Anyone seen these before??

yak.h'cir · 26 Oct 2006 at 03:18

I was photographing a bee earlier and have just noticed something whilst processing the pictures. Anyone seen them before/know what they are??? Only cos the bee was in my room at the time!!!!

I'm feeling soo itchy now and dont want to goto bed.

BUFF · 26 Oct 2006 at 03:47

looks like lice of some kind.
it's not uncommon for insects to have parasites.

Colin_da_Killer · 26 Oct 2006 at 07:11

Looks like a mite of some kind.

Mohain · 26 Oct 2006 at 09:26

Looks like head lice to me. The only cure is to wet shave all your hair off. Remember to post photos

yak.h'cir · 26 Oct 2006 at 09:39

Not funny Mohain! Must have washed my hair at least 3 times last night as it is!

I'll never look at a bee in the same way again

danza · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:11

Don't worry, they're totally harmless. Most large insects carry these. I used to keep all sorts of exotic cockroaches/beetles/stick insects, and most of them had them.

All they do is eat any debris that clings to the insect, thus keeping them clean. AFAIK they can't live on humans.

yak.h'cir · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:16

Awesome.

Still looks like they're trying to burrow into the bees head though :eek:

nolimit · 26 Oct 2006 at 11:26

just looking at the picture makes my hair itchy.......need to wash!!

Zip · 26 Oct 2006 at 12:14

Bees can kill me

GSDog · 26 Oct 2006 at 13:00

They look a bit like ticks to me, but I can't think a tick would feed on a Bee.
If they are ticks, they can be nasty little suckers and can carry disease.

Colin_da_Killer · 26 Oct 2006 at 18:28

Zip said:
Bees can kill me

Me too.

ElDude · 26 Oct 2006 at 21:48

You must be TINY :O

shimy182 · 26 Oct 2006 at 22:09

yikes... i dont want to go to sleep anymore either

Joe T · 27 Oct 2006 at 09:59

Ive spoken to my mother (who is a beekeeper) and she says they are just mites. I was worried they might be varroa, which are really not good for bees!

Colin_da_Killer · 27 Oct 2006 at 11:47

Joe T said:
Ive spoken to my mother (who is a beekeeper) and she says they are just mites. I was worried they might be varroa, which are really not good for bees!

I'm right, what do I win?

Helium_Junkie · 27 Oct 2006 at 12:05

ElDude said:
You must be TINY :O

/chuckles uncontrollably

themask70 · 27 Oct 2006 at 19:38

Yeh, looks like lice