The ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructoris a primary driver of colony losses in the Western honey bee Apis mellifera, both through direct hemolymph feeding and through the transmission of viral pathogens. Chemical control remains the dominant management strategy, yet resistance to acaricides and concerns about residues in hive products highlight the need for alternative approaches. In other arthropod pests, semiochemical-based strategies, including attraction, repulsion, or olfactory confusion, have shown effectiveness, particularly in mating disruption systems, for example in the lepidopteran crop pests. Similar approaches could be considered for V. destructor, especially since host location is largely mediated by olfactory and contact cues emitted by brood, particularly L5 larvae and capped brood. These cues include fatty acids and other volatile compounds that function as kairomones. The present study aimed to develop robust behavioural assays to evaluate attraction or repulsion of V. destructorto selected chemical cues relevant to host finding as new targets in the case of control strategies. Two complementary experimental devices were implemented. First, a Y-maze setup was used to quantify binary choice responses between a control and a test stimulus (n=50 mites/condition). This system was applied to assess, in particular, the behavioural response to lactic acid, an organic acid used as a treatment against varroa. Second, a two-zone arena assay was designed to measure residence time in a chemically treated versus untreated area, enabling rapid screening of compounds reported in the literature to be associated with L5 honey bee larvae (n=50 mites/condition). Y-maze experiments indicated that lactic acid did not elicit a repellent response, unlike octanoic acid, under the tested conditions. Furthermore, Varroa mites did not discriminate between a known attractant (butyric acid) and lactic acid, suggesting that the latter may also exhibit attractive properties. The two-zone assay identified several candidate molecules inducing significant spatial preference or avoidance. These compounds represent promising leads for subsequent validation in directional-choice assays and for integration into semiochemical- based control strategies.