QUESTION:

I have a customer who had bees invading her house. They were coming in through the outside wall area near her master bath. I told her that I could not do the construction to remove the bee hive since it was inside the wall. She had me treat it and seal the crack from the outside. Approximately three months later she is experiencing an infestation in the master bath of what looks to be cigarette beetles. I inspected the interior of the infested area and could not spot any areas of infestation. Could the cigarette beetles be going after the bee hive in the wall that never got cleaned out? I have never experienced this before. Thank you in advance for your help.

ANSWER:

Ah yes, one of my favorite issues (soap boxes?). Let's start with the problem of what to do following eradication of honeybees that have been nesting in a structure. If the bees have been active there for any length of time it should be assumed that they have constructed a hive, and in this hive they have stored honey and pollen. Once those bees are removed the leftover food stores are still there, and two things are going to happen - the wax cells holding the honey will begin to melt and the honey will flow wherever gravity takes it, and something is going to find that pollen and feed on it. Since you are in Arizona I suspect you have had plenty of hot weather capable of melting the wax hive, so if there is honey in that hive and it has not yet made its appearance in or on the walls, it soon will.

The customer needs to be politely but strongly advised that removing an established honeybee hive is a MUST, and you should always put this recommendation in writing and have the customer sign the form indicating they were TOLD. I have witnessed lawsuits where the honey caused serious messes in a home and the pest control company was sued, with the claim that, golly, they just never told the homeowner this could happen. Even though the PMP did advise the customer of this, without that advice in writing it could not be proven, and the judge sided with the victim (the homeowner). Unfortunately, too many homeowners do not want to face the cost of opening the wall, removing the hive and thoroughly cleaning the area to remove all residues of honey, and sealing it back up and finishing it. They prefer to wait and hope for the best.

So, that's my soap box. On the issue of the beetles, it could well be cigarette or, more likely, drugstore beetles that have discovered this food resource. These beetles will feed on just about anything that is plant-based, so pollen could be a food for them. This may be some other kinds of beetles that are feeding on other things there, such as molds that may be growing on leftover materials or dead larvae and pupae. There also are a couple of moths that feed on the wax, honey, pollen, and even on bee larvae and pupae, and these can be serious pests in active bee hives as well as nuisance pests in leftover hives inside structures. These are the Greater and Lesser wax moths. Given the coincidence that the beetles are now appearing where the bee hive probably was (is) would suggest a connection.

Ideally the work should still be done to open up the wall and remove the hive. If the bee activity was only beginning prior to your eradication then there may not be much of a hive developed, and some other problem could be creating the beetles. But if it was going on for awhile it's likely a large hive is there that needs to be removed. It would be important to get a firm ID on these beetles so that you know exactly what you have, and then can learn more about the habits and possible reasons for these insects to be there. If it turns out NOT to be food infesting beetles you don't want to be the reason this customer spends a lot of money removing a hive that is not there or is not causing the problems.

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