Hi folks In my experience, a micro fine powder such as a fine silica (Agrodust in the UK) is effective so long as it is placed carefully as it is a respiratory irritant. It needs to be puffed like talcum powder – not heaps – but a fine coating around the infected area to desiccate the insects I have also used industrial double sided adhesive tape around crates, boxes and on floors to help act as a barrier and replace it. The silverfish monitors/bait I am experimenting with in the British Museum UK are not proving very effective Hope this helps Adie
Mr Adrian (Adie) Doyle Integrated Pest Management Manager British Museum Property & Facilities Management Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG Tel: 020 7323 8207 Mobile 07813 363292 Also available by Radio channel 8 Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> The British Museum Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG britishmuseum.org<https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishmuseum.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C7a9ff9c7e2464696ab3908d7629aa629%7Ca7f588e4c7964ce2b525daac11557e97%7C0%7C0%7C637086288666858073&sdata=FVkPCmec5C%2BmguWcS52ubg0CqaXxxfIrpeEoFIPj4Z0%3D&reserved=0> The security classification for this message is OFFICIAL Please see our privacy policy<https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.britishmuseum.org%2Fabout_this_site%2Fterms_of_use%2Fprivacy_policy.aspx&data=02%7C01%7C%7C7a9ff9c7e2464696ab3908d7629aa629%7Ca7f588e4c7964ce2b525daac11557e97%7C0%7C0%7C637086288666858073&sdata=yo3WGYN18NLhIEgWwe1fgs0yqoBQJQi3IcLhtPreutc%3D&reserved=0> for more details about how we use your personal data and about your rights or contact the Museum’s Data Protection Officer at [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>, telephone 020 323 8000 From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Alex Roach Sent: 20 March 2020 00:33 To: [email protected] Cc: Stephanie Smith <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [pestlist] Silverfish issue Hi Elizabeth We've had great success with the Dekko silverfish baits, and you could supplement the baits with a perimeter spray of the area and treatment of voids (i.e. gaps around doors, skirting boards) with a suitable dust. The baits are relatively inexpensive, so throw them around the affected area like ninja stars (maybe place them instead). Freezing/removal of cardboard boxes where possible, and storing susceptible items in plastic boxes (silverfish can't climb slippery surfaces). I've also suggested that someone (cons students?) start investigating what starch is the most attractive to silverfish, so that we could make blunder traps more attractive, but in the absence of a suitable lure perhaps sticky traps along wall edges where the silverfish have been sighted to aid monitoring. Hope it all goes well over the next few months. Best wishes Alex Alex Roach Director Modified Atmospheres M: 0414 663 472 [http://modifiedatmospheres.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/MA_original_300px.jpg] ABN: 66 164 577 557 On Fri, 20 Mar 2020 at 10:22, Elizabeth Marsden <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi everyone, I guess even with the current stresses the world does go on and we find ourselves in the midst of a silverfish invasion in one of our museum's collection areas. We brought in a new collection that was in offsite storage and had it frozen at one of our large state institutions for the appropriate time and temperature before having it relocated to one of our more open areas. This is possibly where we helped create the problem. My staff have been very careful at unwrapping only those parts of the collection that are to be processes, catalogued and relocated to proper storage, but what we have found is that the silverfish have moved in regardless, because they are tricky little suckers! Now everything is going through our freezer as well before it goes into storage. Our main concern is that it is a large collection (stored in boxes on a pallet). Unnecessary carboard etc has already been removed. Melbourne has had a lot of rain recently and been unseasonably humid, meaning the little guys that may have been there before have exploded in population. We have upped cleaning and monitoring. We have also asked to our pest contractor, who wasn't very helpful and did not like my idea of perimeter spraying. We are already using proper museum grade traps and silverfish baits. My questions are: * How effective have people found the borax based traps? * Should we push for perimeter spraying? * Has anyone tried diatomaceous earth in a museum setting? I was wondering if it might be worth testing sprinkling food grade earth into the building crevasses.... thoughts? I am particularly interested in diatomaceous earth as it is already used in the grain industry in Australia for grain storage apparently to success. I understand we would need to be careful breathing it in, but I was thinking we could mask up and sprinkle it in for a couple of weeks before vacuuming it out. Has anyone done this? Thanks in advance, Liz Elizabeth Marsden Collections and Archives Manager College of Design & Social Context RMIT University Tel: +61 4 68 618 118 Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [RMIT University] www.rmit.edu.au<http://www.rmit.edu.au/> IMPORTANT NOTE This email and any attachments are confidential and subject to copyright. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by reply email and remove and destroy any copies of this email and any attachments. 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