Western Paper Wasp (M. flavitarsis) in captivity

[wauce]

Just thought I'd share some pictures of my setup and progress so far-- feel free to ask any questions or talk shop about your own setup. I don't believe any others have tried this species yet in captivity, but if they're near you, I think it's worth a try if you're at all interested. Time to nest initiation is low, and their light requirements seemingly aren't very high either. Their diapause also seems to be facultative, so in theory, it may be possible to raise nesting wasps year-round in the right circumstances.

I'm mostly relying on artificial lighting, the main light being a 175W metal halide bulb in a reptile dome fixture that I wired into a ballast. This bulb gives off about 14k lumens, with a decent proportion of this being the blue and near-UV spectrum. I also have two supplementary lights; a 200W LED high bay fixture, and a typical LED black light bulb for navigation and orientation of the wasps within the enclosure. From my experience, the violent and UVA spectrum emitted by a black light bulb helps improve wasp activity under artificial lights.

While the attention to lighting may seem disproportionate to some, it's been my experience that wasps, when kept indoors, suffer from malaise and inactivity to an extent not experienced by other more commonly kept insects. Roaches, mantises, ants and others will for the most part do fine with ambient lighting; such is not the case for wasps, who seem to be deeply affected by both light intensity and photoperiod.

Photoperiod for the wasps is controlled by a basic smart plug, which allows for the programming of schedules within an app to dictate on and off times for the lights.



For enclosures, I'm using off brand "repti-breeze" type screen cages from Amazon, which used to be much more expensive, but thankfully came down in price a bit over the years. I placed hides consisting of modified and cut cardboard boxes glued to the sides of the cage to serve as nesting areas, and provided cardboard platforms for food and water dishes on the sides of the cage as well, since the wasps are initially adverse to venturing downward in the enclosure.



Initially, a pulp source was supplied in the form of heavy cardstock that was soaked in water overnight to loosen the fibers to ease gathering for the wasps. However, the cardstock didn't seem desirable to them, and I ended up replacing it with chunks of weathered old wood boards, which the wasps took to quite quickly.



The initial six wasps were captured from 4/3-4/9, which were the first warm days of the year. They were placed 3 to an enclosure, although conflict between the wasps and the lack of initiation for two of the wasps (one in each) led me to releasing one of them, and putting the other in a small enclosure of her own lit with a simple daylight LED bulb. As of now, she hasn't shown much progress towards initiation, but I like her coloration, and in a way it's a test of a more minimalist waspkeeping setup.

Time to nest initiation was roughly about a week for most of the wasps; however, there is still one foundress who has not yet initiated a nest. All of the initiations were by lone wasps, with no cooperation between wasps, which I understand is normal for this species. The wasps initially did not show interest in initiating; the first sign of 'interest' in this instance was an appetite for protein supplied in the form of recently killed waxworms and red runner roaches. With a few days following the consumption of protein, the wasps developed an interest in pulp sources, which within a day led to nest initiation.



The interest in protein being a prerequisite for nest initiation is by no means universal, and in other species such as P. dominula, interest in protein was seen to only develop after nest initiation and during the appearance of larvae in the nest.

Here is the current state of three out of four of the nests; the fourth is within one of the cardboard hides that I didn't create outside access to.

 

[wauce]

Might expand this thread a bit to my general methodology with wasp-keeping and things I've learned over the years. I've been doing this off and on since the threads on Venomlist about it (if anyone remembers that). Since it's a very niche hobby, my thoughts are that more documentation and material on the subject might help others branch into it as well in time.

LIGHTING​

My method relies on artificial lighting so that photoperiod may be controlled and activity can be kept consistent. Wasps are rather visual insects, and their activity levels are reliant upon a good source of light; in typical indoor ambient light, most wasps will become languid and inactive.

There are two main components to consider when choosing and setting up artificial light, that being intensity and spectral composition. Intensity refers to the brightness of the light, usually measured in lumens, and the spectral composition refers to the individual bands of wavelengths that make up visible light.

