Origin of Shilajit is explained as a product of symbiosis between honey bees and wax moth that were living in mountains for thousand years. A simple technology to produce the Insect Based Shilajit from honey combs is described in details. A mini insect farm to produce raw materials for the Insect Based Shilajit can be arranged into a bad-room as fragrance of the honey combs and of wax moth is very pleasant and may work for phytotherapy. A slide presentation is available at https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Pq2Zm2ZPm6BvAg1-x3zb6rFMNWfi2Lf82ZS8Bd5zyFM/edit?usp=sharing

1. SECRETS OF SHILAJIT

3. Purified Shilajit is a sticky and easily soluble
in water tar-like substance with a colour
ranging from black to dark brown. In ancient
times, Shilajit was used to speed up
recovery after bone, ligament or joint injuries
and was valued in gold.

5. Nowadays, Shilajit is used in cosmetology
to smooth wrinkles and scars. It slows down
and even reverses aging process as well as
progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

7. Original or Raw Shilajit can be found
predominantly in caves and crevices from
the Altai mountains to Tibet in a form of
resinous deposits on rocks and in
depressions, with a content of solubles from
0.5 to 30%

9. An origin of Shilajit is unknown.
Predominantly, depositions of Shilajit relate
to accumulation of a water extract from
mountain mice droppings.

11. Another tentative explanation is that Shilajit
is somehow produced by thousand
generations of honey bees that live in
mountains.

13. Two species of honey bees that are
common in mountains are Apis Dorsata and
Apis Cerana. For comparison of their sizes a
worker bee Apis Dorsata is shown in an
upper part of this photo. The European bee
Apis Melifera is in the center, and the Apis
Serana is in the bottom.

15. Here a view of Apis Dorsata colonies is
presented. Every colony of Apis Dorsata
bees builds a single comb. Sometimes it
gets sizes above one meter in width.

17. And here there is a photo of a rock cleft with
honeycombs abandoned by a colony of Apis
Serana.
Asian honey bees are nomads. When a
blooming season ends in valleys the bees
abscond their hive and migrate uphill to
mountains to find other blooming flowers,
and so forth till the end of the summer.
Before migration, the bees take all liquid
honey into their honey stomachs but leave
pollen mixed with honey in the combs.

19. Wax moths flock on brood combs to oviposit
up to 1000 eggs per a single female insect.
Newly hatched larvae consumes at first the
pollen with honey and later the brood
combs.
The wax moth larvae are the only creatures
that may digest beeswax. Asian bees live in
symbiosis with the wax moth, as the wax
moth larvae consumes the honeycombs
abandoned by the migrating bees and clean
the bee hives up. Fragrance of the wax moth
and residues of their development attract
bees and they populate the same hive next
year.

21. Active larvae tunnel in combs, lining their
tunnels with silky web as they go.

23. Poops of the wax moth larvae fall down as
dark brown or black solid pellets. The pellets
in bulk taste like dried apples with fragrance
of honey. If moistened they tint water to a
brown color. In this photo the pellets are
presented under magnification

25. In this photo – a view of the pellets under
microscope is presented

27. If the pellets fall on stones the morning dew
may extract water-soluble substances from
these pellets. Then the water extract may
accumulate in depressions of the stones, dry
out and in many years form a thick layer of a
resinous substance, which is in my opinion
the original Shilajit.

29. I reside in Thailand and keep a small apiary
of Apis Cerana honey bees – that is about
18 bee colonies in beehives shown in this
photo. The same as in mountains, the Apis
Cerana bees in Thailand are nomads. And
this is a big problem for bee keeping, as
they easily abscond a hive if disturbed.

31. Here there is a view of a landing board of
the beehive of a small colony

33. And here a bottom view of the small colony
is presented

35. When bees complete and fill combs in one
box with honey I take the box off for
harvesting. Here there is a bottom view of
such a honey box.

37. And in this photo an upper view is presented
of the same honey box with a removed top
cover

39. In this photo there are harvested combs. We
may see that some cells are filled with a
blend of pollen and honey.

41. We are squeezing honey from the combs to
bottles by hands. A large bottle comprises
one kilo of honey and a small one – a half of
a kilo. Retail prices for honey in Thailand are
about 7 US$ per kilo.

43. Residues from the combs that comprise
wax, honey and pollen I use to rear wax
moth larvae.

45. I use two baskets from metal mesh and four
clamps to fasten the baskets together into
one closed container. The container stands
inside a deep bowl of a proper size. The
cost of one assembled container with the
bowl is below 2 US$.

47. The comb residues have to be placed into a
container and in about one month the wax
moth larvae populates it. .

49. As larvae consumes the residues it is
necessary to replenish the container on a
regular base.

51. The larvae also consumes old brood combs
that have no honey. Actually I use such
combs that are infested by the wax moth
larvae to inoculate a container.

53. As population inside of the container is
growing some larvae crawl out through the
mesh to a space between the container and
bowl.

55. I remove them together with their poops and
silky webs

57. Then I put the collected stuff into a vessel
with a wide opening and fill it with vodka in a
proportion to solids about one to one. The
vessel has to be closed hermetically to avoid
evaporation of alcohol.

59. In about two weeks when the vessel is filled
up to the top, as shown in a left photo, the
sludge is separated from a tincture by
filtration as it is shown in the right photo.

61. I dry out the sludge and use it as a bait to
attract feral bee swarms

63. Actually two species of the wax moth
populate the containers – it is a a greater
wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and a lesser
wax moth (Achroia grisella). As we can see
in this photo there are 5 greater wax moths
and 2 lesser ones.

65. During the last stage of its development
larvae of the greater wax moth often flock
together in one large cluster to pupate. The
cluster is protected by silky webs.
I use such clusters also as a bait to attract
feral bee swarms.

67. Interesting that larvae of the lesser wax
moth does not form any clusters but pupates
in individual cocoons.

69. The medicinal properties of the Insect-based
remedies such as tinctures of the wax moth
larvae and of their poops are not a secret
for many European beekeepers who use old
brood combs to rear the wax moth larvae. It
is believed that the remedies comprise
enzymes that remove deposits of of
cholesterol on the blood vessels. Therefore
exchange of gases and substances between
the blood and living cells may be enhanced
resulting in slowing of aging.

71. It is important to point out a difference
between 100% Plant-Based Shilajit Resin as
a herb product and the 100% Insect-Based
Shilajit-like products derived from symbiotic
co-existence of honey bees with wax moth.
While a healing potential of the plant-based
Shilajit is attributed to humic acids that are
a part of humus it is believed that a healing
potential of the Insect-based Shilajit may be
attributed to amino-acids, ensymes and
ferments.

73. We described in this video a simple
technology to produce the Insect-based
Shilajit and tincture made of it. Yet it is
necessary to consult your physician before
any use of them and to test to the remedies
for allergy as they are derived from pollen
and bee products.