Wasps - done it...but yellow jackets?

[1Lord Of Ants1]

I've had a colony of approximately 30 Polistes annularis, so long as they were kept cool and movements were slow, I had absolutely no trouble even inches from their nest. Now I have a new wasp species I'd like to try. Just this morning I found a resting southern yellow jacket queen. After her initial pissed off reaction from getting moved, she's settled down and is now back to sleeping under a pile of leaves in a 32 oz container. I have her outside exposed to the elements. I assume once the weather is suitable she'll kick into action. However, I have no experience with yellow jackets, wild ones included. They're relatively rare around my area, so I was quite surprised to find this gal. I'm interested in keeping her...but where the hell do I start? The Polistes were easy. 10 gallon tank, find new nest, capture queen, remove nest, glue nest to upside down tank, add queen, feed. Boom, instant colony. However, yellow jackets seem to have a much different nest structure and I'm not sure what a queen would need. Or maybe they're not that different? Anyone care to add input?

 

[The Snark]

Really good questions. If you find data outside of AB could you post it here?

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

http://venomlist.com/forums/index.php?/topic/29044-yellow-jacket-journal3/

I feel like this is worth posting. I doubt I'll be able to keep any colony going long term, as they get massive. Apparently this species, which is able to overwinter here in the south, build absolutely massive nests. Check this video out -

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/25/giant-yellow-jacket-nest-will-haunt-your-dreams-video/

Right where I live, too. Anyways I'll probably end up releasing (or destroying?) them once they're unmanageable. I've gathered that these guys will probably fare better with a nestbox-to-foraging-tank type of setup. During founding stages, I suppose a couple critter keepers tubed together will get things done, but free ranging them will be my best bet. As for free ranging, I could use a larger aquarium for the nest, and using more plastic tubing, can allow them to come and go through my bedroom window. Who knows if- err, when, they'll become a nuisance outside though. I still have to mow the lawn near my window, and lawn mowers and Vespidae don't mix. That and neighbors.

 

[Smokehound714]

Polistes and Mischocyttarus, IMO, are safe to be near even during warm weather.

Around my home here in anaheim, we have Mischocyttarus flavitarsis, polistes apachus (those are huge and beautiful, btw), polistes aurifer, and the last one, polistes exclamans.. I do not remove their nests, and many of them build nests a mere 10" from my head on the porch, and even a few are bold enough to build small nests directly on the molding above the door jamb.. and while i do get a few anxiously watching me, tracking my movement, and even holding their wings vertical, none have ever attacked me. It seems the ones that looked anxious were actually preparing to drop down to forage, but I was in their way.

I've heard that exclamans is particularly aggressive, however all the populations on my property just dont seem to care, even when the DSL cable-guy was drilling and hammering right next to a 12" diameter hive. lol


Now yellow-jackets, on the other hand.. Lol i dont trust those things. Nor do I trust bald faced hornets. They're really neat, though, especially the BFH's, those are beautiful!

Paper wasps are so neat, they really do get used to you after a while.

 

[Spepper]

This is kind of irrelevant (sorry) but I just had to ask out of curiosity. What do you feed a captive colony of wasps?

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

This is kind of irrelevant (sorry) but I just had to ask out of curiosity. What do you feed a captive colony of wasps?

Relatively similar to ants, so feeding them wasn't much of a problem for me. A sugary, honey/water mix was offered free choice for the adults, and protein in the form of insects (crickets, caterpillars, freshly molted mealworms, waxworms, etc.) were provided to be fed to the growing larvae. They're quite smart and adapt to schedules. They would let me know when they wanted insects by lining up at their feeding dish, and when satisfied, they would stayed put on their nest.

Paper wasps and hornets are pretty different though, and a colony of yellowjackets would most certainly eat me out of house, one of the reasons why free-ranging probably mandatory.

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

It's still pretty cool this morning, but I found her awake and bathing in the sunlight. I took advantage and snapped a couple pictures and even got her to lap up some sugar water off my finger. She eventually crawled back under the leaves.

 

[The Snark]

Is that a Magnolia leaf?

 

[1Lord Of Ants1]

Pretty sure it's live oak. I just grabbed a bunch of leaves that were next to the log I found her under and that's what she's been hiding under.

 

[Tleilaxu]

Vespula squamosa, you got a nasty one there. Good luck. I have never gotten yellowjackets to settle down, though there are many pics on bugguide posted by vulgaris that show a yellowjacket setup, along with some successes and failures.

 

[bugmankeith]

I've kept a yellow jacket alone for 2 months. Found it late fall unable to fly. Fed it various sweet baby foods and on q tips Pepsi, and also offered turkey baby food. Eventually it died perhaps of old age but it was docile and stayed still to drink liquid from the q tip I held to its mouth.

 

[Mike41793]

best of luck to you. No chance I'd ever wanna keep yellow jackets haha!

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

 

[Lucidd]

Hi!
I just found this thread through a search for yellow jackets as I have found a yellow jacket in my house that doesn't seem to be flying with no apparent injury to its wings. I want to give it some food and see if it is hungry but I currently have a problem with baby ants and I'm worried sugar water will attract them and bother the yellow jacket. I read online that they can eat other insects. I see baby food and meat seems to be ok, but for live food does anyone know if it would eat moths or crickets?

 

[Smokehound714]

About 18 years ago i watched a single yellowjacket take down a large horse fly, with a single bite it severed the fly's head. Very brutal, but at the same time i was impressed. The wasp knew exactly how to take care of that horsefly.