# I bet you didn't see this hobby coming!



## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

Wasp keeping! Surprisingly its got a few converts, two in China and five in the United States as far as I am aware, my self being one of them. Anyways here are some pics of the colonies I have raised. I actually got an article Published in Invertebrate Magazine as well!

Polistes fuscatus:



















































































































































The yellow one was the dickhead of the colony, so I marked her so I knew where she was all times. 

Polistes dominula































Basic enclsoure:










Well enjoy!


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)




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## shellshock187 (Apr 19, 2011)

That looks Epic...your a brave man!! i have to say they are not my favourite BUT i doth my cap to you sir in respect for your chosen hobby...i bet its fascinating to watch them build there nest and to watch the communal aspect of it??


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

Most definitely, and here is the kicker, it has been found that wasps can remember interactions with individual wasps and people for up to two weeks, so if interactions are positive and non threatening they will allow you surprising liberty to work near the nest, and will even take food from your hand. But they also each have their own personality as well, and there is ALWAYS one that wants to be a pain in the ass no matter what, and even gets the others all upset too XD.


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## martin3 (May 24, 2011)

Very cool!!.do you need to split the colony when the grubs emerge ?
& can they fly free like bee keeping?


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## shellshock187 (Apr 19, 2011)

Polistes said:


> Most definitely, and here is the kicker, it has been found that wasps can remember interactions with individual wasps and people for up to two weeks, so if interactions are positive and non threatening they will allow you surprising liberty to work near the nest, and will even take food from your hand. But they also each have their own personality as well, and there is ALWAYS one that wants to be a pain in the ass no matter what, and even gets the others all upset too XD.


For real...:gasp:!!!, that flipping amazing,. so what your saying is the wasp has a memory span?? for two weeks and can base its interactions ergo decisions on the environment Dependant on the specifics of its relationship with its immediate environment and local colony and anything else it comes in contact with, within that two week time frame...jheeeze theres so much we don't know!!!!!


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## 4lph4d0g (Feb 24, 2009)

Polistes said:


> Most definitely, and here is the kicker, it has been found that wasps can remember interactions with individual wasps and people for up to two weeks, so if interactions are positive and non threatening they will allow you surprising liberty to work near the nest, and will even take food from your hand. But they also each have their own personality as well, and there is ALWAYS one that wants to be a pain in the ass no matter what, and even gets the others all upset too XD.


That is just crazy. I would never have thought that. I have a slight wasp phobia. They are really intresting tho. Great stuff man. 

Does this mean if i run from a wasp, if he sees me again some time in the next 2 weeks he will take chase again.:lol2:


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

martin3 said:


> Very cool!!.do you need to split the colony when the grubs emerge ?
> & can they fly free like bee keeping?


No I don't split the colonies I assume this is referring to possible queens killing eachother off? Either ways wasps have a specific way of making queens and what not.

As for free ranging yes you can do that once the colony is established, however my intent was to find a basic way for people to successfully keep them indoors without outside help. These guys are awesome pest control by the way so it could be advantageous for the gardener to have a colony or two near their plots. They eat a TON of bugs and pollinate flowers too.

@41ph4dog People have reported that if they had pissed off a colony in the past that the wasps will behave more aggressively towards them if they come near, while people who have remained level headed around the wasps generally get ignored by the wasps in a wild setting. In a captive setting I have seen them calm down and accept the typical routine of cage cleaning and feeding, ect ect, while if you make a loud noise or sudden fast movement they tend to be a bit more jumpy until they settle back down again. I relocated a bald faced hornet colony, and although I could get near to get the colony, after the release I could not get close enough to take a pic without a major defensive reaction. Then again vespula and Dolichovespula are bitches to the max.


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

Here are pics of the Dolichovespula maculata





































These dudes are the hornet killers, they are the top wasp predator and a good killer of flies as well, feeding them for the few days I had them was a pain in the ass, they ate a ton of honey and getting enough live food was next to impossible.

here is a link to a pic of them eating a hornet I provided for them 
Bald faced Hornets preying on male yellowjacket. - Dolichovespula maculata - BugGuide.Net

The relocation was a failure some predator got the nest a few weeks after I put it back up in a new tree. (They needed to be relacated because they were on a friends property and his wife was allergic to them so I tried to save them but failed.)

Here are the studies:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/12/01/sociable-wasps-have-an-eye-for-faces/

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/6734

http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1201-hance_insects.html

It is easily conceivable that they can recognize patterns and smells on particular humans as well, and my experiences and the experiences of a few other hobbyists tend to support this but more studies are needed.


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## gambitgareth (Sep 18, 2011)

i saw a wasp in my garage it was very big, my dad let it crawl on his hand and it was a weird type - more yellow than a common wasp and it had a yellow spike and the base of its abdomen and then under that it had a longer spike which i presume was its sting... I thought it was a god, but what type of wasp was it?


