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Last year, I made the mistake of exposing the colony's foundress to direct sunlight for about five minutes during relocation (the drive to my house from the capture site). She never fully recovered and eventually passed away after a few days. The other colony's members did eventually step up, raising the grubs up to adults and building onto the nest. However, none of them laid eggs. I don't know if the Polistes genus is one of those that can't spawn a new queen or if something is required for a worker to make that jump. This is a subject for further research.
The method of capture remains the same as the other article. The only thing that's changed is the time. I captured this nest at night. This foundress decided to build her colony in the same place as the colony I captured last year did.
To capture the foundress, I simply took a super soaker squirt gun and filled it with ice water. The cold immobilized her so she couldn't fly away or sting me. After the foundress or any other possible workers are out of the way, the nest can be safely harvested by hand. The grubs don't sting...but you'll want to make sure the workers are out of the way.
You are going to want to harvest your nest at the beginning of the summer, when the nests are still relatively small. There are two reasons for this.
1.) The nests are still small. You don't have to worry about dozens of angry workers swarming you at once.
2.) The foundress is easily discernable. Generally, the foundress likes to keep her first generation of workers small (she does this by feeding the grubs less) to avoid any struggles for dominance when they emerge. Thus, at the beginning of the summer the foundress will always be the biggest wasp in the nest. If you lose a few workers, it won't matter. However, if you lose the foundress you will have to try again the following night.
Here is the nest I captured:
http://a444.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/87/l_8b9db017201609c738e6070493801ffb.jpg
You can see the grubs and the one cell that's covered up belongs to a grub about to form itself into a pupa.
I'd like to make a special note of this: Generally, the safest time you're going to find to capture the wasp's nest is during the day, when it's easier to see what you're doing. Capturing the colony at night is simply what worked for me the best.
After you're done capturing the colony, it's generally a good idea to refridgerate the foundress for a few minutes. I didn't find this neccesary.
The second thing I'm changing wasn't really a mistake. I found the CD spindle design easy enough to use, but I did have a few problems with escapes that new keepers wouldn't really want to deal with.
This year, I decided to set up the colony in a 5 gallon tank instead of a CD spindle. I especially like this version, it gives me room to observe the colony's interactions with each other and allows easier maintenance. If you're going to use a tank, it's preferable to use a model with a sliding top. We'll get to this later.
http://a302.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/72/l_959847e590e8f34a68d4afb1802caac5.jpg
If you're working on this late at night (these pictures were taken at like two in the morning) caffine isn't a bad idea because a pissed off vespid will likely be moving faster than you will.
I'd like to thank this guy for letting me finish this project in half an hour, and also keeping me alert enough to not be foolish: (well, kind of)
http://a53.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/102/l_bfa8e8487fbcd257c5521a3ba99e0974.jpg
The next step is to prepare the tank. A lot of people like to keep their wasp nests out in the open surrounded by nothing but clear plastic. This is for visibility.
I don't like to do this. I found my colony last year spent much more time looking at me (we'll get to this behaivior later) than they did interacting amongst themselves. To combat this, I used a modified cardboard box to create sort of a 'fence' (for lack of a better term) around the colony to make them feel safe. You might have to cut a cardboard box to size. Here's how I made mine:
First, I took a box that someone had shipped stuff to me in and cut it like so:
http://a12.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/120/l_0a6d663e1831f3e90bae93fab38b5d33.jpg
Then, I cut that part off. I then cut two peices off the scraps and glued them to form something that looked like the top half of the box. Here's the result before trimming:
http://a744.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/124/l_d048211ba7329bb7b1a5d7edd0588327.jpg
I decided to use cardboard for two reasons.
1.) It might help make their nest. Paper wasps usually like to chew up wood or paper to add on to their nest. This will theoretically supply building materials to help them add to their nests.
2.) Wasps generally use porous materials to attach their nests to. I've never seen a nest on plastic...as of yet. Most of the nests I see are attached to the sides of houses on wooden parts. I even know of one case where wasps built their nest in a fully decomposed human skull. This will seem a bit more natural to them.
