12 replies to this topic

[ZTYguy]

I was trying to figure this out. What is the point of keeping wasps and how do you. I am interested but I don't want to get something that will turn into taking up an entire room or something like that. Again just wondering.

[Manitobant]

Wasps are fun to watch construct their nest and grow from a single queen to a colony over the season. They are also very intelligent and can be taught to accept food from your hand. The genus that is most commonly kept, polistes, can be kept in a small terrarium or kritter keeper and have small colonies.

A guide on keeping them:

[Swirlysnowflake]

So... keeping wasps. i did a ton of research before going out and catching my first queens. you want to do that to know as much as possible on how to contain them because they are highly intelligent, and dangerous. two good resources are connectimyrmex’s journal here on formiculture, and maculifrons videos on youtube. also one thing- you need to know if you are allergic. do not keep wasps if you are (obviously) and if you don't know. if you have never been stung by a wasp, please don't try keeping them, because u might be allergic.

Now, why do people keep wasps? i honestly don’t know, i want them because i like having something that could sting me, is dangerous, and scares people yes i am strange. they are highly intelligent, and each wasp has its own personality. especially my two queens are so different.

How much space- i would say the more space the better. you do not want to start with hornets or yellowjackets. both are aggressive, much much more so than polistes, and they both get huge colonies, sometime in the hundreds of workers. Polistes often gets 15-20 workers, though that depends on species. you want to give them as much space as possible. for a founding queen, some people use kritter keepers. i don’t, because them you would have to upgrade by breaking off the nest and the queen and moving her and i don't want to do that. I am starting with a 29 gallon tank (i think its 29 gallon, or maybe its 20) i guess you could probably start with a 10 and use connection tubes to connect it to other nests. if you have enough space, you can free range them so basically just open the tank door and allow the wasps to forage on their own. most people do this after 5-10 workers, because by then the queen is nest bound.

The workers feed on honey water, nectar, etc. and the larvae feed on insects. they do eat a lot of insects, i think you feed them every day or something. and they eat flies and caterpillars, so most people use blue bottle flies (you can get pupae at mantis online shops) and hornworms/waxworms. and for the adults, you just feed them like u would ants. you can hand tame the queen (and you should) by putting honey on your fingertip and offering it to her. this tames her, and when workers come they will see her behavior around you and won't try to murder you every time you open their tank to maintain the tank.

inside the tank you want to have cardboard and wood for them to use as nest material. the video that manitobant provided has how to set up a tank.

and catching the queens- you can go out now and find pre hibernation queens and hibernate them until spring/january. they will be easier to find in spring but if you are impatient like me, and search enough, you will be able to find them now.

 

I don't know if you wanted all that information, but i’m still new to wasps though, this is just all that I've found through my research. hope it helps!

[Ants_Dakota]

i am interested in bees, actually, so this is facinating! thanks for the info!

[OhNoNotAgain]

Hand-taming wasps ... wow. I thought people taming the wild lizards in the yard was cool, but a tame colony of wasps would be incredibly cool, too. Though uh ... neighbors might not appreciate it if they free forage....

[Swirlysnowflake]

Hand-taming wasps ... wow. I thought people taming the wild lizards in the yard was cool, but a tame colony of wasps would be incredibly cool, too. Though uh ... neighbors might not appreciate it if they free forage....

haha yes that is why i cannot free range my wasps 

[Ants_Dakota]

neighbor, when he sees you walking your wasps around the block.

[ZTYguy]

neighbor, when he sees you walking your wasps around the block.

My neighbors already think i'm weird. 

[Swirlysnowflake]

 

neighbor, when he sees you walking your wasps around the block.

My neighbors already think i'm weird. 

 

my neighbors have complained so many times about our birds being noisy and give me weird looks when i start jumping around my yard swishing a net through the air trying to catch wasps and termite alates 

Edited by Swirlysnowflake, November 6 2020 - 1:41 PM.

[Ants_Dakota]

 

 

neighbor, when he sees you walking your wasps around the block.

My neighbors already think i'm weird. 

 

my neighbors have complained so many times about our birds being noisy and give me weird looks when i start jumping around my yard swishing a net through the air trying to catch wasps and termite alates 

 

haha! i have actually gotten 3 of my neighbors into ants, so that is kind of funny. working for the whole block...(jk)

[M_Ants]

No fair. I wish I knew other ant keepers in real life.

[ZTYguy]

Me too. You know what be cool, is a big get together with other anters in you area and go oon a big anting trip in july or sometime like that

[M_Ants]

It's been done more than one time. Usually with people in LA. I'm down in no ant keepersville. 

Edited by M_Ants, November 6 2020 - 6:02 PM.