For the purposes of keeping polistine wasps, the intensity of light is crucial, though unfortunately as of yet, hard and fast rules cannot yet be provided. Different species seem to have differing needs in this regard; for example, P. dominula is a very light-demanding species; P. fuscatus can get by with less, and may have trouble orienting to their enclosure if light intensity is too great.

The goal is essentially to mimic certain conditions of outdoor light; the wasps need to be able to see their enclosure adequately as well as orient properly for their navigation. The compound eyes of wasps are not as efficient as the human eye when it comes to being able to function in a given amount of light. Indoor ambient lighting, as an example, might seem adequate for a human, but a wasp would have trouble resolving detail and spatial information. Compounding this, the intensity of our artificial lights decays exponentially with distance from its source, so that means the light at 12” away is much weaker than the light at 6” away.



DIFFERENCES IN VISION

In addition to being less efficient overall, the compound eyes of wasps also perceive a different visible spectrum of light than humans. While humans can see long wavelength red light, wasps can not. However, wasps can see into the short wavelength ultraviolet spectrum, though humans can not.

Because the light we can see and use overlaps but is not identical, most lights that have been developed for us humans are very lacking for the purposes and utilization of wasps. Lights used by us tend to be heavy in red and orange wavelengths, which wasps likely cannot visually perceive.

COLOR TEMPERATURE

As a general rule of thumb, the color temperature of lights, measured in kelvin, are a good indication of the potential utility of a given light in regards to keeping wasps. Warm lights, or lights lower than 4000k, are almost always inadequate for lighting an enclosure. Lights that are considered cooler, such as 5000k and above, have much more efficacy for this purpose.

METAL HALIDE / HID BULBS

The most desirable types of bulb for lighting an enclosure are metal halide HID lamps, which use a combination of elements sealed within a glass tube to provide light when a high voltage current is passed through them. The composition of elements within the tube dictate the color and spectrum of the light, and while there is some variation between manufacturers, the output of the bulbs in terms of spectral composition and intensity tends to be consistent in most cases. In terms of intensity, they are very hard to beat, putting out a quantity of lumens per watt that is very impressive despite their rather high overall wattage.

In terms of experience, I have by far had the most luck with metal halide lamps. Colonies get bigger than is typical of most captive colonies, as the bulbs have a pronounced effect of facilitating higher activity levels. Why this is, I am not entirely sure. In part, the higher than normal heat that the bulbs give off is likely responsible, although this is not the entire picture. A substantial portion of the light's energy is emitted in the UV range, which wasps use to navigate and see; there is indication it is involved in regulating the metabolism and "tempo" of the insect as well.



While ideal otherwise, HID bulbs require a ballast to operate; in short, it transforms the current and voltage from your wall outlet into something that can meet the demands of the bulb. Ballasts are not cheap, typically going for about $40 presently. In addition to the monetary cost, they are also required to be wired manually within the circuit of a basic reptile lamp, which necessitates basic electrical knowledge and tools to cut and splice wires.



The ceramic socket of a reptile lamp is necessary, as the bulbs get very hot, and would destroy the typical plastic socket of more basic lamps very quickly.

LEDs

LEDs have a broad spectrum of wavelengths, and in the varieties within the cooler spectrum (5-6500k), they are mostly composed of wavelengths that wasps can perceive. In theory, they are a solid choice because of this as well as their efficiency with power use and output per watt. However, I have not experimented as much with them, and testing seems to indicate they have less of an ‘exciting’ effect on the wasps than HID bulbs.

 

[Introvertebrate]

That's a cool setup. It must be interesting watching the wasp build its nest. You seem to know your light sources. Could you recommend a UVB setup for a 20 gallon anole tank? With so many technologies available, it's hard to decide.

 

[wauce]

That's a cool setup. It must be interesting watching the wasp build its nest. You seem to know your light sources. Could you recommend a UVB setup for a 20 gallon anole tank? With so many technologies available, it's hard to decide.

My knowledge is unfortunately kind of single-minded, so I'm not as sure when it comes to reptiles and the like. Unfortunately, UVA (which is important for wasps) is a lot easier to come by then UVB, with the former available with high input from cheap LEDs, while the latter can really only be reliably provided by specialty fluorescent bulbs.

