A little over six months ago, my violin case was infested with bow bugs, causing my bows to snap. Anyhow, I moved the case into open sunlight after reading somewhere that it would help rid of them, and kept it leveled off the carpet until now.
My main concern right now is if I'm able to continue using my violin case. It's quite expensive, so I don't really want to just toss it out. I obviously plan on taking up my violin again. And I've also been keeping my violin inside of the case during these months, since there's no other place to put it and the place I'm living in can get pretty overexposed during summers and winters. Leaving my violin in the case wouldn't have damaged it in anyway, would it?
Also, would I have to vacuum the case, or does anyone know if shops provides services for cleaning them?
Thank you plenty ahead of time.
DLashof2013-04-12T06:28:19Z
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If your bow hair seems to be getting brittle and seems to be breaking while you play or a number of hairs are hanging loose when you open your case, then bow bugs have infested your case. If your case has bow bugs, you will need to have the bow rehaired professionally, and you or the luthier will need to clean and disinfect your case. Then you should follow some easy steps to ensure that they don’t come back. Bow bugs, also known as carpet beetles and bow mites, can be members of several species of the Dermestidae family, in the larvae stage. They are fairly common, even in clean homes, and they love to eat bow hair, animal glues and wool. It is important not to store your bow in an unopened case for long periods of time, because bow bugs do best in dark, enclosed places. Getting rid of them 1. Vacuum your case thoroughly, at least twice (or have the violin shop do this). 2. Leave your case open in a well -ventilated, bright area for a day or two. 3. Take your bow to be rehaired professionally. If the hair isn’t yet broken, be sure to tell them about the bugs so they can take steps to protect the other bows and cases. (They won’t think you’re bad for having bow bugs; they’ve seen many before.) Keep them from coming back 1. You can try putting cedar chips or moth balls wrapped in cloth in the case, but nos. 2 and 3 below are most important. Don’t use an insecticide spray; the residue could damage your instrument and bow. 2. Make a practice of periodically leaving your case open in a well-ventilated, bright area. Keep your case open when you practice.
What They Are... They are small and they like to live inside your instrument case. Entomologists call them dermestids, members of the Dermestidae family of beetles and stringed-instrument players know them as bow bugs.
What They Do... Bow bugs love to chew on bow hair, so if you open a case after it has been sitting for a while and find that the bows hairs are loose or randomly broken, you can guess that the bugs have been active. In addition you can sometimes actually see the tiny bugs—or at least their casings. They are about an eighth of an inch long and often brown or reddish brown in color.
As they mature, however, they shed exoskeletons that can be seen inside a case. Occasionally people will come in and complain about a bow rehair that they recently had done, because the hairs are already loose. And often we have to say, ‘It isn’t the rehair; you’ve got bow bugs.’ You can see the evidence of them in all the crevices of the case, however, such situations are rare, because active players don’t generally have the problem. The insects don’t like light and prefer to make their homes in cases that have been stored, not opened, for long periods of time. Sometimes players are embarrassed when they find evidence of a bow bug infestation in an old case, but the problem is not unusual and bow bugs are likely to be hiding even in the cleanest of houses. They’re all around us; they live in carpets, insulation, closets, and under the bed where there are dust bunnies. It’s the larval stage that does the most damage, and they’ll eat whatever is available to them.
What You Can Do... Luckily the insects don’t infest ordinary homes in large quantity, although it doesn’t take many to do damage to your bow. If bow bugs do get inside your case, you can get rid of them by following a few simple but important steps. First, remove the instrument and bow and check them carefully for any trace of the live creatures. Next, if you plan to use and not store the bow, have it rehaired. While the case is empty, vacuum it thoroughly, using a narrow crevice nozzle to get into every nook and cranny. Then leave the case open in strong (though not direct) sunlight for a few days. In most cases, these actions are enough to wipe out the problem, although some people battling severe infestations have been known to try pesticides, such as powders or insect strips. And there is, of course, another way to make sure a case is clean: get a new one. Many players who have salvaged a long-neglected instrument and bow want to buy a better case to store them in anyway. But if the instrument is going to go back into storage, we tell people to clean [the case] out and not to even bother to rehair the bow, then it’s less likely the bugs will go back in there, because there’s nothing there for them to eat. Bugs that eat bow hair are certainly a nuisance, but fortunately they are little more than that.