Spiders

Spiders are beneficial inhabitants of any garden, ecosystem, or home because of their important contributions to biological control of pest insects. Spiders are considered to be the most important terrestrial predators, eating tons of pest insects or other small arthropods every year.  Spiders are generalist predators that are willing to eat almost any insect they can catch.

They can rapidly colonize a suitable habitat and they will eat enormous numbers of insects.  Since many spiders over winter as adults, they can reduce prey numbers early in the season before other biocontrol agents are active.

Garden spiders include the following: meshweb spiders, crab spiders, running crab spiders, wolf spiders, nursery web spiders, comb-footed spiders, stretch spiders, orb-web spiders, sheet web spiders, dwarf spiders, sac spiders, and buzzing spiders. Most all of garden spiders are orb weaving, which basically means that they are known for their orb looking webs.

There are many different types of garden spiders, as listed above, however two common species are the European garden spider and the Argiope garden spider. The European garden spider is recognized by its large tan and gray body with mottled tan or brown markings across the back, which is also highlighted by five or more large white dots forming a cross like shape. The Argiope, shown at right, usually is yellow or black with two rows of three white spots along its back. The Argiope also spins their web with a very unusual zigzag pattern in the center of it.

One of the most abundant spiders in the U.S. is the Wolf Spider, of the genus Lycosa. Its body (excluding legs) is about 0.6 of an inch long. In the drawing at the right the red circles are the eight eyes,  the pink ovals are the jaws (known technically as chelicerae) and at the very bottom of the two jaws you can barely make out two sharp, horizontal items, and these are the fangs.

Spiders are arachnids, not insects. They have two body segments instead of three, eight legs instead of six, and no antennae or wings. Unlike insects, spiders possess special body parts, called spinnerets, that allow them to spin webs.

All spiders are predators. They immobilize their prey with venom injected through specially designed fangs. The vast majority of the roughly 3,000 species that inhabit North America, however, are completely harmless to people. In fact, most species lack mouthparts that can penetrate human skin. Of those that can, there are only three that pose any threat to people: the black widow, the brown recluse, and the hobo.

The stereotypical spider spins a web in the vegetation and waits patiently for an insect to stumble or fly into the sticky threads and become trapped. Many of the most commonly seen spiders use this method. Other species don’t use webs at all to capture their prey. Wolf spiders, for example, stalk and actively hunt for their food on the ground. Jumping spiders also stalk their prey and, as their name suggests, capture food with impressive pounces many times their body length. Other spiders, such as crab spiders, lie waiting in camouflage for an unsuspecting insect to come within striking range. Some spider species even inhabit tunnels or funnel-shaped webs from which they snatch prey.

One thing is true of all spiders: They’re phenomenal predators of a vast array of insect pests. Collectively, spiders consume everything from aphids and beetles to moths and mosquitoes. Anyone with a garden—indeed, anyone who spends any time outdoors—should welcome spiders. Use these tactics to attract spiders to your garden:

• Eliminate pesticides. Chemical sprays temporarily eliminate pests, but many also kill pest predators such as spiders. It’s much more sustainable and healthy to practice organic gardening and rely on natural pest predators.
• Provide a diversity of plants. They attract many more spiders than a lawn alone.
• Build a brush pile or rock wall.  They make excellent hunting grounds for spiders. If you live in an area with venomous spiders, wear gloves when moving brush or rocks, and you’ll be safe from accidental bites.
• Leave part of your yard a little overgrown. Spiders over winter as adults inside or under dead vegetation, or as egg cases. They help ensure a healthy spider population next spring, ready to gobble unsuspecting garden pests.

It is very true that most spiders cannot even penetrate through our skin, even though most mystery bites are wrongfully blamed on spiders.

Spiders eat about 80% of bugs eaten by predators, more than ladybugs or mantis and they are indiscriminate feeders as long as the size is right, so can help you in many more places than other invertebrate predators!

To give you a sense of proportion, out of the 38,000 spider species known so far, more than 3,500 make their home in the United States. Of these 3,500 there are only four spiders living in the U.S. that carry venom in large enough doses to hurt a human being. These would be (clockwise below) the Black Widow, Brown Recluse, Yellow Sac spider, and Hobo..

These spiders are the ones you do want to watch out for as their venoms do amazing damage in some cases. But, that's a whole different conversation. The vast majority of spiders don't even have the mandible power to bite through human skin.

