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How to Kill Mites With a Parasite Zapper

Dr. Zachary Huang, associate professor and researcher at Michigan State University, invented the Spartan MiteZapper, a battery-powered heating grid that kills the Varroa mite which has been threatening the honeybee. The honeybee plays an important role in agriculture by providing pollination. The Varroa mite attacks the honey bee by feeding on the combination of blood and fluid inside a bee. Varroa mites invaded the U.S. in 1987, and are able to kill an entire bee colony within one to two years if left untreated. In 1995, Michigan had 92,000 bee colonies, with 30,000 bees in each one. But by 2003 the number of colonies had dropped to 65,000 because of the Varroa mite infestation. So, Huang's invention, the Spartan MiteZapper is a hopeful non-chemical solution that will hopefully keep the mite populations in check and save the honey bee population in the U.S. The Spartan MiteZapper is currently in production.

Things You'll Need

  • Spartan MiteZapper
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Instructions

  1. Using the Spartan MiteZapper

    • 1

      Go to http://www.mitezapper.com/ to see when the Spartan MiteZapper is ready for purchase. It is currently in production. Once you are able to purchase the MiteZapper you can use it to kill Varroa mites in a honeybee hive without harming the honeybees.

    • 2

      To use, you won't need to open the honeybee hive.
      Place the MiteZapper heating element at the foundation of the drone comb (the base where the worker bees building their wax cells).

    • 3

      Hook up the two terminals on the mite zapper to a battery for 1 to 5 minutes. The MiteZapper will begin heating up.

      Regulate the heat according to your needs until the mites are dead: You can set the MiteZapper to turn off when it reaches 44 degrees centigrade, so that only the mites are killed and drone bees are left unharmed. Electricity that goes through the heating element will produce heat and kill both the drone pupae and the mites. The bees will remove dead or dying brood making it ready for the queen honeybee to lay eggs again after 3 -- 5 days.

    • 4

      Repeat this treatment every two weeks to continue to kill off all the Varroa mites.

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