May 23, 2011 – Stuffed Animals Need Recycling
QUESTION:
I have been battling a furniture beetle infestation in a mount of a sheep. I have used residual spray with an IGR and have also used fumigation strips on the mount. It gets rid of the problem for a bit, but this is becoming an ongoing problem. What do you suggest now?
ANSWER:
It may just continue to be an ongoing battle. I spoke with the manager of a mammal and bird museum at the local university and asked him how they keep pests from feeding on the stuffed specimens. His answer was that he knew of nothing that could be applied to the mounts themselves without disfiguring them in some way, so long term protection of them was not possible. They instead put things on display for a period of time and then remove them and put them back into sealed storage where they can be treated in some manner to kill whatever bugs may have gotten onto them while they were exposed. This might be freezing, heating, or fumigating in some manner. Their other hope is that the displays are sealed well enough to exclude carpet beetles and clothes moths sufficiently that these insects do not quickly find the mounts.
Stuffed trophies hanging on walls in a home or business are a very different matter, as these are part of the decor, and typically cannot be removed periodically and stored for fumigation. However, this truly may be the only recourse. I would be hesitant to spray or dust directly onto the mount itself, as this could make a noticeable change in the appearance that would be unacceptable. Sprays, even with IGR's, would also have a pretty limited residual, so even if you could spray the mount itself it would have to be repeated constantly to keep the protection there. Dusts of inorganic active ingredients (silica gel or diatomaceous earth) would last for many years, but dusting the mount would very likely be out of the question.
One choice in the control program is to keep the home as beetle-free as possible, and by "furniture" beetle I assume you are referring to the Furniture Carpet Beetle. The carpet beetles (genus Anthrenus) are common in the summer and can fly very well, so they will be seeking food resources for their larvae. Since the role of carpet beetles is to reduce (recycle) dead animals they are doing what Nature intended for them to do, and that is to feed on that leftover hair and skin and return it to the soil. Unfortunately, we are not ready for that to happen, so preventing their activity in the home is the goal. You can treat as you have done around the area of the mounts, and this may intercept the adult beetles before they crawl onto the mount. But, as you have said, this is temporary and requires constant reapplication.
You also could place pheromone traps in the home and inspect these on each visit, or sell them to the customer and allow them to check the traps themselves. The moment any carpet beetle adults are captured you then could swing into action with cleaning, localized treating, or removing the mount or sealing it for fumigation with the vapona strips. The pheromone tabs will last for about 3 months, so this too is going to need constant maintenance and replacement, but it may be an important option.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
I have been battling a furniture beetle infestation in a mount of a sheep. I have used residual spray with an IGR and have also used fumigation strips on the mount. It gets rid of the problem for a bit, but this is becoming an ongoing problem. What do you suggest now?
ANSWER:
It may just continue to be an ongoing battle. I spoke with the manager of a mammal and bird museum at the local university and asked him how they keep pests from feeding on the stuffed specimens. His answer was that he knew of nothing that could be applied to the mounts themselves without disfiguring them in some way, so long term protection of them was not possible. They instead put things on display for a period of time and then remove them and put them back into sealed storage where they can be treated in some manner to kill whatever bugs may have gotten onto them while they were exposed. This might be freezing, heating, or fumigating in some manner. Their other hope is that the displays are sealed well enough to exclude carpet beetles and clothes moths sufficiently that these insects do not quickly find the mounts.
Stuffed trophies hanging on walls in a home or business are a very different matter, as these are part of the decor, and typically cannot be removed periodically and stored for fumigation. However, this truly may be the only recourse. I would be hesitant to spray or dust directly onto the mount itself, as this could make a noticeable change in the appearance that would be unacceptable. Sprays, even with IGR's, would also have a pretty limited residual, so even if you could spray the mount itself it would have to be repeated constantly to keep the protection there. Dusts of inorganic active ingredients (silica gel or diatomaceous earth) would last for many years, but dusting the mount would very likely be out of the question.
One choice in the control program is to keep the home as beetle-free as possible, and by "furniture" beetle I assume you are referring to the Furniture Carpet Beetle. The carpet beetles (genus Anthrenus) are common in the summer and can fly very well, so they will be seeking food resources for their larvae. Since the role of carpet beetles is to reduce (recycle) dead animals they are doing what Nature intended for them to do, and that is to feed on that leftover hair and skin and return it to the soil. Unfortunately, we are not ready for that to happen, so preventing their activity in the home is the goal. You can treat as you have done around the area of the mounts, and this may intercept the adult beetles before they crawl onto the mount. But, as you have said, this is temporary and requires constant reapplication.
You also could place pheromone traps in the home and inspect these on each visit, or sell them to the customer and allow them to check the traps themselves. The moment any carpet beetle adults are captured you then could swing into action with cleaning, localized treating, or removing the mount or sealing it for fumigation with the vapona strips. The pheromone tabs will last for about 3 months, so this too is going to need constant maintenance and replacement, but it may be an important option.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
