that something might
be.
Any ideas or alternate solutions???"

Possible alternate solution:
This would not work for a large collection, but for a display . . . how
about a heat lamp?

Mold is notoriously reluctant to colonize in conditions of dry heat.

We had a mold problem in our bathroom for a long time (side effect of
having seven people, all runners, and only one shower--we seemed to have
hot water running constantly in that one small room).  One day I noticed
that in a neat circular area around the ceiling light there was no mold at
all.  The relatively dry heat of the light bulb that was killing the mold
in that one area.

Could the display be put under a lamp such as is used for reptile
terrariums?  Just hot and dry enough to discourage mold locally, but not so
hot as to be a heat hazard on contact (most reptile heat units are
calibrated for about 90-100 F).

If putting the specimens under constant light is a problem (i.e. fading),
there is also a reptile heat unit that does not give off light--just dry
heat.  It is a ceramic unit and gets up to about 95 F.

Would this help???

In Stride,
Martha Rosett Lutz

a.k.a. the old lady sprinter in Iowa



 
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