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Herptile Haven

No well-respected 'natural' home garden should be without a Herptile Haven. Don’t know what that is? Herptile is the term classifying both reptiles and amphibians which includes salamanders, toads, snakes, turtles, frogs, and lizards and they are some of the most important pest predators. Frogs are bug and critter devourers and will feast on many of the your problematic garden pests. Mosquito larvae, sowbugs and caterpillars are all common delicacies for the garden frog. They also love flies, slugs, beetles, voles, mice, and moles.

Amphibians and reptiles are also prey for other species of wildlife you might want to attract. Red-shouldered hawks, roadrunners, and herons are just a few of the birds that eagerly gobble frogs, lizards, and snakes. Herptiles are food for all sorts of mammals, too, including opossums, javelina, and foxes. The more varied your garden wildlife the more natural your garden is.

Herptiles act as the ‘canary in the coal mine’, they absorb gases and liquids through their sensitive skin, making them very susceptible to toxins. They cannot survive in polluted environments, so if you find them in your garden, you know it’s healthy for your family and pets, too.

Here’s how to attract these beneficial creatures to your garden:

Provide cover. To attract tree frogs and lizards, make sure you have plenty of dense vegetation—this provides hiding places and hunting grounds. Brush piles also offer hiding spaces for frogs, lizards, and turtles.

Provide warm rocks. To attract reptiles, build a rock wall or rock pile. In addition to providing hiding places for many types of benefical wildlife, rocks serve another important purpose for reptiles. Reptiles need to bask in the sun to absorb heat and metabolize their food, so they love to “lie out” on sun-warmed rocks.

Don’t use pesticides. Pesticides rob herptiles of their prey and often kill them outright. Amphibians, in particular, are very susceptible to pesticide poisoning.

Give them a drink. Provided that frogs can have access to pools of water, whether it be in a bucket or an unused bird bath, they will find your garden hospitable. In fact, the more moist your garden is the more chance frogs will start to inhabit your yard.

Build them a place to lay eggs. While you can’t build a house for herptiles to raise their young like you can for birds, you can create a pond where amphibians can lay eggs. Keep an area of sandy soil in a sunny spot for turtles, snakes, and lizards to build nests. Baby herptiles receive no parental care or protection, so dense vegetation and brush will give them places to hide from predators.

Reptile or Amphibian? 

People often confuse reptiles and amphibians. Both groups are ectothermic, which means they depend on the outside environment for temperature regulation. In places with cold winters, they hibernate at the bottom of ponds or underground. They often share the same habitat. But that’s where the similarities end. 

Reptiles (snakes, lizards, and turtles) are covered in dry, scaly skin. Most species lay eggs with leathery shells in nests excavated in the ground. Amphibians (frogs, toads, and salamanders) generally have moist, smooth skin. They lay their eggs underwater or in wet environments on land, such as under rotting logs. 

Here are some tips to identify the critters that show up in your garden: 

Snake or Lizard? Legless glass lizards are often confused for snakes. Here’s how to tell them apart: Lizards have eyelids and external ear openings, unlike snakes. All snakes are carnivores, while some lizards eat plants.

Frog or Toad? Toads are really just one type of frog. Toads tend to live in dryer environments than other frogs and have dryer, bumpier skin. They walk or hop on short legs, whereas frogs have long legs for swimming and leaping. Frogs have tiny teeth; toads don’t.

Lizard or Salamander? Lizards are reptiles with dry, scaly skin. They lay eggs with leathery shells. Salamanders are amphibians with moist skin, and they lay their eggs in wet environments. Many salamanders produce skin toxins as protection from predators.

Frogs or Toads

Frogs will just have to share the award. When the Association of Zoos and Aquariums declared 2008 the Year of the Frog (which they did in order to call attention to the global decline of frogs and other amphibians), they meant toads, too—because toads are a type of frog. And toads are actually more likely to show up in a typical garden, because they are more adapted than other kinds of frogs to terrestrial habitats (as opposed to aquatic ones).

What better way to celebrate than to roll out the red carpet for toads in your garden? They’re easy to attract and they make great garden inhabitants.

Learn to recognize toads. There are many species of toads, but they typically belong to the family Bufonidae. Toads generally have a stocky appearance, dry skin, and short, thick legs with little webbing between their toes. They move around by walking and taking short, quick hops rather than massive leaps or underwater dives. Many sport tan, gray, and brown patterns that camouflage them in dry leaves or rocky terrain. These adaptations allow them to range further from water for longer and survive in dryer ecosystems than other frogs.

