# Book Scorpian.... For Varroa?



## Gumpy (Mar 30, 2016)

Fascinating! 

I killed over 20000 mites in two hives last fall. If I had had some of these guys in there, they might have grown to the size of lobsters! Wonder how they'd be with a little butter? Maybe yet another source of income from the bees!  

So, where does one obtain these bugs? Are there book scorpion ranches that breed them? I can see so many possibilities, but also problems. How do you collect varroa to feed to your breeding populations? Sugar roll an entire hive of bees? 

And, most importantly, do they pose a danger to the beekeeper? 

So many questions!!


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?225863-Varroa-Mites-predator&highlight=psuedoscorpion

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?297593-varroa-and-Pseudoscorpion&highlight=scorpion

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?261636-Scorpion-for-Varroa-control

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?211205-Pseudo-Scorpion

Edit: to remove indication that someone experimented with psuedoscorpions... it was Stratiolaelaps scimitus.
https://brookfieldfarmhoney.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/mites-that-might-eat-mites/


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## I'llbeedan (Mar 31, 2013)

Very interesting I have gone to their sight Which is in German. Here is a translation. 


Attention: This website is under construction and will be expanded gradually. At the moment only general information is available. In the near future, a manual for the working with bookshelves will be available, which explains all questions concerning the biology of the bibs (breeding, fishing places, fishing methods etc.), as well as all questions concerning the integration into existing beehives.

The Varroa mite, the biggest threat to honeybees worldwide
The infestation of the western honeybee with Varroa mitehas become a growing problem in recent decades. Already in 2002, the bee institute Celle estimated in an article that varroatosis is the largest threat to beekeeping worldwide. The Varroa problematics have grown perceptibly for every beekeeper, but the reasons are more complex than at first sight. The bee health (especially through overcrowding) has declined so rapidly that as early as 2008, ten times fewer mites were sufficient to kill a bee population than ten years earlier (Prof. Tautz 2008).

The beekeeper has to fight the varroa-families !?
Already in 1977, when the varroa-amyls first appeared in Europe, organic acids were used to fight the mites. Chemical disintegration seems to be the safest method to free the bees from the parasites. But it is precisely this that leads to Darwin's "Survival of the fittest" law, which means that only the most vital, resistant and strong mites survive this procedure and come to propagation in the following year. In this way, beekeepers grow an ever-growing pest.
If you do not take chemistry, the bees die! - for real...? Anyone who has dealt with the Gotland project and other "live and let die" projects in the open air knows that the western honey bees can actually survive without humans and without beekeepers. There is an adjustment, how exactly - no one knows ... Does the mite match the bees or vice versa? Are Pseudoskorpione hiking again? This has not yet been the case in any of these projects. What is certain, however, is that in our test sticks, where pseudoscorpions have been used, the number of mites has fallen to a bee-tolerable level - without chemicals!

Natural symbionts, a way out of the misery?
Nature developed astounding symbioses in the course of evolution, one of the most famous of these cross-species helper relationships are the cleansing fishes and clearing shrimp in the reefs of this world. These swim into the gills and mouths of large predators and free them from parasites. Similar to this example, there was once a brushing bees of the bees, which had previously been found in every beehive, and had fallen into total oblivion in the last decades, the Bishop's Scorpion.

A forgotten species is beating the bees!
Already 1891 was published an article by Alois Alfons, with the name "the enemy of the bee-louse". In 1951 a research report by Dr. Max Beier, a world-renowned zoologist and pseudoscorpion researcher, followed the name: "The Bishop's Scorpion, a welcome guest of the bee-peoples". There he described that the scorpions, which lived in the hive-sticks, not only succeeded in combating waxy moths but also the bees themselves. Prof. Dr. Peter Weygoldt described in his book "Moos und Book scorpion / 1966" the socialization of bookshelves with honeybees and the hunt of the Book scorpion on wax-mottled larvae mites and other bee-guests. These articles have been the initial inspiration for an extensive investigation of the biceps, over the past 6 years. The aim of this research was to recreate the symbiosis described by Max Beier and Peter Weygoldt, as well as to uncover the reasons for the abolition of this symbiotic system, which had existed for millions of years and which had only ended a few decades ago by the intervention of the beekeeper.

The scorpion - Chelifer cancroides
The scorpion belongs to the group of the spiders (Arachnida) and is completely harmless to humans and to the bees. They have spread worldwide with the help of humans as neozoans and could therefore also be used worldwide in apiculture. The scorpions are fond of eating, among others. Mites, lice, bee-lice, varroa-amphibians, wax-moth larvae and beetle-larvae, so the "beutenkäfer problem" of the USA would be solved. However, in some countries (and also in Germany) the bookbinders are already on the list of warnings for the red list, the highly endangered animal species


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## cervus (May 8, 2016)

Amazing. Biological control should always be in the IPM toolbox, or at the very least, investigated further. I hate spiders, but these scorpions are the heat!


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## whiskers (Aug 28, 2011)

Interesting- I wish the video had a voice-over or always put the caption in the same spot. I'm going to have to look at it again so I can read the captions I missed.
Bill


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

An acquaintance of my son tried them in a big way this past summer. They are not cheap! The fellow was pretty enthusiastic about his wondrous bee populations and honey production, but by end of November had experienced 40% or more loss in that yard from what looked like classic varroa collapse.

It is not a new idea! It must be about time for someone regenerate the wonders of Housel positioning!


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## cervus (May 8, 2016)

You have to admit that the scorpion completing a hat-trick on mites is impressive.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

Very cool.

Do the scorpions groom bees?


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## Nordak (Jun 17, 2016)

I've seen these in my TBHs before. They are not at all uncommon, just overlooked given their size. I would have never known of their existence had my Dad not pointed one out to me when I was a child. I've been kind of fascinated by them since, and thought it was pretty neat seeing a few in my hives. They are solitary, so it's not likely they would have much effect on overall varroa populations. I'd recommend someone reading up on their behavior though. I've seen them hitchhiking on "crane flies" before, not sure the proper name. They basically look like overblown mosquitoes.

Flower Planter-They do not groom bees as far as I know.


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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

The pseudoscorpions are good. I have been in contact with the researcher for quite some time. I also tried to breed those scorpions at home. 

Problems: 


You need many many scorpions in one single hive to get the needed effect on varroa mite population. If I remember right, that was 200 individuals per hive.

Those scorpions have a really low multiplication rate. They breed and multiply very slow. 

You need cracks and crevices where they can hide. The inventor had an inner straw layer or he cutted slits into the hive walls. He also experimented with other hide and breeding places. Without hive beetles maybe this is no problem but I don't think that'll be a good idea where hive beetles are present.

The good news is, the scorpion doesn't mind oxalic acid vaporizing. (The scorpions do get killed by formic acid and other mite treatments.) 

Even if there would be a commercial scorpion breeder, he would have trouble to deliver because of the slow mating and breeding of those pseudoscorpions.


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