The next thing you need to to is set the orientation of the tank. This is something I thought up because I'm a bit anal about this, but you need to be able to work with your wasps with the hand you feel the most comfortable with.
This is how mine is set up:
http://a239.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/102/l_3dbfc0d6ca86523f15354f08c495119e.jpg
As you can see, I'm right handed so I prefer my tank's sliding door opens to the left.
http://a199.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/69/l_cbd0c19b845b7a8fa9dcecca9c980086.jpg
When I built the enclosure, I made sure my tank's door opened to the right so I could be certian it would open to the left when I was done.
Next, you want to glue the wasp's nest to the cardboard. This part, I screwed up royally at first:
http://a535.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/94/l_22eff8766c2815148bdee584f14fabc6.jpg
As you can see, the nest is way too close to the side. You need to leave a little bit of space between the colony and the side of the 'fence'. To correct this, just simply cut the first layer of cardboard off and pull up. You'll get something like this:
http://a4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/99/l_4e9458e94ac0d7bc557b3dca3643f163.jpg
Now, please remember when you're dealing with anything that's sharp and pointy at 2 AM that caffine is not a substitute for caution. I did manage to injure myself with the knife I was using:
http://a400.ac-image...4d680cad36f.jpg
It looks worse than it was.
When you glue the colony, make sure the nest is as vertically orientated as possible. It needs to be straight up and down if you want this to succeed.
Glue the nest and 'fence' in the bottom of the tank upside-down like so:
http://a413.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/126/l_acad626eb2d689d7b5bbdef3260f7964.jpg
The result is a polistes enclosure you can comfortably do maintenance in:
http://a199.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/69/l_cbd0c19b845b7a8fa9dcecca9c980086.jpg
Now...the interesting part. Re-introduction of the queen to the nest. Here's the container I used to capture the queen:
http://a69.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/123/l_3263eb70e24e536f9c276cf732c4d14c.jpg
Opaque sides are definitely a bonus...especially if you capture your colony during the day.
Anyways...re-introduction of the foundress to the nest isn't the easiest thing in the world. Follow these instructions very carefully...
...One, open the container.
http://a914.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/107/l_aa3cc4763eec1ba3130ba6551604d0e1.jpg
She will climb up to the top of the container like so:
http://a874.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/102/l_a002832545f0d4ced8ec4d9edc554151.jpg
And then, she'll find her nest by smell.
http://a367.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/68/l_3f47e64b5fa49e53c15f6288eb1481f6.jpg
You can't screw it up ;)
http://a943.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/80/l_a694d841a6c9a926ec80b6848e75cfd6.jpg
She will find her nest on her own. You may need the assistance of a pencil to place her on it, but if the foundress is healthy she will find her own nest without any assistance.
That's it for the housing portion...it's all pretty simple. Now, for the care portion.
The care for wasps is extremely simple. They are predators, so they prefer live prey. The adults hunt prey for the grubs which need a high protien diet. The adults themselves eat sugary substances. The grubs produce a sugary substance they use to nourish the adults.
I've never seen my wasps hunt. Tleilaxu has seen this behaivior and I expect he'll fill this part in the best he can.
However, I have seen what happens after the wasp catches it's food. They seem to hunt almost like mantids. Mine used it's jaws and front legs to immobilize the prey in question and then drug it around the cage, looking for a good place to dine:
http://a434.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_10d568c889ae897c71bcf38093bc88c9.jpg
http://a129.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/113/l_36014192441e795d9ff3d9dd202cfc20.jpg
http://a990.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/81/l_f0bc8a693b14ddb3dbb28f42b3d66fdd.jpg
They're messy eaters that can take up to 15 minutes to finish a meal.
These guys prefer soft bodied food. I tried lobster roaches for awhile, but I couldn't tell if they were being eaten or simply crawling out of the enclosure. I suspect B. dubia et. al are too hard bodied as nymphs for these guys. So as much as I hate crickets, they really are the perfect food for wasps. I reccomend feeding them crickets no bigger than the head and the thorax of the foundress.
