Keeping a wasp.

[Pmurinushmacla]

I like your attitude. Practical, utilitarianist ethics a la John Stuart Mill. You can be part of my tribe, @Pmurinushmacla, the tribe I will form if doomsday should strike. Beekeepers would be quite useful to us I think, for honey and for pollinating crops to reestablish agriculture. People that keep parasite-ridden wasps and won't explain the parasites they harbor, less useful. We could eat them!

I am honored, and have actually been considering beekeeping myself for awhile. A friend of my enemy is my enemy, and anyone who nutures wasps back to life will face dire consequences in the event of said doomsday.

 

[A cave cricket]

Doomsday? Is that when all the bees die?

 

[chanda]

I am not well educated in wasp keeping as I hate them and have been stung dozens of times. I was under the impression that it was necessary for them to survive or at least a good idea due to that being their natural forage (might miss out on needed protein etc). If they can live the same without spiders then I agree, but even if they can live without, id still probably feed it a spider once in a while. If that makes up a large portion of their natural diet (IF) then Id speculate they have somewhat developed to rely on it in their diet. All speculation tho, I hate wasps and am no wasp expert.

It depends entirely on the species of wasp. Many wasps - including the mud daubers and tarantula hawks - do not require other insects or spiders as part of their diet once they are mature. Their natural adult diet is nectar from flowers or fruit juices. It is as larvae that they are obligate carnivores, relying on the paralyzed spiders that their mothers provided for them for nutrition. It is hardly unique in the insect world for the juvenile and adult forms of an insect to have different dietary needs. Mosquitoes are aquatic scavengers as larvae. As adults, they feed on nectar and fruit juices - but the females must also take a blood meal in order to produce eggs. Caterpillars eat solid food, but butterflies and moths sip liquids (again, nectar and juices) - if they eat at all. There are some moths that lack functional mouthparts as adults and don't eat at all, surviving entirely on the energy reserves they stored up as caterpillars for the remainder of their necessarily short adult lives (basically, just long enough to mate and lay eggs). Many beetles eat different things as larvae than they will as adults. For example, carpet beetle larvae may eat dead bugs, skin flakes, and animal products such as wool, leather, feathers, or fur - but adult carpet beetles will eat pollen.

Not feeding spiders to a captive mud dauber wasp would not be depriving it of necessary nutrients.

 

[A cave cricket]

But why is it called doomsday?

Pls explain.

 

[Pmurinushmacla]

It depends entirely on the species of wasp. Many wasps - including the mud daubers and tarantula hawks - do not require other insects or spiders as part of their diet once they are mature. Their natural adult diet is nectar from flowers or fruit juices. It is as larvae that they are obligate carnivores, relying on the paralyzed spiders that their mothers provided for them for nutrition. It is hardly unique in the insect world for the juvenile and adult forms of an insect to have different dietary needs. Mosquitoes are aquatic scavengers as larvae. As adults, they feed on nectar and fruit juices - but the females must also take a blood meal in order to produce eggs. Caterpillars eat solid food, but butterflies and moths sip liquids (again, nectar and juices) - if they eat at all. There are some moths that lack functional mouthparts as adults and don't eat at all, surviving entirely on the energy reserves they stored up as caterpillars for the remainder of their necessarily short adult lives (basically, just long enough to mate and lay eggs). Many beetles eat different things as larvae than they will as adults. For example, carpet beetle larvae may eat dead bugs, skin flakes, and animal products such as wool, leather, feathers, or fur - but adult carpet beetles will eat pollen.

Not feeding spiders to a captive mud dauber wasp would not be depriving it of necessary nutrients.

Im not reading all that, thanks for the tldr at the end.

 

[DaveM]

It depends entirely on the species of wasp. Many wasps - including the mud daubers and tarantula hawks - do not require other insects or spiders as part of their diet once they are mature. Their natural adult diet is nectar from flowers or fruit juices. It is as larvae that they are obligate carnivores, relying on the paralyzed spiders that their mothers provided for them for nutrition. It is hardly unique in the insect world for the juvenile and adult forms of an insect to have different dietary needs. Mosquitoes are aquatic scavengers as larvae. As adults, they feed on nectar and fruit juices - but the females must also take a blood meal in order to produce eggs. Caterpillars eat solid food, but butterflies and moths sip liquids (again, nectar and juices) - if they eat at all. There are some moths that lack functional mouthparts as adults and don't eat at all, surviving entirely on the energy reserves they stored up as caterpillars for the remainder of their necessarily short adult lives (basically, just long enough to mate and lay eggs). Many beetles eat different things as larvae than they will as adults. For example, carpet beetle larvae may eat dead bugs, skin flakes, and animal products such as wool, leather, feathers, or fur - but adult carpet beetles will eat pollen.

Not feeding spiders to a captive mud dauber wasp would not be depriving it of necessary nutrients.

Now @chanda, no one is disputing the facts of nature here. Should these wasp larvae be given a free pass, just because they're juveniles? Everyone likes butterflies, but caterpillars can do a lot of damage. Yes, common in the natural world, like the common cold, but common does not equate to agreeable. I understand, all the facts, very cerebral... ...that's what we do. I'm guilty of writing many TLDR-length posts as well. You can be part of my tribe too. We'll watch each other's backs, you and I, and together we'll try to stay in the proper spirit of things

 

[A cave cricket]

You guys are getting off topic. Pls, stay on topic. This is a thread on my wasp not whatever you're talking about.

I still don't get it.

 

[Pmurinushmacla]

Are you asking me?

no