Just noticed one scurrying up the outside of a hive - should I be concerned? They eat insects and bees are insects.
We have lizards here also. They love SHB, extracted larvae and moths. They do not seem to bother the bees. I think they know they will bee stung. They eat their food alive so they get stung from the inside and take the full dose. I like having them on my hives. Even if they were taking an occasional bee it would not bother me.
Jim
Maybe they've learned to discern those fat, tasty - and stingless - drones...!
Last fall when they were kicking the drones out, I saw a lizard get about three drones that were on the ground in front of the hive. It ignored the undertaker bee that was carrying the drones away. One of the drones it ate was one the undertaker bee was taking away. Apparently they do know the difference.
Hey Wombat pretty much every night I see the Asian House Geckos on my hives - they are the really small ones, no adult sized ones, and they stick really close to the entrance. The bees seem to be way too big for them so I'm not sure if they are eating the bees. I have seen one dart forward toward a hive beetle so if they're eating those suckers then I leave them be
yep me too they eat wax moth as well so leave them bee
I read once where a beek was experimenting with fish and bees. He'd pull a wing off and chunk them in the water. He said every time he through a drone off the pier immediately a fish would hit it. The fish never hit a worker bee although it would spin around in circles for minutes.
Here in AZ we have many different species of lizard and the ones I notice most are Skinks and Spiny Fence Lizards near and under hive stands. The y have learned to show up in the early morning for the cast out dead and dying on occasion and what is really cool is Horned Toads hang around also under the hive stands eating ants on and off through the day. Never seem to bother the bees, but they can not get up to the hives....