I'd go for the highest wattage fluorescent UVB bulb you can find. The catch is they don't tend to last very long, but from what I understand, it's the only real viable option. There are LED bulbs that purport to provide UVB, but as of a couple years ago (the last time I deep-dived into the topic), they're snake oil and often do not provide any UVB at all.

 

[Introvertebrate]

My knowledge is unfortunately kind of single-minded, so I'm not as sure when it comes to reptiles and the like. Unfortunately, UVA (which is important for wasps) is a lot easier to come by then UVB, with the former available with high input from cheap LEDs, while the latter can really only be reliably provided by specialty fluorescent bulbs.

I'd go for the highest wattage fluorescent UVB bulb you can find. The catch is they don't tend to last very long, but from what I understand, it's the only real viable option. There are LED bulbs that purport to provide UVB, but as of a couple years ago (the last time I deep-dived into the topic), they're snake oil and often do not provide any UVB at all.

Thanks. Yeah, I think fluorescent UVBs are the way to go. They make metal halide UVB bulbs, but I think they're probably intended for bigger/higher enclosures than what I have in mind. They may be a bit too powerful.

 

[TheraMygale]

They cant chew through the mesh? They are very capable of things we dont expect

 

[wauce]

They cant chew through the mesh? They are very capable of things we dont expect

Initially I was concerned quite a bit about escapees as well, but once they orient to the enclosure-- which takes about a week or so-- they don't try to escape. I've also never seen them attempt to chew through something, escape attempts always seem to be trying to slip through cracks or gaps.

It also helps that the mesh is pretty sturdy metal as well.

 

[wauce]

WK101: BEHAVIOR
​

Insects are by and large creatures of instinct, and although social wasps are not a complete exception to this, their capacity for flexibility of behavior and adaptability to circumstance bears mention and thoughtful consideration. Of the social wasps, it would seem that some members of Polistinae are likely the most well-equipped for adaptive behavior, as their social structures are for the most part flexible and dictated by dynamic interactions within a colony, unlike the rigid caste-based hierarchies of Vespinae. This places a fitness reward on the ability to react properly to situations demanding versatile and appropriate behavior.

When keeping paper wasps, the combination of distinct programmed behaviors and the ability to adapt to contexts that would not exist in the wild, like the confines of an enclosure, is interesting to observe, though rather alien to our mammalian brains. Recognising various behaviors that are easily typified can inform a wasp keeper on the state of individual wasps and their colony.

BASIC BEHAVIORS

Idleness

Although this may be seen as the absence of a specific behavior, paper wasps may spend a substantial amount of time being still, which may be frustrating to a wasp keeper who wants to see their pets do something, so it bears mentioning.

In the greater context of social wasps as a whole, the average Polistes wasp tends to have a relatively long lifespan. In large part they achieve this by conserving their metabolic energy expenditure by pacing their activities between bursts of activity and resting. Activity requires the expenditure of energy involving many metabolic processes within the body of the wasp, which also produce metabolites that may be harmful as byproducts of these processes and reactions. In terms of energy expenditure, flying can be particularly demanding.

To an extent a wasp’s body can likewise deal with these metabolites and free radicals to maintain its health, but the efficiency of these systems quickly decreases with age. Activity also produces physical wear and tear of the wasp’s body, in particular the muscles that it uses to fly, as well as its wings and exoskeleton. In an adult insect, the capacity to heal and repair such damage is extremely limited in terms of its muscles, and nonexistent for its wings and exoskeleton.

For a paper wasp, resting is a strategy to maintain a balance of productivity and longevity. At times, a paper wasp may not do much of anything at all for an entire day; though the temptation is to be concerned or even frustrated, this is normal.

If a wasp remains idle for a longer period of time, concern may be warranted; inadequate lighting is often a cause of this if the wasp is otherwise in good health. Illness or impending death can also bring on prolonged idle periods, but are usually accompanied by sluggishness, uncoordinated movements, and weakness. In any case, giving the wasp its space and minimizing stress makes for the best outcome.

