is this a disaster?

[letumgo]

Outstanding contribution, Mike. Thank you.

[Mike Connor]

My pleasure. As I am also often asked about it, there is no way to restore materials damaged by moths and carpet beetles. They eat it. This often results in catastrophic damage to feathers etc. The only sensible option with badly damaged capes and similar is to throw them away. In SOME cases you may be able to salvage some stuff, but it can be a lot of work and is generally not worth the trouble involved.

TL
MC

[willowhead]

Thankx Mike.........damn, i guess i've been extremely lucky so far..............i do freeze things on occassion...........although it's been years.......i just don't deal with hides (hair/fur) that much anymore........i probably have more synthetic dubbing than natural.............but i still gotta lot of natural......and feathers...................forget about it. And so far, i've never had an actual infestation in almost 20 years of tyin'. i keep those pest strip (the "Sticky" ones) all over the floor, along the base boards..........i keep the airborn pest killers all over the place (much more heavily when we're away)......actually not near as much as i used to..........and i spray all over the floors 3 or 4 times a year...........plus i keep Enoz in most things that i figure can use it. Undoubtedly i'm slowly poisening myself to some degree or the other.........but i figure i don't have "That" long anyway.........time will tell. i use ventilation as best i can when i remember.....and try not to over-do it with the airborn poisens.
There's only so much time in a day...........and when you gotta stash like mine.....if i was to do everything you said we should do each and every time i bring somethin' new in...........i'd NEVER get any flies tyed........... i've never washed a single cape or saddle for that matter, new or used, bought or borrowed....(actually don't borrow stuff like that ), but you get my drift. Yeah i'm lazy.......at times.....when possible............guess i just hoped the Enoz would do the trick and so far, so good. i DO keep my hands extremely clean at alllllllllllllll times. So not much chance of my fingers goin' in my mouth/ears/eyes/or nose, when they shouldn't. People need to keep their damn houses clean..........keep the damn house clean and you really shouldn't have to many problems.........it's called common sense. It's funny to.....i think livin' in the country is sometimes a cleaner (bugs) situation than city life. Country is full of bugs.....but all you gotta do it seems, is take proper precautions, like spraying all around the house outside, which i do.

[Mike Connor]

Most people are fairly complacent, especially if nothing has ever happened. Over the years I have had one or two cases of infestations in some stuff, despite precautions. Many people don't take any precautions and are just lucky. The larger your collection, ( and the more valuable), the more important it is to take precautions. One other point, people tend to store stuff in drawers etc, and don't look at it for long periods of time. This gives the pests a long time to operate undisturbed once they have managed to ingress. Just looking through your materials now and again is a good control method, it also means you will usually manage to catch and destroy any infestations before they reach catastrophic proportions. Considering the price of many materials now you are also looking at considerable financial loss if your materials are attacked.

TL
MC

[willowhead]

SPOT ON Mike........that's a major point that definately cannot be over-stressed. i try to go through my stuff as often as i remember to do that, just to check things out. i hadn't done it (in a very complete sense) for a couple years, and i just did it very recently........and boy am i glad i did. Didn't find any bug problems, but i sure did find a lotta materials i had forgot exactly where i'd put. And if you can just get things in better order, having the things you use most often more easily at hand and the things you don't, put away in perhaps the more difficult to reach places, plus check for infestation.....at least two birds just been killed with one stone.

[fflutterffly]

All great information and so very helpful. I know that you can't use Permethrin or any other the other family of synthetics, since it bad for fish, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned Pyrethrum. It's natural, from dried Chrysanthemum.

[Mike Connor]

You can use it, but it will not repel insects, it only kills them. It is a broad spectrum insecticide;

http://www.pyrethrum.com/FAQs.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrethrum

although "natural" as opposed to various synthethised chemicals, and having low toxicity for mammals, it is just as dangerous as many other toxins to fish.

QUOTE
On the positive side, they are considered as one of the safest insecticide compounds with a low toxicity to humans and other warm blooded mammals, although some skin irritation and allergic reactions have been associated with repeated handling and use. Unwashed traces of pyrethrum compounds are usually destroyed by exposure to heat, sunlight, and other atmospheric influences. Negatively, pyrethrum is toxic to fish, amphibians and indiscriminate applications can obviously harm beneficial insect organisms such as pollinators and natural predators.
UNQUOTE

From; http://www.organicguide.com/organic/gar ... al-sprays/ but there is plenty of information available on it.

As noted previously, the best method for cleaning and disinfecting fly-dressing materials is hot soapy water.

TL
MC

[fflutterffly]

It's amazes me how wonderful this website is.

[Mike Connor]

The minute traces of Pyrethrum, ( or indeed many other insecticides), left on flies dressed with treated materials is unlikely to have any effect at all on fish, not least because Pyrethrum degrades very quickly on exposure. It also only works for a short period of time because of this rapid degradation. So spraying materials with it will only kill any insects that happen to be on them at the time. It has no long term effects on the sprayed materials, and does not act as a repellant. Napthalene ( Moth-balls), and paradichlorbenzene work as repellants, and will also kill most insects when used in airtight containers.

In order to have any noticeable effect on fish, you would have to spray the water they are living in with fresh spray. If amphibians ingest insects recently killed by spraying they might be affected.

Large quantities introduced into waterways will have severely toxic effects on fish, amphibians, and insects. ( See Sheep-dip).

http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=NE ... 5&ACTION=D

TL
MC

[willowhead]

"SHEEP DIP!"..... ..... ...........i was in our FFA (Future Farmers of America) club, when i was in high school for a couple years.....i raised sheep and showed them at the county fair. We had a couple acres behind the family resturant, and we lived on the same property. i still have my blue ribbons....... ..........naturally, i was the club reporter. ........boy, you don't hear bout sheep dip every day..... what a subject for a fly tyin' site..... We had this teacher, who was our FFA instructor, and he was from Tennesee...........he guarenteed an A to any student who would try and learn his method for castrating lambs. It involves biting the nuts off the little male sheep. He demonstrated it to us many times........you gotta slit the sack, expose the testicles, and then real QUICK grab 'em with your teeth, pull 'em out and spit 'em. Obviously, not even his pet student would try it. At least not in front of all the rest of us he didn't. ............ .........."Takes Me Back".........