You can use an ultraviolet light to identify any areas of rodent urine on the objects and in the drawers. Rodent urinate as often as the produce feces. I have bought one of these units from Bioquip in the past.
The urine is like any mammalian urine and should be removed chemically. The feces should be physically removed from the drawers with forceps. Use latex/neoprene gloves, dust mask and eye protection. If you can replace any fouled packing materials, do so. The boxes can be treated with a disinfectant if empty. I have used Lysol aerosol with good results. You can dissolve the concentrate Lysol in alcohol for a quicker drying time. Test it on a drawer for any possible reaction first though. Also look for greasemarks on the sides of the drawers or where the rodents were identified to be moving into the area from. The biggest issue is to make sure your pest company uses traps and not poison to resolve the issue. If poison, you will possibly have a dead rodent in the walls or attic area. Once the smell goes away and they dry out, the carcasses are wonderful reservoirs for dermestid beetles and clothes moths. Even if they use traps, make sure they account for all traps when complete. An old trap will still capture a rodent and if the program is over, you will still have the dead rodent on your hands. Jim Harmon California Pest Management, inc. 626-633-6620 [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: a z To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 4:37 PM Subject: [pestlist] rodents in collection storage We recently discovered evidence of mice (and perhaps small rats) in several boxes in our Museum's Collection Storage area. We have called in bids from various pest companies, so we are fine on that score. My question to you all is - since this is the first time I have encountered this in over 10 years in the Museum biz - how best to treat the contaminated boxes?? So far all we have found are droppings and evidence of packing material (ethefoam and tissue) being shredded and used for nesting. The boxes contain various items - metal, ceramic, some papers.... The papers were not chewed, but I am not sure how best to clean them to make sure no stray fecal matter is left behind. I realize we may just have to get rid of some of the items if they are not pertinent to the Mission of our museum. The ceramic and metal items are such that we can clean with liquid cleaners. So far we are only at the stage of identifing the contaminated boxes and bagging them closed. We have little to no budget for clean up - all $$$ will go to hiring a pest control service Any suggestions....... thanks
