Raising bald-faced hornets
- Thread starter ZephAmp
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1-im jeaulous too!I wanna keep them again.
2-Get a queen nest or any nest.
3-feed her insects and give her two dishes honey water in one and plain water in the other one
4-Get a large kritter keeper or a big 10 gal
5-Gets some wood so she can make a nest.
6-Cut squares and make a box like thing with one open side for viewing.
7-Don't feel bad if you fail it happened to me 19 times.
8-If i was you however i suggest getting a new queen and her nest way easier then you don't have to wait so long.
9-When workers arive just put the enclosure outside and open it up a little this is called free ranging as for some reason once you get 4-5 workers they don't seem to rear brood in captivity
10-Hope this helps i sure hope vulgaris can answer them better dunno if he has experince with D maculata though i do.
FYI-They aren't hornets they are yellow jackets.
2-Get a queen nest or any nest.
3-feed her insects and give her two dishes honey water in one and plain water in the other one
4-Get a large kritter keeper or a big 10 gal
5-Gets some wood so she can make a nest.
6-Cut squares and make a box like thing with one open side for viewing.
7-Don't feel bad if you fail it happened to me 19 times.
8-If i was you however i suggest getting a new queen and her nest way easier then you don't have to wait so long.
9-When workers arive just put the enclosure outside and open it up a little this is called free ranging as for some reason once you get 4-5 workers they don't seem to rear brood in captivity
10-Hope this helps i sure hope vulgaris can answer them better dunno if he has experince with D maculata though i do.
FYI-They aren't hornets they are yellow jackets.
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No experience with wasps...but I have to ask is a wasp found this early in the year necessarily a queen? A paper wasp showed up in my bedroom but it went to a centipede. I scratched my head after that and wondered if perhaps it was a queen? But in Long Beach colonies probably go for over a year.
I would read the thread vulgaris posted and make plans for a much bigger enclosure(for a potentially football sized nest).
I would read the thread vulgaris posted and make plans for a much bigger enclosure(for a potentially football sized nest).
I too am jealous! I have been ripping open logs all winter and could not find any. They usually always hibernate in rotten wood. And you found THREE? Man, I struggle to find one
I am also planning on raising this species this spring if I can get hold of a queen. I already have my cage built. It is an extra large hermit crab cage made of wire. Should be perfect_ I have an embryo nest to use and there is plenty of flight room since this is a very large species
Keeping a queen in captivity is one thing; but keeping a colony is another thing. They demand unthinkable quantities of prey items and would need an emormous enclosure, probably something like a mesh iguana cage. If I can get a colony started from a queen, I am going to set them free. This would be a major accomplishment to get a queen to nest in captivity. As far as I know, it has not been done
I suggest taking her out of the small container asap. An aquarium or something large would be good. Add sticks and pieces of wood for her to hide under. There should be two SHALLOW dishes; one for honey and one for water. Do you have an embryo nest to use? if not, then little bits of envelope from a nest should help. Glue them in the nesting area and that should entice her. This species uses weathered gray wood such as from old fence posts. It might be hard to find, but see if you can cut some up and put it in her cage. I cut mine with a saw. if you look close, you can see the fibers on the wood which is what you are looking for
Good luck, keep us updated
I am also planning on raising this species this spring if I can get hold of a queen. I already have my cage built. It is an extra large hermit crab cage made of wire. Should be perfect_ I have an embryo nest to use and there is plenty of flight room since this is a very large species
Keeping a queen in captivity is one thing; but keeping a colony is another thing. They demand unthinkable quantities of prey items and would need an emormous enclosure, probably something like a mesh iguana cage. If I can get a colony started from a queen, I am going to set them free. This would be a major accomplishment to get a queen to nest in captivity. As far as I know, it has not been done
I suggest taking her out of the small container asap. An aquarium or something large would be good. Add sticks and pieces of wood for her to hide under. There should be two SHALLOW dishes; one for honey and one for water. Do you have an embryo nest to use? if not, then little bits of envelope from a nest should help. Glue them in the nesting area and that should entice her. This species uses weathered gray wood such as from old fence posts. It might be hard to find, but see if you can cut some up and put it in her cage. I cut mine with a saw. if you look close, you can see the fibers on the wood which is what you are looking for
Good luck, keep us updated
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You're in PA and having trouble finding bald-faced hornets???
I was bug collecting in NJ last winter and found at least 5 queens just by flipping rotting logs.
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Oh well I was finding them around this time last year...not in the middle of winter.Hey man, don't brag
I must have flipped over and kicked open dozens of logs throughout the winter. Not a single queen
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Are they significantly bigger than the workers like honey bee queens? Maybe an entrance can be carved/melted only large enough for workers to go out and forage food?
Do you mean as a way to get queens? That method would not work because the entrance is part of the nest, and is constantly being changed.
Plus then you would have the issue of mating the young queens that you catch
ScottySalticid: does not matter what exact point in the winter you look. the queens remain motionless in their spots until late April or May (for our area). Whether you look in December or March, it does not make a difference accept for the logs would be easier to kick open because they would be less frozen