Joel, I am sorry for the late responses but I have been out of the office all week. I do not work in the exhibit hall so it is hard for me to tell if the wings are from termites or from ants. I work in another building where all the collections are housed. I do not check any of their traps. I know they only have an exterminator that comes by about once a month, far as traps they do not have any that I know about. I not sure what he does but when checks the exhibit hall. In the building that I work in the exterminator sprays the outside of the building and the area where the offices area, he is not allowed to spray in the lab, and in the collection areas. I always inform him about pest I fine that might be a threat. I am not sure if any of the exhibit hall workers have found anything but wings. The area is away from a windows, and low light. The exhibit hall Manger said that he thought that was where the larger number of termites were at before they fumigated. That they had to take down part of a large display that is on one side where they are seeing the wings. The Manger thanks it could be from an old infestation but I do not see how when they vacuum and clean few hours later they see dust and wings again. I am not sure what type of termites they fumigated for, and I am not sure what they used. I do know that they had to keep the exhibit hall closed for 48 hours when they did fumigated, the exterminator told me that there was all kinds of pest that were killed not just the termites. I am not sure how fast they cleaned up all the other pest that were killed. The concern with opening the one display case up was that the beetles were alive and may fly out into the other areas, but if you do not open it up than the beetles may eat all the items that are in the case. The other display area there is no way to open it up that I could see, guess a drill and borescope. I am guessing this can get into cost. I am also not sure how clean they are getting everything. I am currently the only one campus that knows about museum pest. All I know I learned when I started in 2017.
Thanks, for the help Adrienne Dastgir From: pestlist@googlegroups.com [mailto:pestlist@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Voron, Joel Sent: Monday, February 18, 2019 5:03 PM To: pestlist@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [pestlist] Carpet beetle large area and termites The wings may be from ants and not termites? Are the wings being discovered in a readily observed space or could they be from an old infestation and just being uncovered now? If near a window the wings are probably fresh. I can't imagine termites having enough meat on them for carpet beetles to take hold. I was under the impression that they would desiccate rather quickly. What type of fumigant has been used and for what type of termite? If your cases with the carpet beetle problems are built ins and sealed you need to see if someone can get a kick plate off or find a place where you can drill and send a borascope in to have a look under them. There is a possibility that there is enough old dust hair and skin under there cases or the floor for that matter where the carpet beetles have set up shop. May be two completely separate issues going on as a coincidence.JTV Joel Voron Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Conservation Dept. Integrated Pest Management Office 757-220-7080<tel:757-220-7080> Cell 757-634-1175<tel:757-634-1175> E-Mail jvo...@cwf.org<mailto:jvo...@cwf.org> [X] On Feb 18, 2019, at 4:25 PM, Alex Roach <alexro...@modifiedatmospheres.com.au<mailto:alexro...@modifiedatmospheres.com.au>> wrote: Hi Adrienne You are right that the insect bodies are left in treated items, and they can be a food source/attractant for dermestids. The wings may be alate wings. Reproductive termites have two pairs of wings that they shed following colonising flights. Do you know what sort of termites were in the building? What treatment was carried out? Best wishes Alex Alex Roach Director Modified Atmospheres On Mon, 18 Feb 2019 at 09:52, Adrienne Dastgir <adrienne.dast...@chickasaw.net<mailto:adrienne.dast...@chickasaw.net>> wrote: Hi All I have questions about carpet beetle. I know they are very damaging to collection they can destroy a textile collect in a few days if there is an infestation. They can go unnoticed for long time because of their sizes. Here is the issue about six month ago our main exhibit hall had termites. Which has been an ongoing battle for over year now. I am not 100% sure because of how many times fumigated has happened before I started here. I know that they have fumigated at least three times since 2017. The last time being about six months ago. Which the workers in the exhibit hall thought that there were no more termites. I thank the Manger said that his staff began to fine wings about two-three months ago, and what they thought was termites. The pest guy kept telling him that they were nothing that no way there could still be termites and that pest that they were fining would not harm the items on display. I was asked by my Manger to go take a look at what they were fining to see if it was more termites. However, it was not termites it was larvae of an Dermistidae (Carpet beetle). In addition to this they are still finding termite wings. Which makes me think that they may still have termites. I had saw an email from pest list when someone had asked if dead pest attracts dermestid beetles, the answer was no but they do not help. The termites were of course in the walls and under display areas that were made of wood, and other areas. These areas they were unable to remove any dead termites, so any termites that were dead that were in the walls, under displays that were unable to move were left. An exhibit hall worker found three alive dermestid beetle larvae this morning and this afternoon they found five adult beetles all dead. Here are my questions: 1. Could the beetles be feeding on the dead termites and causing the wings to be present? 2. Is it possible that the termites are still there and that the fumigation did not work and the beetles are still feeding on some of the dead termites? 3. If the dermestid beetles are in the wall feeding on something how are we going to eliminate them? The area where the beetles are being found at the display does not move it is attached to the wall and it is wood with textiles display on top. It only has a piece of lather and feather that can be removed and CO2 or frozen. I real do not see what they could be fed on. Other than something behind the display and wall. However, there are other areas in the exhibit hall that are textiles that are at risk, large animal skins, cases of feather, leather clothes, and fur. 4. Has anyone fumigate and been successful in killing them? If you do fumigate does it leave dead bodies in walls which could cause an another infestation. I have found dermestid in other areas on our campus. In the Archives building the area was much smaller and easier to clean. We were able to freeze and CO2 everything. Any suggestions would be help. Thanks, Adrienne Dastgir Curator of Collections Chickasaw Culture Center Sulphur Oklahoma -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Museumpests" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:pestlist+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To post to this group, send email to pestlist@googlegroups.com<mailto:pestlist@googlegroups.com>. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. 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