Hi everyone , I saw these online and recently purchased some to try. How ever I was unsure what I should use in the middle of them to try and lure the SHB into them. Does any body have any recipes or substances they know of to draw them in? (I didn’t want to use pollen)
The traps here - I’m in the “Sentinel area” - they use provide an attractant (often apple cider vinegar) and a killing agent (mineral oil) in a trap to attract and kill adult small hive beetles
You could do worse than look at what the manufacturer says here
1 Like
I found this recipe. Although it is a wax moth lure, apparently it is effective for SHB too:
Wax moth lure as used by Mel and Sonny. Take 1/2 cup Apple Cider vinegar,1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 ripe banana peel, cut up finely, combined and allowed to ferment before adding small quantities to the trap.
The rest of the article is here:
http://www.beeworks.com/informationcentre/small_hive_beetle.html
Dawn
Won’t the Banana annoy the bees?
I haven’t had to use this bait, so I can’t tell you for sure, but they are using the “peel” (skin) only and they ferment it before putting it in the hive, so maybe some of the scent is altered.
the gas that is banana’y is in the skin - it helps to ripen the banana’s
I volunteer you to try it for us! 
Mel and Sonny report it works, but I think we need a British observation on recipe safety. 
But I’m Australian??
I meant British bees, sweetie… 
1 Like