Build a toad kitchen. To provide food for toads, select native plants for your garden. This isn’t because toads eat plants—like all amphibians, they are carnivorous, consuming any living thing they can capture with their sticky tongues and stuff down their throats. Some large species tackle mice, snakes, and even other frogs, but insects and other invertebrates are the most common prey. You have the best chance of attracting a healthy insect population—and thus, happy toads—with native plants.

Dial back your level of control. Garden designs that are not overly tidy provide good habitat for insects and shelter for toads. If you cringe at the thought of providing habitat for insects, remember that toads are voracious predators that will help keep pests in check. Toads are actually a far better method of pest control than toxic chemicals, which don’t kill just insects—they kill toads, too. Amphibians as a group are extremely sensitive to toxins, which they readily absorb through their skin. And speaking of toad skin and toxins, toads don’t have warts. The bumps on their skin are called parotid glands, and they produce toxins that make toads taste bad to predators. You cannot get warts by touching a toad.

Give tadpoles a pool. Although adult toads are terrestrial, they rely on standing water for their eggs and tadpoles. If you don’t have a lake or pond nearby, create a simple garden pond. Bigger is better, but even small, prefabricated plastic pools work, provided they have gradually sloping sides or plenty of vegetation and branches dipping into the water to allow the toads easy entry and exit. Toads will also attach their eggs, which they lay in long strings, to this plant material. Be careful about introducing fish, which will find toad eggs and tadpoles a tasty treat. If you have fish, provide plenty of aquatic vegetation and underwater branches near which tadpoles can hide.

It’s quite a sight to find dozens of toads mating in your pond in spring. The trilling calls of the males will be your first indicator, but toads are not shy and are easy to see floating on the surface. Even if you don’t attract a breeding population, just knowing that you’ve created a friendly habitat for these important little creatures will make you feel good.

Make a toad abode 

Provide shelter for toads and other small wildlife by making a “toad abode.” Start by finding an old clay flowerpot—perhaps one that has cracked and is no longer usable for plants. Using a hammer and chisel, chop out a half circle from the pot rim. This hole becomes an entrance when the pot is turned upside down and placed on the ground. Pick a shady spot for your toad abode. Stack some rocks around it and plant some ground covers or ferns nearby. Toads will seek out the dark, damp overturned pot as a place to escape the sun and predators, as well as a place to hunt for insects.

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Butterflies

Attracting

Host and nectar plants are important for butterflies, but also remember these additional tips for attracting butterflies:

• Provide an open, sunny location. Butterflies like warmth and need light to see.
• Plant or build windbreaks to calm the air. Butterflies don't like strong breezes.
• Stay away from pesticides. They can kill caterpillars or mature butterflies.
• Build a "puddling" area in a recessed container. Mix half sand and half composted manure, and water thoroughly.

They're beautiful, they don't bite, they don't carry disease, they visit both urban backyards and rural fields with equal pleasure, and they do a wonderful job of pollinating plants.

Jeffrey Glassberg, founder and president of the New Jersey-based, not-for-profit North American Butterfly Association, and author of the recently published Butterflies Through Binoculars: A Field Guide to Butterflies of the East, is an ardent and passionate proponent of these painted beauties. The association he founded, NABA, is dedicated to both increasing public enjoyment and conservation of butterflies, as well as saving endangered species across the country.

NABA is made up of about 3,500 amateur butterfly enthusiasts who, among other projects, post the number and type of butterfly sightings they've recorded on the association's web page at http://www.naba.org.

For instance, on one day in mid-April, NABA watchers in Maryland and New Jersey recorded spotting eight different varieties of butterflies, from Eastern Pine Elfins to Spring Azures to Gray Hairsteaks.

Butterflies are a uniquely watchable type of wildlife. Their popularity among gardeners has been rising steadily, both for the enjoyment they bring, and for the challenge that attracting them into a prepared setting entails. Although there are some very common backyard visitors—Monarchs, Swallowtails, and such—most butterflies prefer to feed and lay their eggs in open spaces such as meadows, roadside ditches, and out-of-the-way locations. In truth, the butterflies we all commonly associate with "butterfly gardening" are really the showboats of the butterfly world--big, brightly colored, and amenable to visiting our backyards.