Grooming

A wasp is fastidious about its personal hygiene, and given its limited ability to recover from illness that leaves lasting damage, it is justified in this pursuit. Wasps groom their antennae, their legs, their abdomen, their wings, their thorax, and their head. Typically, a wasp will groom one or two of the aforementioned parts before flying off or busying itself otherwise. A complete grooming session may occur when the wasp is waking up in the morning or resting on its nest. It may also perform a complete groom if it falls into water, is caught in the rain, or is otherwise dirtied.

Grooming may be situational, and if a wasp is searching for prey, it may stop and repeatedly clean its antennae to attune and clean them for the hunt before resuming the search, as their ability to detect and follow trace odors is their most important sense in this task.

Grooming may also be compulsive and frequent without clear purpose. A wasp that repeatedly grooms itself without cessation or grooms extremely frequently is experiencing stress, and potentially illness or injury as well.

Posture

As paper wasps cannot make sound, most of its communication and expression is performed through postures and positioning. The body language of paper wasps can inform the wasp keeper a great deal about a wasp’s temperament, and one may find that they are quite expressive once they are familiar with such.

Loosely speaking, the body language of paper wasps may be categorized into three rough states; neutral, alert, and agitated. These states are, to an extent, on a continuum, and there may be transitional states between the three main states.

NEUTRAL STATE
A paper wasp in the neutral state is often at rest; this state is typically seen when the wasp is comfortable, such as resting on its nest. The wasp’s wings are folded straight and down over its back, and it holds itself low on its legs. The antennae are often still or make minor, languid movements. When walking, it typically moves at a slow pace. In this state, there is nearly no danger of a sting, and the wasp is at ease.

ALERT STATE
In the alert state, the wasp is typically engaged in a task, such as searching for food or eating. Visually, the alert state is characterized by raised wings, forward antennae, and a lofted overall posture, with the wasp standing higher on its legs from the substrate. While alert, the wasp often has its focus on something or is curious, and if not, is alert and aware of its surroundings. If something has its attention, its head, antennae and body will track and orient itself so that it is facing the subject. A wasp in the alert state may take flight at any moment, and while not characterized by aggression, slow and deliberate movements should be used if it is necessary to interact with the wasp.

AGITATED STATE
Agitation is most typically associated with defense of the nest, though may also be characteristic of a prey drive during hunting. It can be visually characterized in a similar manner to the alert state, though these characteristics are higher in intensity. Movements are quick and precise, and the wasp has an appearance of being on its toes, and often holds its body so that it is leaned forward, with its head low and its abdomen high, this varying in degrees with intensity. If the agitation state is driven by a perceived threat, then the wasp typically orients its body at an angle relative to the threat; if the wasp orients itself to directly face the threat, it is typically about to ‘charge’ towards it in rapid flight.

Flight

For a paper wasp, flight serves as the main method of movement over any distance beyond a few inches. If an enclosure is properly set up, this proves to be the case in captivity as well. If a wasp relies extensively on walking, barring illness, this is usually indicative of insufficient lighting. As discussed earlier, a wasp requires a proper light intensity as well as light composition to be able to resolve spatial information in order to navigate in three dimensional space. A wasp that is not confident about what is around it will not fly.

Initially, a captive paper wasp’s first goal in an enclosure will be to escape. This will consist nearly entirely of grappling with the concept of boundaries within their enclosure by running into the surface regularly as well as crawling across it. Fortunately, they are capable of adapting to the confines of an enclosure, with escape attempts and collisions born of confusion gradually tapering off over time.

The time needed to properly orient to an enclosure and adapt to navigation within it varies greatly by the individual wasp and their cognitive ability. Some individuals pick up on it right away, while others may take multiple weeks to understand and adapt. The average time frame for orientation to an enclosure consists of about a week, roughly. While it can be frustrating to watch a wasp repeatedly bump into the top or sides of their enclosure, patience is key, and the phenomenon nearly always resolves.

Once oriented to an enclosure, a wasp will use flight to navigate and move around within it as they do in the wild. This tends to be a prerequisite for any sort of nest initiation.

