[BCMA] silver fish

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Yassou!! I'm a conservator with a particular interest in pest control ,
and work experience in Crete in the UK now but heading eventually to
Burnaby , first thing is to bag it so the silverfish do not spread . There
are silverfish traps that use borax , available from conservation suppliers
, one has a blue box,silverfish go in and the borax dries them out ..
You have several other options . Do you know if they are grey silverfish
ctenolepisma longicaudatum   in the UK they are being found in museums and
can survive tougher conditions  than our in UK traditional lep. sac.
silverfish , ( i need to learn my Canadian natural history)
silverfish can rough out tough conditions for a while , we are talking
months  we could have the box in a dry bag , with silica gel and make it
below 50% RH for a year , this can run with borax traps

You can freeze it , in a bag if you have a freezer but you need a double
winter , I guess Canadian insects excel at this , they produce an anti
freeze to see them through the first (artificial)winter  then a week later
a  second  winter then don't have enough antifreeze to see them through

You could heat it ,there are companies that do this , but some glues might
melt , the cheap way to do this is wrap in a black plastic bag  seal and
raise from the ground  on a minimal amount of points and leave in the sun
for a day or two as you are in Canada  , the black rises the heat in there
and the insects get sauna ed to death

There is a way to remove to remove the oxygen , You need Ageless from
Mitsuibishi , you need the plastic special bag , metal tape and enough
Ageless , you might recognise from some food products , this sucks the
oxygen out into the iron product and the insects suffocate , leave for a
while as you need to suffocate all the stages of life . You need the
correct Ageless type

This is a brief overview. I can discuss each point further for this and
further projects. I'm a Brit married to a Canuckess in Burnaby and will
join her later in the year , so can't do things at the moment  but we can
talk now.
Paul Harrison MSc FIIC


On Fri, 14 Jun 2024 at 00:41, Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv <
listserv at lists.museum.bc.ca> wrote:

> We have a donated old wooden trunk that has passengers in the way of
> silverfish.
>
> Most of the chemicals advertised worry me as they may damage the fragile
> paper liner.
>
> Any suggestions gratefully accepted
>
> Wendy Smylitopoulos
> Curator
> Greek Heritage Project Museum
> 4648 Elk Lake Drive
> Victoria, BC, V8Z 1M1
> <greekhpm at gmail.com>
> 250 419-3151
> _______________________________________________
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