Recently
I’ve had to deal with an invasion of pests in my museum. No, I’m not talking about any of our
visitors! I got a call from one of my
coworkers about seeing some ants on her desk.
While the office areas do not house any of the museum’s artifacts, pests
in one area of the museum can quickly spread, so I’m concerned whenever there
are insects spotted anywhere in the building.
I checked out the desk and found just a few tiny black ants scurrying
around in the drawers. I also spotted
some food items which weren’t sealed. I
got rid of the ants and the food, told my coworker to let me know if more ants
appeared, and reminded the staff to keep their snacks in sealed containers. I hoped it was simply a matter of a few ants
blundering into the area.
When I
checked the desk the next day, there were a few more ants crawling on it. My coworker had also discovered that they
appeared to be coming out of her computer keyboard (yuck!). Most likely there were some crumbs inside the
keyboard which were serving as a food source for them. The heat produced by the computer probably
also attracted them there. Whatever the
reason for their invasion, it was clearly time to call the exterminator!
The
exterminator sprayed the windows and around the desk area. I was told that the ant sightings should
abate within a few days. However, I was
not pleased to observe that over the next few days there were even more
ants. I was becoming concerned about
them spreading to the rest of the museum!
So,
though this certainly isn’t the most glamorous part of my job, it is an
important part of protecting the museum building and the artifacts. I see it as one of the ways I earn my
Guardian of the Artifacts title!
Photos
courtesy of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.
Good ole Borax and some kind of syrup is all you need
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