The advice to use flypaper is good--flypaper and flying insect traps are
a non-toxic means to eliminate many flying insects. Make sure that you
do not put the flypaper above any objects of value (in case the sticky
flypaper falls down) or near enough objects or walls that it might stick
to them. Flypaper is very sticky and can ruin the artifacts in the
house. There are a number of flying insect traps on the market that do
not look as ugly as flypaper and have the sticky part inside--you might
look into some of these, too, if the flies are in a public area and this
is a concern, or if they are flying over the collection.
Rather than calling an exterminator, you need to talk to an entomologist
to get the flies identified. With all due respect to exterminators,
many of them do not know much about insect biology, and they are likely
to recommend some fumigant (which may or may not work) without a real
understanding of your particular pest problem, and certainly without any
comprehension of the restrictions in working in an historic house.
Large flies appearing in mid-winter in a cold building could mean you
have a dead animal somewhere in the walls or attic. An entomologist can
identify the fly and tell you why might appear in the house in
mid-winter. Use the flypaper for now to get rid of the annoying flies,
but take the time to find the likely source of them and what kind of
flies they are before you start spraying. Call your nearest state
university or county extension office to find a competent entomologist
who can help.
The ladybugs are a problem with building integrity. They tend to swarm
in the fall and will enter any building that has openings to the
outside. Do you have unscreened windows that are left open? Doors that
don't close? An open chimney? You need to see what you can do to
prevent the ladybugs from entering in the first place, not start
worrying about them once they are already in.
Wasps and yellowjackets are expert at getting into houses. If you can't
seal them out, then you need to find the nests and deal with them there.
One recommended measure is to use a good vacuum cleaner on them and the
nest. This puts the insects inside the vacuum cleaner bag which can
then be disposed of outside the house. You can also use flying insect
traps for wasps.
Applying the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) takes more
time than picking up the phone to call the exterminator, but IPM is
much, much safer for the historic house, for the collections, and for
the staff and visitors. You may have to call an exterminator at some
point, but don't just hand the problem over to an exterminator unless
you can find one of the rare ones who really does practice IPM.
--John
John E. Simmons
Collection Manager, Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research
Center
and
Coordinator, Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Telephone 785-864-4508
FAX 785-864-5335
[log in to unmask]
www.nhm.ku.edu/herpetology/
www.ku.edu/~museumst/
-----Original Message-----
From: Deb Fuller [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2004 8:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Flies
Another historic house question:
We've got flies, big honking ones, mainly in one room upstairs. We have
no idea
why they would still be around at this time of year. The temps have been
hovering around freezing and the heat is off in the house at night. Is
there a
way to get rid of the pesky buggers without killing the wood in the
windows in
the process or poisoning the staff and visitors? I think they might be
in the
wood itself as we've had a problem with yellow jackets but thankfully,
they
weren't around this year. We also get sporadic swarms of ladybugs too,
mainly
in the Fall.
Thanks again in advance!!
Deb
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail
message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should
read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read
"Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:
The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).
If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).
|
