Selecting a strategy to monitor and interdict any pest can be challenging and emotionally burdensome. Curators and preservationists must protect the valuable acquisitions within the museum, but also consider risks to the building, itself, as well as personnel and visitors. Exclusion is the ideal method in theory, and it often does work. But, then you might be left with mice resident within the building. How best to suppress or eliminate their populations? One might use traps (snap, glue, live), rodenticides, and even rely upon predators. Each may offer some benefit (to the museum and holdings), but also may pose concerns.
I'll offer my perspective on the initial question pertaining to glue traps. If the intent is to monitor and interdict insects and other arthropods, then consider a glue trap that is coated with just a thin layer of adhesive, as these are less likely to capture rodents. The glue traps and trays coated with a thicker and/or tackier layer of glue, particularly those labeled as 'rodent and insect traps', are more likely to capture rodents. Glue traps should not lose effectiveness in just days unless they're in an incredibly dusty or wet environment, or if the real estate of glue surface becomes overwhelmed with the bodies of thousands of insects. I've seen countless glue traps that still adhere firmly to my fingers, years (and even more than a decade) after the traps have been deployed. Concerns of animal welfare should, indeed, be considered with any pest management strategy. Be mindful that rodents captured - but not instantly killed - by snap traps may suffer even more so than those that blundered onto glue traps. Live traps would seem more humane, but rodents within will perish in the absence of water and food. Rodenticides and predators each may provide benefits as well as disadvantages. Regarding exclusion materials, steel wool is effective, but albeit for just a year or so until it rusts and transforms to useless dust. Better choices include copper mesh, such as Stuf fit (https://www.copper-mesh.com/coppermesh/stuf-fit-copper-mesh.html), stainless steel fill, such as Xcluder (https://buyxcluder.com/xcluder-rodent-control-fill-fabric-large-diy-kit.html), or hardware cloth with appropriately small openings. Handle these with appropriate gloves to protect skin. These materials will provide a formidable barrier if the material is tightly packed into openings or otherwise secured in place. No kind of metal mesh should be used in close proximity to electrical receptacles or wire molding or chases, as the metal fibers may contact electrical wires exposed by poor installation or gnawing activities by rodents. At best, this might result in a local electrical short circuit that would (hopefully) trigger a response by a fuse, circuit breaker or other protective device. At worst, it could pose risk of fire and electrocution. Mice tend to frequent office areas because that's where they find food, shelter, and other mice. Personnel who work in these areas almost invariably contribute to the pest problem, particularly those who store or consume food, candy and sugary beverages in their workplace. In the absence of food or accessible food wastes, mice have few reasons to terrorize office settings. Eliminate or secure food sources, and the mouse problem there should soon diminish. Educate office workers that their desks and cabinets are far from pest-tight. The few mice that might transgress food-free office areas will more likely be attracted to, and meet their demise, by any kind of attractive trap they encounter. Richard J. Pollack, PhD HARVARD UNIVERSITY Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Senior Environmental Public Health Officer 46 Blackstone St. Cambridge, MA 02139 Office: 617-495-2995 Cell: 617-447-0763 www.ehs.harvard.edu [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> IdentifyUS LLC President & Chief Scientific Officer https://identify.us.com [email protected] ________________________________ From: 'bugman22' via Museumpests <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2020 11:03 AM To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] [pestlist] Glue traps for small rodents Copper wool gauze stuffed in holes is just as effective and doesn't rust. I've seen steel wool rusted to a powder. Tom Parker In a message dated 2/22/2020 10:47:01 AM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: To follow up on Richard's comment about mice squeezing through 1/4" holes: Patching and plugging holes is advised. Also, steel hardware cloth screening with 1/4" grid openings has been found to keep mice out. The hardware cloth can be purchased at most hardware stores, Home Depot, Amazon, etc., and comes in rolls that can be cut to size, and can be secured (with heavy duty staples into wood) to bridge existing gaps and holes. Ann On Feb 21, 2020 7:00 PM, "'Richert, Samantha J' via Museumpests" <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Christina, I agree with you that glue traps for rodents are barbaric. We have a serious rodent population in the temperate rainforest environment of the North Cascades. We use snap traps in places where they can be monitored daily and have also resorted to the bucket/rolling log trap in places that cannot be