General Wasp Keeper's Information Thread: Volume Two

[Tleilaxu]

Great photos, your beating me in numbers for workers already...

 

[Talkenlate04]

Great photos, your beating me in numbers for workers already...

I had another hatch this evening. So three workers and the queen.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Well I am catching up hehe two workers and the queen with more to hatch soon.

 

[Talkenlate04]

We are tied then. One of my workers was born with two defective wings, the other two workers actually kicked her out of the hive.
I have a few more that should hatch soon with plenty growing up fast.

 

[Talkenlate04]

And then there were 5! You can see the light parts of the lower cells that they have added to since being in my care.

 

[Talkenlate04]

The guys having a late night snack of a freshly molted dubia roach.

 

[Tleilaxu]

NICE I am currently in the lead with worker numbers for now, though with dominula that wont last long since they are prolific and fast growers.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh195/Polistes/100_0549.jpg
^The wasp with yellow stung me so I marked her with non toxic bee marker so I know where she is at all times.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh195/Polistes/100_0548.jpg
This has every wasp at the nest but one so there are 9 to 10 total.

 

[Vulgaris]

How long did this nest last, Talkenlate04???

The wasp on the left is definitely a male. This makes me think you did not catch the queen. either that or your nest produced males early for some reason...

The wing deformations are caused by parasites. These wasps often wonder away from the nest and cant get back because they cant fly

BTW your photos are simply stunning! some of the best I've seen!

 

[bhoeschcod]

I think you are asking for trouble keeping those little demons. They are very aggressive. I think you would be stung a lot. Defiantly not worth it.
Where are you at that there are no wasps?

they are not demons to me i loooove the little guys ive kept some[no queen] and in spring if im not busy im looking for a queen and starting my first nest its really gonna be hard though even vulgarias failed which means ill probebly fail but hey im not giving up just cause i have a bad feelling im going to fail hell no im gonna keep em untill i get about 9-13 then ill let em free wage and take care of them selfs BTW vulgarias is this a good plan cause if not what can i do better:?

 

[bug salamander]

This was a very helpful thread. I tried to colonize Polistes annularis last year out of a sudden interest I took in wasps. Having no experience, as I am a lepidopteran kind of person, I was only so successful. I started out in late summer and captured four or five individuals (whether or not I had the fertile queen didn't matter since the most aggresive worker will begin laying unfertilized eggs which will become males) and set the nest up in a tall 10 gallon terrerium. I introduced many caterpillar species including tobacco hornworms to the enclosure, but I never saw them hunt for the caterpillars. Instead they fed the larvae with sugar water. The adults and larvae lived off of sugar water and that was that. The nest was never expanded despite the supply of cardboard, leaves and wood in the tank with them, but I did increase from about four to fourteen wasps. Watching them I have learned that the workers constantly "lick" clean the capsules of cells with pupae in them until the new wasp emerges.

This year I am starting out with two queens. One of them is Polistes annularis and the other is Polistes fuscatus. I found the two queens and their nests eight inches from each other under a bush by the side of my house. Both nests have approxiamately twelve cells with unhatched eggs in them. I wil suppply the queens with sugar water and live caterpillars and (this time) crickets to hunt for.

Hopefully I will be able to observe some more interesting behaviors of these wasps this year.

 

[SandDeku]

I like wasps. But Iam terrified of them. I got stung once when I was reaching in my mailbox for mail(obviously). My question is---- don't they fly out? How do you get in there without them stinging you or flying out?

I once found a wasps nest which I thought was empty. I took it home and then I found little grubs on it. I killed them though. lol. I soaked the nest under water and then some workers came out. they drowned though. I thought nothing was there. Sorta scared me.


I wonder if they sell wasps that are for display(dried) and inside of glass or something.
I'd like to see a video of this.

 

[H. laoticus]

Very cool thread
I have some Polistes fuscatus around my area and I might just get into wasp keeping. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute to this thread in the future, but I'm glad someone brought this thread back up--I'd like to see some updates! Sheesh, I'm going from scorpions to centipedes to wasps

 

[SandDeku]

Very cool thread
I have some Polistes fuscatus around my area and I might just get into wasp keeping. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute to this thread in the future, but I'm glad someone brought this thread back up--I'd like to see some updates! Sheesh, I'm going from scorpions to centipedes to wasps

Hah! I know what you mean. In my case its from turtles, toads, fish, and general insects. I do keep them. But I keep bouncing between them. Its weird I have interest in all of them. But my interest seems to bounce more on each one more strongly. I'm hoping to get into millipedes soon. Just waiting for a job opportunity that I'm getting soon. After I make some dough Ill buy the set up and then order some pedes. As for wasps. The only thing I'd get close to are the fluffy wasps that I asked about. forgot their name. Bullet ant? They're predatory and solitary. Living for like 6months? I'm not a fan of anything venemous and dangerous. Like I like their looks---- but if its potentially dangerous I wouldn't keep it myself.
I'm a wuss and extremely self preservative.

 

[H. laoticus]

Hah! I know what you mean. In my case its from turtles, toads, fish, and general insects. I do keep them. But I keep bouncing between them. Its weird I have interest in all of them. But my interest seems to bounce more on each one more strongly. I'm hoping to get into millipedes soon. Just waiting for a job opportunity that I'm getting soon. After I make some dough Ill buy the set up and then order some pedes. As for wasps. The only thing I'd get close to are the fluffy wasps that I asked about. forgot their name. Bullet ant? They're predatory and solitary. Living for like 6months? I'm not a fan of anything venemous and dangerous. Like I like their looks---- but if its potentially dangerous I wouldn't keep it myself.
I'm a wuss and extremely self preservative.

