They enter the cells just prior to sealing, feed for about 60 hours on the developing pupa, and then begin laying eggs. They lay approximately one egg every 30 hours with the first egg becoming a male and subsequent eggs females. Immature mites are white and soft-bodied. Varroa females mature in six days and become reddish-brown and hard bodied. Mites that do not complete their development before the adult bee emerges do not survive.
Male mites are smaller than females and remain white and soft bodied throughout their brief lives.
They mate with females in sealed brood cells and die shortly thereafter. They do not feed and are only important for their role in fertilizing females. In worker brood, varroa can increase their population only slightly. Estimates of the number of mature female varroa offspring per worker cell entry range from 1.0 to 1.7. When drone brood is present, varroa will preferentially enter drone brood.