checked daily. All that said, our best methods are exclusion and staff education. This issue started to be taken seriously in our park only after one of our staff members contracted hantavirus, which was life-threatening for her. The maintenance department engaged in an all-building campaign to find entry holes and plug them with copper mesh. I give an annual training to park staff to talk about food/garbage control. It requires lots of team-building to really address the issue. But the situation is much, much better now that everybody is contributing the control effort. Don't forget that a mouse can squeeze into a 1/4-inch hole. I can send you the one-page summary that I give out with my training if you are interested. ________________________________ From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]> on behalf of christine m.a. marzano <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 21, 2020 2:01 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> <[email protected]> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [pestlist] Glue traps for small rodents Hi all, I’m personally against glue traps for a rodent problem (mice mainly); I feel they’re very cruel, and not totally effective because I find a lot of times mice actually get unstuck (unless they fall over on it and get stuck in the glue over most of their body and not just their feet/tails and then I have to find the sometimes still alive mouse and figure out my plan from there— not my favorite thing, obvi); I also feel they almost immediately lose stickiness and have to be diligently replaced every 1-2 days (sometimes problematic when staff who check are not there all week or just not checking diligently). My actual questions are: Are glue traps the accepted method for catching mice/small rodents in buildings? This is not in a collection area (yet) but in offices of staff both collection and education and can at times have collection items in offices. Does anyone have specific wording (perhaps in their IPM plan) that says why/why not use glue traps for catching mice; this would against a facilities dept that doesn’t really want to hear other methods on this unless there is clear museum IPM precedence not in favor of glue traps. I’m in favor of classic snap traps, multi-kill traps, even the ole bucket with rolling log/walk the plank traps (shoutout to Shawn Woods on youtube who tests and reviews mousetraps). Thanks for any thoughts or advice, ~christine christine m.a. marzano www.christinemamarzano.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.christinemamarzano.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=sD176x9xaxO-cPZrFmvzuN1YSq-M4Zn7sUd3jl-B7i4&e=> (631)312.6559 Pronouns: She/Her (what’s this? https://www.mypronouns.org/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.mypronouns.org_&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=Vuz-wtQXl4Q6zj3KEXCHwfeQsEO9Xcu8HMwWnOyPtGE&e=>) Why I include pronouns in my email signature<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.aclunc.org_blog_what-2Ds-2Dpronoun&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=uyLfCl1XWoDcNZQXt26fP0VfCI3GAzfbEREsdrJP9d4&e=> sent from my iPhone -- 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]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/4F0919AA-CC85-4792-83BA-38D91049DDD0%40gmail.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_msgid_pestlist_4F0919AA-2DCC85-2D4792-2D83BA-2D38D91049DDD0-2540gmail.com-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dfooter&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=0OYvECW7VcLBp_gPMXZdSy0Vjbg0TZDkItjXiAn2JSQ&e=>. -- 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]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/BY5PR09MB42969D2AADFC906DC1DA8FE8E6120%40BY5PR09MB4296.namprd09.prod.outlook.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_msgid_pestlist_BY5PR09MB42969D2AADFC906DC1DA8FE8E6120-2540BY5PR09MB4296.namprd09.prod.outlook.com-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dfooter&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=0PDwoeA4U4XHWIc74OozyDOCxsX5a62QhBn5JcNBqyw&e=>. -- 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]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/91b428f1-14c6-4a8d-a611-b55ede3d7fad%40email.android.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_msgid_pestlist_91b428f1-2D14c6-2D4a8d-2Da611-2Db55ede3d7fad-2540email.android.com-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dfooter&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=27HTzq7FcISzymDBq1Z2MDPujnQCdOrus_w-sje3YBU&e=>. -- 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]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/43625701.6698017.1582387394590%40mail.yahoo.com<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__groups.google.com_d_msgid_pestlist_43625701.6698017.1582387394590-2540mail.yahoo.com-3Futm-5Fmedium-3Demail-26utm-5Fsource-3Dfooter&d=DwMFaQ&c=WO-RGvefibhHBZq3fL85hQ&r=GO7C3XN3WgFy2IP-bFBbnUs_CYntqj57Dprtl40-_KE&m=2jAdkWl4QM35YYkw7ztwPhMHEDpIlGCW_MFEWHyRaVk&s=I6S2_EST8FV-qW6Yum4H20yKPDjNr-jlRFzI77QKpDA&e=>. -- 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pestlist/MN2PR07MB6989380CEA6EF893C694AF6394EE0%40MN2PR07MB6989.namprd07.prod.outlook.com.