More than 725 species of butterflies have been observed in North America, says Glassberg, and about 575 of these occur regularly in the United States. In fact, he adds, in any particular area of the U.S., it should be possible to find about 100 species of butterfly at any one time during warm weather. The average gardener seldom observes most of these butterflies, perhaps because they're small (many are only a half-inch in size) or because they prefer to feed on weeds that flourish in fields and other neglected spots (common milkweed, dogbanes, nettles, and thistles are chief among these butterfly favorites).

Glassberg suggests that serious butterfly enthusiasts purchase binoculars which can focus at close range (under 6 feet) if they want to increase the number of butterflies they "collect" through observation, much as a bird-watcher collects species for his or her hobby.

To attract butterflies, you must create a real habitat for them. You must understand their lifecycle, from egg to larva to butterfly, and the likes, dislikes, and needs of each particular stage. After all, any good host or hostess must offer visitors a gracious and relaxing experience if he or she hopes for a return visit. You can't just plant a couple of "butterfly plants" and then stand impatiently at the kitchen window, waiting for your guests to arrive.

For instance, although most adult butterflies feed on nectar from flowers, the caterpillars that become butterflies need what is known as "host" plants. The caterpillars eat these host plants after they hatch. Good host plants include many cultivated species, from pipevines (Aristolochia spp.) to passionflowers (Passiflora spp.) to herbs such as parsley, dill, rue, and fennel. In fact, many herbs make excellent host plants.

The perfect location

First things first: Butterflies are not demanding guests, but they are particular about their surroundings.

If you want to landscape all or a portion of your yard to make it hospitable to butterflies, you need to choose an open, sunny location. Shaded areas are less attractive to butterflies because they see differently than humans do, and their eyesight may even be hampered in darker locations.

"The vast majority of butterflies are sun-lovers," Glassberg says. "Butterflies only see [well] in a fairly narrow light intensity range." Not surprisingly, all of the plants commonly suggested as butterfly magnets are sun-lovers, as well.

Once you've selected your site, consider the question of adequate over-night accommodations. Sorry to disappoint, but if you've invested in a "butterfly house," an attractive piece of wooden garden craft ostensibly designed as a butterfly home, what you really have is just a lovely piece of art. Butterflies seek shelter at night and in bad weather under leaves, among grass, or in other natural locations. It's highly unlikely, although not impossible, that they would choose to stay in a manufactured butterfly house.

Butterflies also prefer to spend their time in spots that are not windswept. If your garden is in a particularly windy location, consider adding windbreaks of some sort to create a more placid environment. Try incorporating shrubs or grasses around your garden, to serve as windbreaks and as shelter.

A butterfly bar

Of course, any good host knows that offering guests appropriate food and drink is the surest way to make a visit pleasant. Adult butterflies sip nectar from specific flowers, and we'll show you plenty of choices later on. However, butterflies also engage in a behavior known as "puddling." You may have noticed a flutter of butterflies perching at the edge of a mud puddle or another shallow, damp depression after a rain. These butterflies use their long, thin, tube-like tongues to sip both liquid and other trace elements from the puddle.

If you'd like to add this version of a butterfly bar to one corner of your butterfly garden, here's a simple way to do it. Create a small depression in the ground--an inch or two deep works fine--and place some type of waterproof container in the depression. (An upside-down garbage can lid is the perfect size.) Now fill the lid with a fine mix of one-half sand and one-half composted manure, and then use a hose to fully saturate the mixture. Voila! Instant mud puddle.

If you'd like to make your puddle more decorative, line the edges with limestone slabs or other attractive rocks. Keep the mix damp and you may find butterflies stopping by for a quick sip before they go back to visiting your flowers.

Finally, if you want butterflies, stop spraying your yard with a devil's mix of chemicals designed to leave your flowers bug - free. Insecticides and pesticides do not discriminate between a tomato hornworm and a swallowtail caterpillar. What kills one will kill the other, and that includes such environmentally benign and "natural" pest treatments as Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis).

Butterfly gardeners can either accept a few nibbled plants, or better yet, identify pests and dispose of them by hand, rather than killing caterpillars indiscriminately.

Butterfly Identification         

Attracting butterflies 

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Bats

If you’re terrified by bats or consider them little more than winged mice, let me assure you that their benefits far outweigh any perceived negative impact they have. You really do want these amazing animals around.

