[Nhcoll-l] dermestid and clothes moth infestation

Wed Jun 11 08:42:26 EDT 2014

For freeze treatment of specimens we use large plastic storage boxes and then just pad the specimens if needed with cotton or fabric.  You can get fairly large flat boxes designed for under-the-bed storage, depending on what size your freezer is and what size your specimens are.  They are not fully sealed but the chances of significant condensation getting inside during the warm-up period seems negligible.  It's a little bit of initial investment but the boxes are good forever.

My understanding is that for freeze treatment the temperature changes need to be quick to be most effective, so when freezing an entire cabinet we place the boxes into the freezer one at a time about an hour apart.  We also try to avoid packing the boxes super tightly so that the contents cool fairly quickly.  We put them in for 1 week, out for 24 hours, and in for another week at -20C.

Best wishes- Jean

Jean L. Woods, Ph.D.                                                    Phone: 302-658-9111 x314
Curator of Birds                                                             Fax: 302-658-2610
Delaware Museum of Natural History                      jwoods at delmnh.org
P.O. Box 3937                                                                www.delmnh.org
(4840 Kennett Pike)
Wilmington, DE  19807

From: nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Carola Haas
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 2:55 PM
To: Bryant, James
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] dermestid and clothes moth infestation

Thanks, James, I have heard pros and cons for freezing vs. heating.  Obviously hate to do either, but needing to control the insects.  To avoid condensation I assume we'd have to individually bag each specimen before putting in the freezer, while we can heat whole drawers full of specimens, so figured that would reduce handling-associated risk of damage.  If available I would appreciate more detailed info on freezing vs. heating (and how to avoid condensation-related damage--we have no clean room in which to let things air out, so they would have to go directly back from freezer into cabinets).  My understanding is that for freezing I should cycle them twice through a -20C freezer with a warmup in between.

Is C02 tenting something readily available from pest control companies?  We are in a fairly rural area and I couldn't find anything about this on a quick websearch.  I saw some sites saying there are acidifying problems?  It seems unlikely we could afford this though, especially if it goes on for weeks . . .

Carola A. Haas
Professor, Wildlife Ecology
Dept. of Fish & Wildlife Conservation
112 Cheatham Hall
MC 0321 Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
cahaas at vt.edu<mailto:cahaas at vt.edu>
540-231-9269
http://www.fishwild.vt.edu/faculty/haas.htm

On Jun 10, 2014, at 2:11 PM, Bryant, James wrote:

For my part, I'd seriously discourage you from using heat as a pest eradication method for specimens, as I understand it accelerates aging and general deterioration. Freezing the specimens would be preferable; large scale CO2 fumigation has been shown effective with entire cabinets and their contents. If the space (and funds) were available, and entire room full of cabinets and contents could be tented and treated with CO2. I would think thorough cleaning of individual cabinets would be effective if the models that you have are well-sealed internally (no open seams at the backs of shelves, compartments, partitions or drawer spaces).

James M. Bryant
Curator of Natural History
Museum Depart., City of Riverside
3580 Mission Inn Avenue
Riverside, CA 92501
TEL: 951-826-5273
FAX: 951-369-4970
jbryant at riversideca.gov<mailto:jbryant at riversideca.gov>

-----Original Message-----
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 Carola Haas
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 6:56 AM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] dermestid and clothes moth infestation

Hello all, I am looking for someone who can give me some advice about cleaning cabinets after a dermestid (varied carpet beetle, Anthrenus verbasci ) and casemaking and webbing clothes moth infestation (Tinea pellionella and Tineola bisselliella). We are in the process of replacing old cabinets whose seals have failed.  As we were moving the bird and mammal specimens into new Lane cabinets, student workers found some insect remains which our entomology department IDed for us as above.  We have temporary access to a walk-in drying oven that will allow us to heat the drawers full of specimens to kill any insects or eggs.  However, we cannot fit an entire Lane cabinet in the oven, so we are wondering about best practices to ensure we are not putting specimens back in a cabinet that is harboring insects.

Does anyone know how likely it is that larvae, eggs, or adults could have spread into these new cabinets in the 1 week or so we've been storing the infested specimens there?  I could get lures and trap for a week and use boric acid or DE on the bottom to hopefully kill anything that might be crawling around.  But if it is likely that eggs could have fallen somewhere into the cabinet that we can't see or something has pupated in a crevice somewhere, obviously that could take three or more weeks before they would be vulnerable to those methods.  We have two clean cabinets we could use to hold the treated specimens, but that's not enough for all the specimens we have to treat, so if we could cycle these cabinets back into action within 3-7 days that would be a huge help!  Just to clarify, the old cabinets with failed seals are being tossed--I am just looking for a way to make sure that two of our new Lane cabinets (into which students moved materials from an infested cabinet bef  ore realizing it was infested) are not now themselves infested. If I am just paranoid and it would be safe to use these cabinets after vaccuuming them out and wiping them down, that would make life so much easier.

Thank you for any advice!
-Carola Haas
cahaas at vt.edu<mailto:cahaas at vt.edu>
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