 

[wauce]

WK101-2: SOCIAL BEHAVIOR
​

While the section on basic behaviors covered the behaviors of individual wasps, this next section will serve to provide information on social behaviors of paper wasps in captivity.

Hierarchy & Castes

The mechanics of dominance, submission and hierarchy are the driving forces behind any given colony of paper wasps. While there are not strict biological castes such as in the colonies of Vespula species, there are some rules to dynamics within a colony of Polistes wasps that are generally not broken.

As an example, a daughter will never usurp a living foundress; if the colony was initiated by multiple cooperating foundresses, they may fight for dominance between themselves, but will always be dominant over their daughter workers. If a dominant egg-laying female dies, she will be replaced by the next highest ranking co-foundress. In the case of the death of a lone foundress, her place is typically taken by the most senior worker present on the nest.

Dominance and hierarchy between workers operates within a generational structure, with the older generation of workers always being dominant over a younger generation of workers. Within the cadre of a given generation, dominance is determined typically by age.

Dominance between foundresses is more fluid, and is dictated by fitness. This often turns out to be fighting ability or a tenacious temperament.

The physical appearance of a worker and that of a ‘queen’, or gyne, is indistinguishable with Polistes wasps. It is possible (and relatively common) for a worker to be larger than a gyne; the distinguishing factor between the two is the ability to overwinter, which the gyne possesses while the worker does not.

A gyne can be distinguished within the enclosure behaviorally by the absence of work performed and an overall slow tempo of activity. A gyne’s main goal is to fatten up for the coming winter and conserve energy to that end, and may also cluster in the corner or in shelter with fellow gynes to form a hibernaculum.

Dominance Interactions

In paper wasps, most interactions between individuals related to dominance can be typified into a few different stereotyped behaviors. These different behaviors follow in an order of severity, and if two wasps are in contention, there are varying levels of escalation associated with each.

Identification

The interactions relating to hierarchy between individual wasps starts with a basic gaze of identification between two individuals. If the nest hierarchy is established, and the two individuals are familiar with each other, then this will be a brief passing moment that may not even be noticed by an observer.

If there is contention within the hierarchy, or a hierarchy is not established, then the identification phase will last longer as the two wasps size each other up.

Challenging

Following identification and contention, the wasp aspiring to dominance will raise their antennae and leer closer to the other wasp; this may be followed by submission on the part of the other wasp, or escalation by a challenge of their own.

Bowing

Bowing is an act of submission to another wasp where the individual will lower themselves to the substrate and lay still while bowing their head and antennae. This may or may not appease the dominant wasp.

Biting

Biting serves as either an affirmation of established dominance between two individuals, or as an escalation following a challenge. Following the bow of a submissive wasp, the dominant wasp may briefly bite at the submitting wasp, or escalate further to a mount.

Mounting

Mounting is an escalation beyond biting, though only occurs after the submitting individual bows to the dominant wasp. Mounting appears as the dominant wasp climbing atop the submissive wasp and repeatedly biting the submissive wasp in various places over their body. This may be relatively brief, or carry on for a few moments. This behavior appears to be more common in hierarchies with contention, or after a prolonged challenging phase.

Fighting

Fighting is the maximum escalation within a dominance interaction, and is the result of the inability between two wasps to settle their status between each other. The wasps will grapple each other and fall from the nest; they may part while falling, or continue to grapple until they reach the ground. Fighting is beyond the ritual interactions above, and may result in the death of a wasp as they attempt to bite and sting each other past the tough armored exoskeleton covering them.

A wasp may retreat, but fighting tends to mark the escalation beyond reconcilable differences, and an attempt to return to the nest will result in further fighting.

 

[XxMochiixX]

This is an incredibly informative post, thank you for sharing! I have also noticed my P. dominula are completely inactive without proper light. The fuscatus don't seem to care if the lights are off, and metricus are somewhere in between from what i've seen. Anyway, the setup and wasps are beautiful, M. flavitarsis is a dream species to own.

 

[wauce]

This is an incredibly informative post, thank you for sharing! I have also noticed my P. dominula are completely inactive without proper light. The fuscatus don't seem to care if the lights are off, and metricus are somewhere in between from what i've seen. Anyway, the setup and wasps are beautiful, M. flavitarsis is a dream species to own.

