[ocba] Wax Moth (Galleria Mellonella) Infestation!

Tom Wright twright at vicksburg.com
Tue Feb 24 13:26:59 EST 2009


Freezing will certainly do it but you need to freeze the hive bodies, 
too, as they lay eggs in crevices and knots. Alternately, get some 
paradichlorobenzene-not mothballs-they are napthalene that is toxic to 
bees! A cheap source are toilet bowl deodorizers or urinal blocks from 
Walmart . Just be sure that they are 100%paradichlobenzene and not 
naphthalene.. Look at the label. Never mind the assorted flavors. Never 
understood the rationale for that! If you're really frugal, you can lift 
blocks from urinals in public places. Wash thoroughly before using. 
Clean the frames and hive bodies and put in plastic garbage bags for a 
week or so. Air thoroughly before using..

You might be missing a good thing here. Wax moth larvae are excellent 
panfish bait. Tough, so you can often catch a number of fish on a single 
one. Marketed as "Waxies" in much of the country. Easy to raise on old 
combs or cappings in gallon containers such as old pickle jars. Put 
larvae, about two dozen in baby food jars with some cornmeal. Give 
samples to local bait dealers for free distribution. It will not be long 
until their customers want more and you have established a market. 
Unfortunately, the shelf life is limited as they will eventually pupate. 
This will be slowed if dealer refrigerates them. Retail is about two 
cents each.

You can also moisten, roll in table salt and or other seasoning and dry 
roast. Place in small ziplocks, label, and market in convenience stores. 
May need a food processors permit for this. Keep some around the house 
for kid's after school snacks. High in protein and fiber, no cholesterol 
or fat.. This also works for crickets and small grasshoppers. Will send 
URL on this. They are surprisingly expensive and a good adjunct activity 
for beekeepers..

Tom

Jeff Bollinger wrote:
> Hi everyone - we knew that we had a wax moth problem going into the winter 
> back in December, and since our hive was dead and we got busy we never 
> really had a chance to get into our dead hive and take a look.  I finally 
> went in this past weekend and took some pics of the wax moth infestation 
> in one of our beehives:
>
> http://www.theocba.org/gallery2/v/Bollinger/waxmoths/
>
> Question - I've been reading that the only way to be certain the moths (of 
> all stages: egg, larval, etc.) is to freeze your frames and hive 
> bodies/supers in a deep freeze for a long period.
>
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can reclaim this hive and 
> start using it again this Spring?  Would it be worthwhile to clean up all 
> these frames (about 50) and boxes (2 deep and 3 med. supers) or should I 
> just buy some fresh frames with new foundation?  Or barring that, does 
> anyone have a large deep freezer I can occupy briefly?  :)
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff
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