Wasps and Yellowjackets
- Thread starter Vulgaris
- Start date
RedEarthExotics
Second Instar
dude, those are awesome videos! keeping wasps have NEVER been an interest of mine. I'm a big baby when it comes to them I guess. I don't mind keeping and handling large retics, but a little teeny wasp will definitely get my attention. I don't want to get stung. I'm not sure I could ever hand feed or handle one like you do, but you have got me thinking of keeping some. I have a bunch of kritter keepers laying around......
Vulgaris
Fifth Instar
Wasps and bees are actually my main interest. I live to work with them, and they are my passion.
Thread wasted wasps are solitary wasps, each species with a different kind of life cycle. And there is an extreme variety of species, so they are near impossible to rear in captivity
Thread wasted wasps are solitary wasps, each species with a different kind of life cycle. And there is an extreme variety of species, so they are near impossible to rear in captivity
Ozymandias
Seventh Instar
varry nice never been into the whole wasp think but have always wanted to start bee keeping.
vfox
Blatta
That's impressive. A few questions though. How do you keep full nests from escaping while putting food and water in? Why bother taming the queens? Why do the males "leave" or do you need to remove them?
Just curious, we have two main types of wasps around here. Polistes genus I think, one is black and the other striped like a yellow jacket but it isn't like the ground dwelling ones.
Just curious, we have two main types of wasps around here. Polistes genus I think, one is black and the other striped like a yellow jacket but it isn't like the ground dwelling ones.
Vulgaris
Fifth Instar
what started out as wasps for me has turned into all sorts of bugs, including roaches! Wasps are still the main focus though.
Vfox: With larger colonies, water and food are replaced at night. Obviously yellowjacket colonies cannot be held captive for their entire life cycle, and are turned loose after the first workers emerge.
Taming the queen from the beginning will ultimately lead to a non aggressive colony that is easy to work with
Males need to leave in order to prevent inbreeding. If you leave them in the enclosure, all of your new queens will be inbred which is very bad. The females also give the signal when it's time for them to leave by biting at their legs
What you are probably referring to is Polistes fuscatus (one of the most abundant eastern wasps) and Polistes dominula (now extremely abundant non native). dominula is black and yellow and most people refer to it as a "yellowjacket" in general terms
Vfox: With larger colonies, water and food are replaced at night. Obviously yellowjacket colonies cannot be held captive for their entire life cycle, and are turned loose after the first workers emerge.
Taming the queen from the beginning will ultimately lead to a non aggressive colony that is easy to work with
Males need to leave in order to prevent inbreeding. If you leave them in the enclosure, all of your new queens will be inbred which is very bad. The females also give the signal when it's time for them to leave by biting at their legs
What you are probably referring to is Polistes fuscatus (one of the most abundant eastern wasps) and Polistes dominula (now extremely abundant non native). dominula is black and yellow and most people refer to it as a "yellowjacket" in general terms
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