Wax Moth

Question 1

How do you fumigate comb using ethanoic acid?

Answer 1

1) Find a solid wood floor and place it onto a plastic rubbish bag
2) Create a stack of boxes (can include frames) on top of the floor. Use crown boards and cleaner boards in between.
3)Place cotton Woolf pads to make pads on 2/3 of the boards and saturate each with 1/4 pint.
4) Seal the roof and any gaps in the boxes
5) Leave for a week
6) Dismantle the stack and re stack crossways to air them

Question 2

What are the safety precautions for using ethanoic acid?

Answer 2

• Wear gloves, old clothes and an apron as it will burn the skin
• a breathing mask is required
• have water nearby to wash off any splashes
• do not mount on concrete as it will dissolve

Question 3

How many eggs can a female wax moth lay?

Answer 3

6000

Question 4

Describe the lifecycle of the wax moth?

Answer 4

1) Egg is laid
2) Egg hatches into a larvae
3) Larvae eats wax and old larval skins
4) Cocoons and pupates into adult moth

Question 5

What are the features that aid recognition of the wax moth larvae and avoid confusion with aethina tumida?

Answer 5

The larvae doesn’t have spines down its back and has legs down its entire body

Question 6

Why is brood comb preffered as the wax moth food?

Answer 6

They eat the larval skins and pupal cases which there are none in the super

Question 7

What are the impacts of wax moth?

Answer 7

• they eat comb which is a valuable resource
• cause bald brood
• are a threat to weak colonies

Question 8

What is the Latin name for lesser wax moth?

Answer 8

Achroia grisella

Question 9

What is the Latin for greater wax moth?

Answer 9

Galleria mellonella

Question 10

What is the issue with Greater Wax moth cocoons?

Answer 10

They burrow into the wood of the hive

Question 11

How can you minimise the damage of wax moth?

Answer 11

• keep strong colonies
• remove varroa screens to avoid wax building up
• do not leave drawn comb lying about
• use a dummy board to remove unused frames

Question 12

How could wax moth used to be treated?

Answer 12

• Certain (B401) is a chemical that could be used in the hives. It was a bacteria that produced an endotoxin in the wax moths alkaline stomach.

Question 13

Why is the wax moth beneficial?

Answer 13

It eats the comb of dead colonies and removes this as a disease reservoir

Question 14

How should you store boxes to prevent wax moth?

Answer 14

• boxes should be torched and sterilised beforehand
• combs can be Fronde at -15 celcius for 2 hours
• use a floor to raise boxes off of the ground. Use entrance blocks and cover holes to make it tight. Stack supers and boxes with sheets of newspaper between