And honest, too lol! Same here, I'm all over the place including freshwater tropical fish to crayfish and now to small lizards. I have a 5 gallon sliding tank lying around so this new project will put it to good use. By the way, is a heat source necessary for Polistes fuscatus? I would think not because they won't be moved from their general location (just inside my house), but I'm wondering if it will be better for them in any way (more activity as well as growth and nest development?) to get some extra heat other than my room's normal temp.

 

[bug salamander]

My question is---- don't they fly out? How do you get in there without them stinging you or flying out?

Very carefully of course. They'll let you know when you've gone far enough but when there are no workers with the queen she is very docile and will not attack in most cases. Just capturing a queen and her nest is quite simple, but when her first generation has emerged she and her offspring become much more aggresive and about ten times more likely to attack you as well. I think I've knocked down enough nests and been chased and attacked by enough wasps to know this.

 

[SandDeku]

And honest, too lol! Same here, I'm all over the place including freshwater tropical fish to crayfish and now to small lizards. I have a 5 gallon sliding tank lying around so this new project will put it to good use. By the way, is a heat source necessary for Polistes fuscatus? I would think not because they won't be moved from their general location (just inside my house), but I'm wondering if it will be better for them in any way (more activity as well as growth and nest development?) to get some extra heat other than my room's normal temp.

Uhh I'm pretty sure room temps is fine. Since most houses wont drop bellow freezing. lol. I'm not an expert on them though.

As for honesty, yes Iam. It's sorta my prob. Too open/honest about things.

As for all over the place--- I get talked to by my parents that I shouldn't over do it. Considering my dad got himself 5fishtanks. I got myself 3fish tanks and 1 exo terra. I'm getting a 75g and building a show tank for my american toads. I really love toads. lol. I'm also going to set up a "fresh water native tank" meaning fish from local streams/ponds. Obviously not the ones that are illegal to take. According to the law--- you cannot take sunfish in nj anymore. Weirdly enough since they are extremely common. I did get some daces a while back. They're still alive and kicking. I'm going to transfer them into another 75g I hope to buy. Or use my dads 55g. I'd like to get some bullhead catfish. There's alot of stuff I take interest into.

Currently owning:
1 rabbit
3toads
Tons of toad tadpoles(reared them myself from eggs-- which my toads laid). I'll be keeping 3 toads from the tadpoles when they grow and releasing the rest into the wild. the toads are wild caught from toadlets.
1 DBT(captive bred)
4 goldfish(2-3years old and sorta extremely big)
12guppies
12minnows
8ghost shrimp.
I have alot of stuff.

---------- Post added at 07:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------

Very carefully of course. They'll let you know when you've gone far enough but when there are no workers with the queen she is very docile and will not attack in most cases. Just capturing a queen and her nest is quite simple, but when her first generation has emerged she and her offspring become much more aggresive and about ten times more likely to attack you as well. I think I've knocked down enough nests and been chased and attacked by enough wasps to know this.

I wouldn't keep one myself though. My parent's will have a fit if I ever even thought of keeping them. That would be the last straw for them.

 

[LeilaNami]

We're attempting to do this with Polistes exclamans in a 18" exoterra with all vents sealed except for the fine screen top. We've only had them for about 24hours and already have had a worker hatch out. We took them in because we were worried about this unusual cold snap we're going through would kill off the foundress.

 

[bug salamander]

So far both the Polistes fuscatus and annularis queens are doing well. It has been over a week now and the eggs will hatch soon. Both foundresses have come down to the bottom of the enclosure to collect the solution I made for them (composed of one part water, one part sugar, one part honey, and one part dr. pepper) daily. They have been positioning small droplets of the solution carefully in the cells, so that when the eggs hatch the larvae will begin eating immediately.

I'm proud the queens are doing such a great job taking care of their nests. They have also been emmiting pheremones among the nest to repell ants and other insects that may prey on the larvae. I have yet to see them build onto the nest, but I suspect they will not build onto the nests any further until the larvae hatch and grow some.

 

[JC]

Holy crap this thread is awesome! :clap:

 

[ZergFront]

Talkenlate's wasps look like the ones common in my yard. So far, I've found two paper nests, one in inside the unused cement-turner and the other is inside an upside-down plastic bin we're using to protect equipment from the weather. The workers come in from below the bin's rim.(both stay pretty high in temperature and they are fully protected from rain and access sun).

I tried raising grubs on my own a couple years back but it didn't pan out too well. The mushed spider, cutworm, water diet seeped into the paper while feeding the grubs through a dropper. Eventually, the grubs ate the paper until the cell was open well below their heads caps. Two days later, ants found the nest in my room.

We also have mud daubers, solitary bees, bumblebees and honeybees. I see some yellow jackets from time to time but I don't think they nest on our property.

The bumblebees have turned a crevice in our roof into their home. My parents leave them alone as we fully appreciate them pollinating our orange trees. We got a lot of fruit these past 2 years.

If I could find a nest, I would LOVE to get a queen of this shiny, blue mud dauber we have around here that gets into our house sometimes in the summer(Chalybion californicum maybe). :drool: