Silverfish

Sandra Smith <sandra_smith [at] nthp__org> writes

>One of our historic sites is suffering from an infestation of
>silverfish in an attic collections storage area.  Since discovering
>it, they've been working hard to clean the area, vacuuming out
>storage boxes and cracks and crevices, rehousing objects, and
>segregating the cleaned materials from those still in the infested
>area.  However, the silverfish are still present.  I know that
>integrated pest management results in a slow change, but we're also
>a bit frustrated that many IPM techniques for silverfish are
>difficult to practice in an historic building. ...

Silverfish are environmental indicators. Their presence  indicates a
suitable environment for them to breed some place in the building.
They are not necessarily living in the storage area but just
harvesting food there. For example they may be  living near some
plumbing where moisture occurs inside the walls or in an areas close
to where water is used. There are some base board sticky tapes that
have been used, also keeping storage containers off the floor may
also help.

Mary-Lou Florian
Conservation Scientist


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:49
                 Distributed: Thursday, April 14, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-18-49-004
                                  ***