Thanks for the kind words friend, your post was an inspiration to make an account and post my own. We'll see how my nests do this year and if I'm able to achieve any mating in captivity, but if all goes well I'm willing to send a few gynes out.

 

[XxMochiixX]

Thanks for the kind words friend, your post was an inspiration to make an account and post my own. We'll see how my nests do this year and if I'm able to achieve any mating in captivity, but if all goes well I'm willing to send a few gynes out.

I wish you the best of luck with your nests this season, i would love to get started with an advanced setup like yours eventually. The P. fuscatus in my post were all raised, mated and overwintered in captivity, so captive breeding of polistines is definitely possible.

Your knowledge of waspkeeping will certainly be great for the hobby and getting more species established!

 

[SonOfSerket]

Just thought I'd share some pictures of my setup and progress so far-- feel free to ask any questions or talk shop about your own setup. I don't believe any others have tried this species yet in captivity, but if they're near you, I think it's worth a try if you're at all interested. Time to nest initiation is low, and their light requirements seemingly aren't very high either. Their diapause also seems to be facultative, so in theory, it may be possible to raise nesting wasps year-round in the right circumstances.

I'm mostly relying on artificial lighting, the main light being a 175W metal halide bulb in a reptile dome fixture that I wired into a ballast. This bulb gives off about 14k lumens, with a decent proportion of this being the blue and near-UV spectrum. I also have two supplementary lights; a 200W LED high bay fixture, and a typical LED black light bulb for navigation and orientation of the wasps within the enclosure. From my experience, the violent and UVA spectrum emitted by a black light bulb helps improve wasp activity under artificial lights.

While the attention to lighting may seem disproportionate to some, it's been my experience that wasps, when kept indoors, suffer from malaise and inactivity to an extent not experienced by other more commonly kept insects. Roaches, mantises, ants and others will for the most part do fine with ambient lighting; such is not the case for wasps, who seem to be deeply affected by both light intensity and photoperiod.

Photoperiod for the wasps is controlled by a basic smart plug, which allows for the programming of schedules within an app to dictate on and off times for the lights.

View attachment 495853

For enclosures, I'm using off brand "repti-breeze" type screen cages from Amazon, which used to be much more expensive, but thankfully came down in price a bit over the years. I placed hides consisting of modified and cut cardboard boxes glued to the sides of the cage to serve as nesting areas, and provided cardboard platforms for food and water dishes on the sides of the cage as well, since the wasps are initially adverse to venturing downward in the enclosure.

View attachment 495854

Initially, a pulp source was supplied in the form of heavy cardstock that was soaked in water overnight to loosen the fibers to ease gathering for the wasps. However, the cardstock didn't seem desirable to them, and I ended up replacing it with chunks of weathered old wood boards, which the wasps took to quite quickly.

View attachment 495855

The initial six wasps were captured from 4/3-4/9, which were the first warm days of the year. They were placed 3 to an enclosure, although conflict between the wasps and the lack of initiation for two of the wasps (one in each) led me to releasing one of them, and putting the other in a small enclosure of her own lit with a simple daylight LED bulb. As of now, she hasn't shown much progress towards initiation, but I like her coloration, and in a way it's a test of a more minimalist waspkeeping setup.

Time to nest initiation was roughly about a week for most of the wasps; however, there is still one foundress who has not yet initiated a nest. All of the initiations were by lone wasps, with no cooperation between wasps, which I understand is normal for this species. The wasps initially did not show interest in initiating; the first sign of 'interest' in this instance was an appetite for protein supplied in the form of recently killed waxworms and red runner roaches. With a few days following the consumption of protein, the wasps developed an interest in pulp sources, which within a day led to nest initiation.

View attachment 495856

The interest in protein being a prerequisite for nest initiation is by no means universal, and in other species such as P. dominula, interest in protein was seen to only develop after nest initiation and during the appearance of larvae in the nest.

Here is the current state of three out of four of the nests; the fourth is within one of the cardboard hides that I didn't create outside access to.

