[Nhcoll-l] dermestid colony slowing down

[Scott Swann]

I have had,I want to say two problems with dermestids but that is
simplistic. The first is that someone introduced native dermestids to the
colony which are not nearly as proactive flesh eating wise but are good at
breeding. The solution was to let them die out and then start again with a
lock on the door. I have also experienced an inbreeding problem if it is a
long lived colony. the third problem was not well prepared specimens, my
colleague introduced specimens that were too moist and it killed the
colony. Let me know, curious

Scott Swann
Dorr Museum

On Fri, Jul 21, 2023 at 10:39 AM Nick Cairns <nacairns at gmail.com> wrote:

> Morning everyone,
> 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.
> Best,
> Nick
>
> Non-avian curator
> Royal Alberta Museum
> Edmonton Alberta, Canada
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