I've also had one of the wasps take freshly killed food. This is the exception rather than the rule because it was the smaller worker that did this. I always keep a handful of (three maximum) crickets in the cage with the wasps. They take one or two per day. I expect this number to increase exponentially as the colony gets bigger.
After the adults capture the food and consume it, they fly back to the nest and feed the larvae in the same manner which birds are so famous for-they regurgitate it.
Pics of the feeding process: (I kind of disturbed them towards the end)
http://a745.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/84/l_6b231671357411059f41fe48bdd145f8.jpg
http://a708.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/123/l_2152ba763d6c40a90f35e4f84e033313.jpg
http://a894.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/112/l_548549802546976be376bfcd99e50c85.jpg
http://a676.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/114/l_7a71d28fa2fbfe01d583c5d23f2cbaeb.jpg
Like I said earlier, you need to take the requirements of the adults into consideration as well. Even though the adults hunt and appear to eat, they don't actually use the food they catch for the nymphs. Instead, the adults eat sugary liquids. I prefer fruit juices (usually apple and orange) or pop. I plan on switching to watered down honey within the week.
The food for the adults needs to be changed daily, as it will mould within 48 hours. Don't ask me how this works, because I honestly don't think I could increase ventilation any more with this setup.
So...yeah, that's pretty much it for feeding. Crickets of an appropriate size, sugary liquids and a water cap are all that's required.
http://a679.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_f7fad271237f2c91d0c845cdf0579c6e.jpg
Next, you need to learn about warning behaivior. Normally this species is pretty laid back. All the photos of the nest were taken with my hands 6 inches or less from the nest.
However, there are certian times when you absolutely do not want to mess with the colony at all. For some, this comes at the same time every day. I haven't noticed anything like this.
Avoiding stings is pretty much common sense. You'll soon learn the baseline behaiviors of your new pets, which is pretty much general disinterest. They will rest with their wings folded across their backs and will usually spend most of their time tending to their grubs and socializing.
Once you open the cage's door their behaivior may change. If the wasps are following your every move but their wings are still folded over their back, maintanence is OK as long as you don't make any sudden moves and don't come within a few inches of the nest. They will be curious about any large disturbance of their territory, but will generally keep their distance. They will eventually learn to associate you with food and will leave you well alone.
Sometimes you will see them holding their wings in a similar fashion to this series of pictures:
http://a360.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/77/l_7d5e9f6fd44bdc0d4a5d1c25daae3287.jpg
http://a679.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/74/l_f7fad271237f2c91d0c845cdf0579c6e.jpg
http://a493.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/81/l_629879aee4ff12635ea42967e32bce3c.jpg
http://a531.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/84/l_f2f6dda5cace5b3c4046d4192883b212.jpg
http://a207.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/72/l_75f073bf9a44c76225e1b6c55afa949e.jpg
http://a708.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/100/l_d9a7db1f2fdbdcbc0a452a3b657190c3.jpg
http://a115.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/89/l_c4485292ee8fdc60a3aa0d53eb2f86f2.jpg
This is what I call a stage one warning display. They will display themselves like this when they feel you are coming too close. The purpose of this is to seem bigger than they are.
I had to blow on the colony to get them to do this, and even then they didn't stay in this pose long enough for me to snap really good shots of them. I've built up a kind of rapport with my colony ;).
The next type of warning is what I call a stage two warning, where the entire colony loudly buzzes in unison. If you recieve this type of greeting, maintenance is not a good idea.
The next type of warning is a stage three warning, which is very rare. They generally just up and sting you at this point.
Even though the last word I would ever use to describe these guys is 'docile', it does kind of describe their demeanor. As long as you don't harass the nest, they do keep their distance.
Polistes fuscatus is the only wasp I currently have access to, so this caresheet only applies to this species. P. fuscatus is a common species in the northern states and I'm not 100% sure of it's range.
This post has been edited by Cheshire: 01 July 2007 - 07:37 PM
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