[Nhcoll-l] Precautions for Dermestid Colony

[Rebecca Newberry (she/her)]

We also keep our dermestids in a room adjacent to the biology lab. The tank
has a ventilated cover with fine mesh screening over the vents.  The room
has a dedicated HVAC unit and all vents and returns are covered in
screening.  We have a chest freezer in the room specifically for treating
specimens as they come out of the tank. We have plenty of traps to monitor
and have had very few escapees over the years.
One plus to having the colony on site is that we have a window to the
galleries so visitors can see into the tank!
Rebecca
------------------------------
*Rebecca Newberry*
*Pronouns: she/her/hers*
*Director of Collections Stewardship*
e: rnewberry at smm.org
o: (651) 265-9841



On Thu, May 2, 2024 at 8:07 AM Thomas Labedz <telabedz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Rachel
> For decades I kept an active dermestid colony for cleaning of vertebrate
> skeletons in the general preparations room across the hall from the main
> research collections at the University of Nebraska State Museum. In nearly
> 40 years of operation the very few dermestid infestations found in the
> collections were traceable not to the colony, but to staff and visitors
> bringing already infected specimens (or more likely corrugated cardboard
> boxes with infected specimens) into the building. However, this record
> required constant vigilance and strict protocols rigorously enforced by
> myself. Upon my retirement earlier this year, not having confidence the
> colony would be monitored as rigorously, I terminated it. Having a colony
> that is close to collections necessitates strong protocols, but can be
> done. Everyone has to be on board with it. If staff or staff time cannot
> adequately monitor a colony I'd recommend moving the colony off site. Let
> me briefly explain how my operation worked.
> The colony was in a double-walled, tightly sealed, custom-built,
> plexiglass "terrarium" that had ventilation ports in the lid with a
> small-mesh screen sandwiched between layers of plex. The box being about
> the size of a 10-gallon aquarium. It required periodic (approx. annual)
> cleaning to remove build-up of dermestid frasse. This cleaning was done
> outside the building. Only clean, dry carcasses were put in the colony. The
> bug box could hold an entire deer head, or dozens of small, mouse-sized
> carcasses in individual screen trays. When this colony was "hot" I could
> easily prepare 40-50 small mammal skulls, or 1-2 dozen small mammal
> skeletons, or a duck-sized skeleton every 24 hours. When the colony was
> "hot", little else got done except skeletal preparation. Baiting out and
> freezing excess dermestids let me control the pace of preparation. Prepared
> skeletal material got a short rinse in mild ammonium hydroxide to kill
> remaining dermestids, another rinse in water, and set to dry. After drying,
> labeling, numbering, skeletons were placed in containers and everything
> frozen for two weeks prior to moving to the collections. Everything was
> inspected by myself. Anything suspect was re-run through the freezers.
> Nothing was allowed out of the prep room without being frozen. Any newly
> arrived unprepared material was frozen, along with its containers.
> Over the years I did not have trouble with dermestids trying to fly from
> the colony except under certain circumstances. Mold or fungal problems in
> the colony resulting from too much wet material being added. If the frasse
> layer in the colony becomes wet and begins to compost, this developing heat
> drives the beetles out. Mite infestations on the beetles appear to cause
> them to try to escape. Larva naturally will crawl and explore looking for
> food. Everytime the lid was opened the perimeter of the lid and box was
> examined for wanderers, but smooth plexiglass is difficult for them to
> climb.
> Side note. an odd source of dermestids found in the collections area were
> traced back to the exterior of our building having an annual kestrel nest.
> Prey items attracted dermestids which then found their way into the
> building.
> Good luck,
> Thomas
>
> Thomas E. Labedz, retired Collections Manager
> Division of Zoology
> University of Nebraska State Museum
>
> On Wed, May 1, 2024 at 9:41 AM Vinsel, Rachel M <rvinsel2 at illinois.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>>
>>
>> Does your institution use a dermestid colony for cleaning specimens?  If
>> so, I’d be interested to hear where they are housed in proximity to your
>> vulnerable collections and what measures you take to prevent escapees from
>> entering the collections.
>>
>>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Rachel Vinsel
>>
>> Illinois Natural History Survey
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nhcoll-l mailing list
>> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
>> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
>> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
>> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
>> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
>> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
>> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Nhcoll-l mailing list
> Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l
>
> _______________________________________________
> NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
> Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
> mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
> natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
> society. See http://www.spnhc.org for membership information.
> Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20240502/26f653f2/attachment.html>