Pest Management Professional, September 2017
PROBLEM SOLVERS By Tom Silvestrini Contributor Moths at the museum Custom Pest Solutions helps solve a Tineola bisselliella infestation at the Betsy Ross House W hile performing a residential termite inspection for a recently renovated farmhouse I learned that the owner Carol Spacht is an actor with Historic Philadelphia Inc She portrays Betsy Ross at the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia Ross is credited with making the first American flag as we know it with stars and stripes During casual conversation Spacht mentioned that the Betsy Ross House was experiencing a webbing clothes moth issue in the building and around the historical artifacts and that my services could be beneficial to them I thought this would be an interesting project for my company Custom Pest Solutions so I offered her my card and brochure to take to the museum It wasnt until a year later that I received a call from Kim Staub artifacts collections manager for the Betsy Ross House I scheduled an appointment for an inspection and evaluation of their situation During my inspection I was informed that Staub and the museums director Lisa Acker Moulder were privately handling the moth issue up to this point Their control measures were limited to the freezing of mothinfested items inspecting the infested artifacts under magnification and physically removing clusters of moth eggs found by picking them off fabric and upholstery by hand Staub told me that while this process helped greatly in reducing the population of moths the low level lingering issue was problematic Handling witH care To create an effective program I knew I needed to understand how long visitors and actors occupied the building on any given day so Betsy Ross as portrayed by Historic Philadelphia Inc s Jennifer gray stands in the upholstery room with Tom Silvestrini a safe approach for treatment of the webbing clothes moths could be developed Staub had expressed concern that whatever approach was taken it could not affect the integrity of the artifacts and must be safe for employees and guests I consulted with Pest Management Professionals Q A columnist PHOTO CUSTOM PEST SOLUTIONS Continued on Page 124 122 September 2017 Pest Management Professional mypmp net
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