They eat all sorts of things—frogs, small mammals, fish, and even nectar from flowers—but the majority of bats in a typical garden are insect eaters. They consume mosquitoes (several hundred per night for the common little brown bat), as well as moths and beetles that do major damage in the garden. Here’s how to attract these voracious insect eaters:

Eliminate pesticides to ensure healthy insect populations for bats. You can’t expect bats to eliminate all insects, but they certainly reduce and control pest populations. This is good for both natural ecosystems and your garden.

Plant a habitat for bats. With the exception of certain nectar-eating species in the Desert Southwest, you can’t plant a “bat garden” to attract bats in the same way that you can for birds or butterflies. Instead, include mature trees for roosting and a healthy native plant community that supports insects.

Install a bat box to mimic natural roosting sites. The key to a successful bat box is proper construction and mounting. Build bat boxes from wood, and stain them brown or gray to help retain heat.

In most areas, bat boxes should face south to maximize sun exposure. Make them at least 20 inches across by 24 inches tall. Smaller boxes likely won’t be used. The box can have a single chamber or several made with slats of wood inside the box, with less than 1 inch between chambers.

Mount bat boxes on the side of a building or on a pole at least 12 feet off the ground. This provides protection from predators such as snakes and raccoons.

Provide water. Bats prefer a body of water a bit larger than an average birdbath so they can swoop over and grab a sip of water while flying. Bats also use garden ponds as a water source. To prevent bats from drowning, provide “ladders” to help them get out of the water, such as rocks dipping into the water and some branches and plants extending into the water.

The Truth about Bats 

There are many myths associated with bats. Here are the facts:

True: Bats are common all over the world. With over 1,100 species worldwide, bats account for a quarter of all mammal species on the planet. There are 47 species in the United States, 16 of which are also found  in Canada.

False: Bats are rodents. Bats are not rodents, but belong to their own group of mammals called Chiroptera. Bats are more closely related to primates than to mice and other rodents.

False: Bats are related to birds. Bats are not related to birds. They have fur rather than feathers and nurse their young, which are born live.

False: Bats can’t see. Bats are not blind. Insect-eating bats use echolocation (using the echoes of high-pitched sounds to find prey) to hunt. That’s why they don’t need large eyes like many other nocturnal creatures. 

True:  Vampire bats drink blood. There are three species of vampire bats that primarily feed on the blood of birds and mammals. They live in Latin America.

False: Bats are likely to spread rabies to humans. Bats, like all mammals, are susceptible to rabies but pose little threat of infecting people. 

False: Bats get caught in people’s hair. This myth may stem from the fact that bats sometimes swoop close to people’s heads when chasing insects, but they won’t get stuck in your hair.

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Bees

With more than 4,000 bee species native to North America, plus imported species such as the honey bee, these colorful insects are one of the easiest types of wildlife to attract to your garden. You might have more bees in your garden than you think—there are more black, blue, and metallic green species than the easily recognizable black-and-yellow ones. Most rarely sting, and all are extremely important pollinators of wild and agricultural plants. In fact, one third of the food we eat is the result of animal pollinators, the most important of which is the bee.

Bees are threatened by overuse of pesticides and habitat destruction, but you can help by planting a bee garden. Since bees feed on nectar and pollen from flowering plants, anyone with a small garden patch is already providing a bee habitat. Here’s how to make your garden even more attractive to bees:

Include a diversity of blooms from early spring through late fall to provide for different species that are active at different times of the year. The same plants will also give them shelter from predators and heavy rains. The best plants are the species native to your area. They are adapted to your local soils, climate, and precipitation, and they are the species with which native bees evolved. Some plants are even wholly dependent on certain bees to pollinate them.

Provide bees with nesting areas. Most species are solitary and do not form hives. Many lay their eggs in tunnels in sandy, dry soil, so leave a bare patch in your garden to provide nesting areas. Others, notably carpenter bees, nest in tunnels in decaying wood. Keep a dead tree snag or log in your yard for these bees.

Lure orchard mason bees to your garden by putting out bundles of dried, hollowed-out stems of bamboo or native shrubs such as elderberry. A female bee will deposit a small amount of pollen and nectar in the stem, lay an egg, and seal off the chamber with mud. She’ll repeat this process until the stem is filled. The larvae hatch and feed on the pollen-nectar deposit, pupate, and emerge as adults the following spring. Or drill 3- to 5-inch-deep holes in blocks of untreated wood with a 5/16-inch drill bit and place the block in a sheltered spot in the garden.

