HOW LONG?

[BULLSEYE BILL]

It was asked at the meeting last weekend, and we were all clueless. "How long will the mites that fall onto the bottom tray live?"

This is presuming that there is nothing on the tray underneith the SBB. Do the mites need the heated environment of the hive to survive if not attached to a bee?

What are your observations?

[topbarguy]

Hi Guys,

I counted mites underneath a dozen test hives for 9 years, so got a chance to learn as much about the mites as the bees :> )

Untreated mites can survive on a clean mite tray for about 5 days in the summer. After a day or so, they will quest and find a piece of wax or debris to climb up on. And then behave very much like a tick waiting for a moving object to grab onto.

Temperature definately affects their speed and will extend their lifespan a little. I've removed cold mite trays with out mite movement and found crawling mites after the trays were set in a warm room. I thnk they dry out rather than freeze or starve out.

When it's hot, the mites are very agile and fast, making it almost impossible for a bee to remove a mite by itself. If the mite falls on its back, it can quickly do a snap roll and right itself.

People have reported live mites on dead brood two weeks after they were removed from the hive. So apparently they can get moisture/feed from the dead pupa which extends their life.

Regards
Dennis

[Axtmann]

During the summer a mites lifespan is approx 60 – 70 days before she die, in the colder time of the year a Varroa can live up to a few month. It’s like summer and winter bees and scientists are not sure where it comes from, maybe from the different food. If they feed on summer bees there life is shorter then feeding on winter bees, they are perfect adaptable to the bees.

[Oxankle]

Dennis:
According to a speaker at the NE Ok Beekeepers Assn last week, you comparison of the Varroa mite to a tick is very apt. Our speaker said the mite holds on to the comb with one leg, waving the others like hooks to catch a passing young bee, rejecting older bees.

He said that a newly-introduced proprietary varroa treatment interfered with this, giving all the bees a a common scent so that the mite could not identify a target bee. If this is the case, certain essential oils may have the same effect--this would account for the reports of their effectiveness.
Ox

[This message has been edited by Oxankle (edited October 18, 2004).]