[Nhcoll-l] Pest extermination with really big objects

[Gali Beiner]

Dear Adrian,

Have you checked the option of anoxia - in the old facility or the new?
Although this is indeed a difficult situation, creating giant anoxia
"bubbles" could be more feasible in a case where all of the objects need to
move somewhere, but haven't yet entered that place. Anoxia bubbles can be
tailored to size, with temporary racks of wood or metal stationed inside so
that even very large objects can be treated. For us, the problem lay in not
being able to move a collection into a bubble for lack of space and the
size of the collection within an existing storage place. In your case, you
are already planning to move, so could it be possible to move first into a
bubble and only then into the final storage?

Since we can't move all of our collections into anoxia, we had to
fumigate with pyrethroids (because pyrethroids are less toxic to mammals,
with some exceptions (e.g., cats). The trouble with fumigation of large
collections in building spaces lies mainly in these spaces not being 100%
sealed and the collections often being within packs or enclosures or stacks
(herbarium stacks, for example) in various ways, so that fumigation may
help, but may not be 100% effective. Anoxia would be much more effective -
but requires the right kind of setup. Moving collections could actually
provide the circumstances for setting up an intermediary stage of anoxia.

Best,

Gali



On Mon, Sep 8, 2025 at 3:21 PM Adrian Lenninger <Adrian.Lenninger at nrm.se>
wrote:

> Hello!
>
> We at the Swedish Museum of Natural History are moving material, mostly
> bones and mounted mammals, from one external storage facility to another.
> The facility that we are evacuating is riddled with pests, mainly the
> dermestid Trogoderma angustum, so everything has to undergo some sort of
> pest managing procedure before installation at the new place.
>
> Unfortunately, a few bone objects are too big to fit in available freezing
> containers or our own walk-in freezers, and we are struggling to find a way
> to kill of pests that are sure to reside in the objects. The biggest object
> is a sperm whale skull measuring 275 * 590 cm at the base with a height of
> 215 cm.
>
> We have tried to find businesses that might dispose of huge freezers
> without any luck, and we have failed to find clever ways of tilting the
> objects in to the freezing containers.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas here? All thoughts are welcome as we really
> don´t know what to do at this point. If you have worked with fumigation, we
> are interested in what compounds where used and if you were happy with the
> results.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Adrian Lenninger
>
>
>
>
>
> *Adrian Lenninger*
>
> Förste assistent
> ZOO
> Naturhistoriska riksmuseet
> Box 50007 | 104 05 Stockholm
>
>
>
>
>
> [image: Logotyp för Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet]
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-- 
Gali Beiner (ACR)
Conservator, Palaeontology Lab
National Natural History Collections
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Berman Building, Edmond J. Safra campus, Givat Ram
Jerusalem 91904, Israel
Fax. 972-2-6585785
*gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il <gali.beiner at mail.huji.ac.il>*

*https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en <https://nnhc.huji.ac.il/?lang=en>*
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