[Nhcoll-l] Collection Room Active Pest Infestation Treatment

[Anderson, Gretchen]

Hi Julian,

Freezing is the best action for your collections.  However, it will only be the first step.  To begin with, are you aware of the Museum Pest Network (Museumpests.net | A Product of the Integrated Pest Management Working Group<https://museumpests.net/>).  This is a site that was developed to be a one-stop shop for Museum (and zoo) pest management challenges.  There are a lot of resources on it that will help you. In addition, there is a listserv with a lot of IPM specialists where you can get a lot of advice.

MuseumPests.net will have specific instructions for freezing (and other strategies for pest management.   Here are a few initial thoughts.


  1.
Positively identify your pest.  Are you sure it is a clothing moth? Are there dermestids etc.? Have you put out sticky traps? This will help to determine the threat.
  2.
Freeze, using the standards set out in Museum Pest Network
  3.
Clean-  You will have to clean the space - thoroughly clean.
  4.
Continue to monitor to see if you got it all.

This might take a few rounds to get the infestation under control.


Gretchen Anderson

Conservator

Carnegie Museum of Natural History

Andersong at CarnegieMNH.Org



Instructor

Museum Studies LLC

Preventive Conservation, Integrated Pest Management, Museum House Keeping

Museum Study online professional development - Home<https://www.museumstudy.com/>

________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Julian Alexander Birnbach <jbirnbach at sfsu.edu>
Sent: Monday, July 8, 2024 5:42 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: [Nhcoll-l] Collection Room Active Pest Infestation Treatment

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
Hello Colleagues,

I recently started helping my local zoo with their small natural history collection. I quickly found an active and large pest problem in their collection room of mostly cloth moths. The room holds a diverse group of collection types from pelts and study skins to fluid collections. I have already placed some damaged feathers and study skins into a freezer but, I was hoping for any information on how to handle a large infestation. I have some ideas on how to deal with it but I’m working with limited resources and facilities so any help or guidance on best practices to be able to save and protect what’s left would be great.

Thank you for any help,
Julian Birnbach
Ichthyology Collection Manager
San Francisco State University.
jbirnbach at sfsu.edu
julianb at sfzoo.org


Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef>



The information contained in this message and/or attachments is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20240709/1cf437cb/attachment.html>