Bumble bees form hives and often use abandoned mouse burrows. You can build hive boxes filled with dried grasses to simulate what a bumble bee queen would find inside a mouse burrow. Plans for bee nests are available on the Internet.

Give bees a water source. Add rocks to a birdbath to provide a safe landing place for bees to get a drink. A dripper will not only keep the water clean, but will also create a muddy patch beneath the bath that certain bees will use for nesting material.

Practice organic gardening. Organic gardening will make your bee garden complete. Insecticides kill beneficial insects, including bees, along with the pests. Bee gardens attract birds and butterflies as well, providing these crucially important pollinators and other wildlife with the habitat they need to survive.

The Truth about Bee Stings

Many people are afraid of getting stung by bees, but the reality is that bees rarely sting. Here are the facts:

Only female bees have the ability to sting.

• Stinging is often a reaction to threats to the hive. As a result, aggression is higher in hive-forming bees. Fortunately, the vast majority of bees are not hive-formers and only sting if severely harassed.
• Honey bee stingers are barbed. When a bee stings someone, she tears a piece of abdomen, causing her death. Some wasp species can sting repeatedly.
• If you are allergic to bee stings but love to garden, see your doctor and keep appropriate medications handy. Make sure your family and  neighbors know of your allergy and what to do in case of a sting.

Honey Bees at Home

Think of it as room and board for dedicated garden workers who will boost your harvest and provide you with half your body weight in honey. If you turn a corner of your yard into an apiary—a home for honey bees—you’ll get a lot of help with pollinating (which will boost your plants’ production of fruits and vegetables) and more honey than you can eat. Raising bees in your own backyard might sound crazy, but the risks are minimal and the rewards are sweet.

The Buzz on Bees

There are more than 4,000 bee species native to North America, but the imported European honey bee (Apis mellifera) is the species to which the term “beekeeping” typically refers. Honey bees have a set division of labor within their colonies, which can include as many as 80,000 bees. The queen is the core of the hive and the only female that mates and lays fertile eggs. Drones are male bees; their sole purpose is to mate with the queen. The rest of the bees are female workers who collect pollen and nectar, make honey, build honeycombs, manage hive temperature, defend the hive, and feed and care for the queen and larvae.

Bees produce honey using enzymes and evaporation. They bring nectar back to the hive and pass it along from mouth to mouth, which adds the enzymes. They then deposit it in chambers of the honeycomb, where workers buzz their wings to evaporate the water content, leaving behind concentrated sugars and other nutrients.

When the chamber is full, the bees seal it with a wax cap and store the honey for future consumption. Honey bees make more honey than they consume, which means some can be extracted for human use. You can harvest approximately 80 pounds from each hive each year.

Setting up a hive in your yard isn’t difficult. Here’s how to start: 

Check with authorities. Talk to your local government and find out if there are any restrictions on beekeeping.

Do your research. There are excellent books and Web sites that describe how to set up an apiary. Also, a quick search of the Internet or the phone book should reveal a beekeeping group in your area. Local wisdom is invaluable in learning about the best regional materials and practices.

Find the equipment. Hive boxes, harvesting equipment, and live bees are all available online or through mailorder catalogs. If you’re more adventurous, you can try collecting a swarm of wild bees. Contact your animal control agency to find out how to get involved in swarm removal.

Consider allergies. If anyone in your family is allergic to bee venom, beekeeping might not be the hobby for you. With a little knowledge and communication, however, you can avoid problems. If you don’t harass them, bees won’t sting, because it literally kills them to do it. Wear protective clothing when working in a hive, and resist the urge to swat at a bee. If your neighbors are uneasy about the presence of bees, offer to share your honey. An ounce of honey is worth a pound of cure!

Colony collapse disorder 

In recent years, wild honey bees have fallen victim to various microbes, diseases, and pests. Wax moths, for example, lay their eggs inside the hive, where the resulting larvae consume the wax and stored honey.

Most of these issues can be controlled in an apiary, but 2007 saw massive, unexplained hive die-offs. The cause of this so-called Colony Collapse Disorder remains a mystery, although some have hypothesized that the collective impact of introduced pests, pesticides, lack of wild habitat, and constant moving of commercial hives results in a mass weakening of bee immune systems. 

Colony Collapse Disorder could have a significant economic impact, as honey bees are important pollinators of agricultural crops.

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