How do you prevent pests from eating away specimen

[pittendrighinsects]

What is the best way to prevent pests from eating away your collection? Mothballs don't seem to work too well for me for some reason.

[beetlehorn]

There are several different ways to control this problem. First of all, you must make sure you don't introduce any dermestids into your collection whenever you add new specimens fresh off the drying board. If you suspect any contamination you can either freeze your specimens, or dip them in acetone. The acetone will eliminate everything right down to the microscopic level. Also you need sealed drawers. Dermestids have a way of finding the tiniest openings to get to your prized stock. Thanks to Bill Garthe, I have started using cedar oil in my drawers. A small application on some kind of medium such as cork or cotton, will do nicely. I have had zero problems with dermestids using this stuff, and best of all it isn't harmful to humans, unlike paradichlorobenzine, which is found in mothballs or moth crystals. I still use moth balls in my stored papered material, but I maintain my prepared collections using cedar oil. That reminds me, it's time for my drawers to get a dose this weekend. Here is one link to several sources. www.nextag.com/cedar%2Boil/stores-html?nxtg=12bb0a28050a-6F60898CE8592E20#sf

[pittendrighinsects]

As for the high quality sealed drawers, I have most of my specimens in them (got them from Bioquip), and tend to keep mothballs in them. I'll look into the cedar oil idea and get some. Thanks for the info.

Quintin Pittendrigh

[colin12303]

We in the UK used to use a product called Vapona.You would take it out of its foil pack,remove the yellow middle from the plastic casing and cut it into small pieces and pin it in your drawers.It would kill anything and everything in the drawer.
It is now banned in the UK but you can still get it in the US under the name of Prozap

[garin33]

Good topic and great suggestions.
Tom, as far as the cedar oil, how often do you need to refresh it. (change the cotton balls, etc)

Thanks,
Garin

[timoinsects]

absolutelly Freezer below 0 degree!

i found thouse that did not put into freezer,more or less got mold after the summer.

[wollastoni]

Is Cedar Oil really safe to human ?

In the past I used paradichlorobenzene but I stopped as it appears to be harmful for us. With my little baby at home now, I am looking for something very safe.

I never had any Dermestid problems in my collection (only sometimes in my papered lep stocks). I use brand new drawers, I guess dermestids have difficulties entering them.
As I have no freezer at home so I cannot freeze my drawers.

But as I have few very rare butterflies in my collection (some Delias species that has been collected less than 10 times in History), I would kill myself if a Dermestid eats them !

beetlehorn < thank you for the link, which cedar oil product do you recommend. There are many on this page.

[saturniidave]

This is what a lot of people are using here now:

www.zensect.net/home.php

I believe it is available all over Europe, I can't say for the rest of the world. But I do know it works and is harmless to us!
I use the 'mothball' type which can be bought in Supermarkets here.
Dave

[saturniidave]

Although the website is all about killing moths it DOES kill beetle larvae too.

[Deleted]

Cedar Oil data for your reference.


www.garthesinsectgradebook.20megsfree.com/custom3.html

www.garthesinsectgradebook.20megsfree.com/photo4.html

btw----every 5 or so years I do give a Vapona treatment to assure that nothing is living (dermstid-wise) in the drawers.

The key is to be sure no pests are in the drawers, for this (Cedar Oil) is only a repellent

I do mine twice a year (Dec. and June). Do realize that the ratio of Cedar Oil to water is precisely suggested. Too thick a mixture will not allow the oil fumes to permeate the drawer air. One fellow I know insists that his using mostly oil is the way to go. It is not, for the water part allows for the thinner oil to dissipate more readily. Lastly, I do (once a year) paint a thin layer along the drawer lip where the lid meets the top. This is very thin and meant to guard/deter the most likely point of entry.

**Note, the cedar smell we humans smell is not the one that does the repelling. The Cedar Oil is made up of 4 oils and the one doing the work is not recognizable to our noses. Don't saturate until you smell cedar as it is normal to only faintly smell the cedar aroma when doing the set-up.

Good luck,

[ckswank]

Has anyone tried these? Found them on Ebay.

www.ebay.com/itm/100-Cedar-Wood-Cedarwood-Chips-Bug-Repellent-Moth-Balls-Protection-Camphor-New-/120875422580?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item1c24bc9374

Charlie