Hello Everyone, I was just alerted by a staff person that works in a basement area that ants appear to be coming up through the floor somewhere. I checked it out, and although it's not plague proportions, there are enough crawling around where it does seem like something beyond "just a few random ants".
-The concrete floor down there is in pretty good shape- no major cracks, but there are probably a few that pavement ants could fit through. -Nothing new was recently brought into the space that may have been contaminated (that the person knows of). -Although it has been cold here for a while (20's-30's F), this week has really gotten cold (10-15 F). I have heard insects make their way into buildings in the fall to escape dropping temps, but can that type of behavior go even further into the winter where a relatively sudden drop from 30 to 10 might cause insects under a basement slab to start moving around trying to find another place to be? Sorry I don't have pictures yet, the specimens are currently in the freezer. I should have official pictures to confirm species in a few hours. I am 95% sure they are pavement ants. Do pavement ants (assuming they are) present a problem in museum environments aside from indicating a porous building envelope and providing food for other more problematic pests? Does anyone have any tricks for dealing with these types of ants in a museum environment? If anyone has any thoughts, they would be appreciated! Thanks! Todd -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/pestlist. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/CAMxAh%2BjJu9tLDYtRi5HRoeMr6P2t9Ge77iQigm3EaWAC-VhWXQ%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
