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Abandoned Red Paper Wasp Nest

  • Thread starter NemJones
  • Start date

NemJones

I Am the Terror Of the Night!
Lately the wasps have begun nesting.


They are back in the shed as usual, building more nests on older colonies a
and creating large hexagon cities.

Also, in the mailbox, and at the side of the house.


However, going to check the smallest of the Nests,
I noticed it wasnt there. After searching nearby, I find the nest.
It must have been knocked off, or blown off. The queen is nowhere to be found.

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However, The young are still inside.

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Also, Finally being able to get seriously close and examine the nest in depth,
Ive Finally been able to verify something that people have denied, and called me crazy for, for years.



Wasps make honey.


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At this point, Not sure what to do. Im considering trying to lure the queen back and relocate her and the nest,
but I feel like she may not return. I dont want to let them die, as I think wasps are some of the coolest insect.
The other option would be to raise these orphaned grubs by hand.
 
Id just feed them to something else. Not as though you don't have plenty already. Personally, I always find the cut-away views of the large nests fascinating.

Wasps and hornets do not, TtBoMK, produce honey. Some species will raid bee nests and so perhaps they stole what you saw here. Did you taste the substance to see if it was actually honey? Might be interesting. Trying to feed the larvae could prove difficult. Hornets and wasps adults are carnivorous, as are their larvae.

Had a neat parasitoid wasp years back. Can't recall who gave it to me. The wasp was only a millimeter or two long. The females lay their eggs in the larvae or pupating individuals of Hymenoptera. (Can't recall with certainty, but think they would also utilize they pupae of Lepidoptera.) An incredible number of new wasps would emerge from the unlucky host. IIRC, it was one of the parasitoids whose zygotes actually divide at a very early stage inside the host, effectively increasing the number of offspring produced.



 
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