I almost missed it, too. Had to use the macro lens on my camera to figure out what it was.
I put an 8.5X11 sheet of paper, sprayed with Pam, under the screen for 24 hours. I did not do a sugar shake. Came out with a single varroa mite. Was I supposed to do a sugar shake before? Do I need to do one now?
One mite? I wouldn't worry about that. You can do a sugar shake to see what comes up, but only one dropping is a pretty low threshold.
Also, leave it out over a few days, and then count. The longer you can leave it the more accurate the count will be.
Now you know what one looks like... that you had them was a forgone conclusion...
If that poor lil mite gets lonely I'm sure there are those here who would be glad to donate a friend or two :-D
Scott
Now that I know what they look like--and how hard they are to see--I find there may bee more of 'em. I did the 48 hour test and found 15-20 on a page. Not sure why the 24 hour test wasn't very effective. I think I'll sugar dust to be safe.
It's a weird feeling to have one crawling on my finger. I thought they would be dead after getting stuck to the Pam, but noooooo.
And is it my imagination, or do they jump?
No, they don't jump. Just crawl around, like bed bugs. :-D You got the willys yet?
It's funny the first time you see one move (after seen them stationary on a bee) and you find how fast they are. They are much more mobile than most reports seem to indicate...
Quote from: AllenF on September 25, 2010, 09:25:21 PM
No, they don't jump. Just crawl around, like bed bugs. :-D You got the willys yet?
Oh yeah. Kind of like a tick. You know it can't hurt you unless it's latched on for some hours, but holding one in the hand is hard.
Hey, Allen, how do you know what a BED BUG looks like? :-D I laugh but not too hard. I live in a bed bug hot spot...woke up the other night with a centipede crawling on me, found out they love bed bugs. What is worse I wonder?
Bed bus are all you see on the news now. Creepy.