View attachment 495857
View attachment 495858
View attachment 495859

I LOVE paper wasps...never even CONCEIVED of trying to rear them in captivity. This is absolutely amazing!

 

[wauce]

I wish you the best of luck with your nests this season, i would love to get started with an advanced setup like yours eventually. The P. fuscatus in my post were all raised, mated and overwintered in captivity, so captive breeding of polistines is definitely possible.

Your knowledge of waspkeeping will certainly be great for the hobby and getting more species established!

That's very good news, then. I've always had issues with facilitating mating in captivity, that might be impatience though. I'm hoping having a few different nests will help with that.

I LOVE paper wasps...never even CONCEIVED of trying to rear them in captivity. This is absolutely amazing!

This is why I think getting the word out is important! XxMochiixX keeps them too and there's some good documentation and photos in her thread as well. Thanks for the kind words.

 

[XxMochiixX]

That's very good news, then. I've always had issues with facilitating mating in captivity, that might be impatience though. I'm hoping having a few different nests will help with that.



This is why I think getting the word out is important! XxMochiixX keeps them too and there's some good documentation and photos in her thread as well. Thanks for the kind words.

From what i've seen with pretty much every Polistes species i've had, if you isolate the males into a separate setup for a few hours or even days, they'll immediately get right to trying to mate with any female you put in there. If mating activity dies down, then i remove the female and try again once the males are running around active again. It's not really necessary but it does speed things up if they're taking their time with it. It might be similar with Mischocyttarus too.. i remember P. dominula males seem to prefer socializing/huddling over breeding if they've been with the same females too long, and separating them seems to bring out their drive to mate again.
P. fuscatus and other similar species were a little different.. the males seemed to all go into a restless frenzy on random days and fly around lunging at any gynes that moved. It's also WAY more violent looking than with P. dominula, but no one seems to get injured!
I didn't remove the males in last year's fuscatus colony soon enough, so there was some mating between nestmates. I don't know if that has any real effects, since some Polistes species will even mate on the nest in the wild. I do plan on outbreeding them with a different nest this year though, just to see how well color traits are passed down. I hope your wasps will get it right this year and give you lots of fertile gynes!

 

[wauce]

The wasps seem to grasp the concept of a water and nectar or honey dish pretty quickly; however, a dish for prey seems harder for them to understand-- which makes sense, since a static location to source prey doesn't really exist in the wild.

The M. flavitarsis hunting behavior seems to be as follows: they will fly around in a loose searching pattern until they detect prey through scent; then, they'll descend and search for the prey visually, usually on a plant, but potentially the ground as well.

For the prey dish, many times the wasps will descend when they detect the scent of the prey, but will be confused at the lack of typical visual markers and return to the searching pattern.

The following is a crude solution to this problem (believe it or not, it tends to work).




The fake leaves seem to serve as a cue for the wasps to search under and around them for their prey.

 

[XxMochiixX]

The wasps seem to grasp the concept of a water and nectar or honey dish pretty quickly; however, a dish for prey seems harder for them to understand-- which makes sense, since a static location to source prey doesn't really exist in the wild.

The M. flavitarsis hunting behavior seems to be as follows: they will fly around in a loose searching pattern until they detect prey through scent; then, they'll descend and search for the prey visually, usually on a plant, but potentially the ground as well.

For the prey dish, many times the wasps will descend when they detect the scent of the prey, but will be confused at the lack of typical visual markers and return to the searching pattern.

The following is a crude solution to this problem (believe it or not, it tends to work).

View attachment 496254 View attachment 496253


The fake leaves seem to serve as a cue for the wasps to search under and around them for their prey.

What a brilliant idea! I have had issues with wasps locating prey, unless it's something they can see actively moving (like crickets) they never found immobile prey in a dish easily.

 

[wauce]

What a brilliant idea! I have had issues with wasps locating prey, unless it's something they can see actively moving (like crickets) they never found immobile prey in a dish easily.

It's gross, but another way to get them to sense prey through olfactory means is to crush it a bit.

 

[wauce]

First workers!

 

[scottyk]

Fascinating. Thank you for posting this and keep the updates coming.