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## mcluskyisms (Jan 24, 2010)

We've been doing it for years with bees. 










:whistling2:


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

gambitgareth said:


> i saw a wasp in my garage it was very big, my dad let it crawl on his hand and it was a weird type - more yellow than a common wasp and it had a yellow spike and the base of its abdomen and then under that it had a longer spike which i presume was its sting... I thought it was a god, but what type of wasp was it?


Hornet?


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## spinnin_tom (Apr 20, 2011)

thats pretty awesome.
they look a lot like mud daubers.. i love those :notworthy:


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## gambitgareth (Sep 18, 2011)

jaykickboxer said:


> Hornet?


nah it was bright yellow - was big tho and had long wings, i'll try t'internet a pic ... to be continued ... :lol2:


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## gambitgareth (Sep 18, 2011)

wood wasp - Google Search

like these - but the one we found was much more yellow - but that is essentially the thing - pretty big too


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

As for the wasp that someone saw and was wondering what it was, it was likely an ichneumon wasp, and that long thing on its abdomen is its ovipositor, which it uses to drill into wood to lay its egg into wood boring larva of beetles or other insects. I don't think they can sting.

As for parasitic wasps I have hatched a few but keeping them is difficult unless you know the host species that they use to breed, though its well within the realm of possibility to successfully keep certain species.


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## boabloketony (Jan 22, 2007)

I have a wasp phobia so it was hard to look at your pictures and I certainly could never keep them myself :blush: but I greatly admire you for keeping them. You seem to really know your stuff


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## gambitgareth (Sep 18, 2011)

nah it was a wood wasp - i provided the link to a pic - beautiful creatures. but omg that ichy.. wasp is very pretty where might i spot one?


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## callum b (Sep 8, 2008)

Wow, some amazing pictures. I'd love to sit and watch them build a nest.

Isn't there another user on here that keeps wasps?? I think his username was Vespula vulgaris.


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## Corsetts (Dec 8, 2008)

Dude, you're nuts.

In all seriousness, fair play to you but I've had too many beer/ice cream/wasp interactions to look at them as anything but a major PITA

Nice pictures though, it must be interesting to study them, but I think I'd far prefer the bees above.

There is another nutter, sorry enthusiast, on here who keeps them as mentioned by Callum B. You may be interested in checking his thread out 

Thanks for sharing,

Chris


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## kris74 (May 10, 2011)

There was another kid recently who has the same interest as you. Seems he got banned for some reason?

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/spiders-inverts/775372-anyone-else-keep-social-wasps.html


Edit. Just read the two threads above this one


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

LOL after checking that dudes posting history it seems he was banned because he was rather confrontational... The fear wasps and hornets is one of the only "insect and spider" phobias that I respect due to the fact attacks by these animals can be rather nasty and traumatizing if your younger, my first be sting was a rather terrifying experience, I was only four, and it took me a few years to get over it. Then again I did learn not to grab large bugs by hand unless you absolutely know what it is... LOL

As for wasp temperaments, vespula and Dolichovespula are the worst offenders. I don't have experience with Vespa so I can't comment on them. On the easy going side Polistes can't be beat, except for one or two species. With Polistes gigas being the gentle giant of the wasp word.

As for Asian species I have had P. gigas, sagittarius, and olivaceus. Of these olivaceus was a holy terror, I nicknamed them "OSTs" for Orange Stingy Thing. sagittarius was rather jumpy but still easy to work with, and gigas is the gentle giant of the wasp world, allowing you to even handle them. Now for the pics. And needless to say I complained to the company that sent me that bamboo wind chime I ordered because getting three separate species of wasps as stowaways is not cool.

Polistes sagittarius

















^*warning display, telling me to back off*


















































































This colony came as a stowaway on an ordimant I ordered from China, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the nest with the queen. I was lucky to get this colony to go full circle but sadly this species does not have a long colony life span, and due to the aggression this wasp shows towards eachother colonies are rather small, with weak members being killed or driven off.


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## Polistes (Feb 20, 2012)

Polistes olivaceus



















I could only work with these guys at night time, the queens were highly defensive and flighty, and they refused any of the food items I offered, even silkworms, and hornworms, they did not last long. 

Polistes gigas. The gentle giants.














































I was unable to get them to establish themselves despite consulting with someone overseas who studied them. And that maybe a good thing as far as invasive species potential goes. Aside from the rare opportunity I got to work with them, the fact that they all came in on some ornaments is rather frightening if you think about it.

As for the nests you see in the pics you CAN order those within the states, as I guess people collect them.


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## Morgan Freeman (Jan 14, 2009)

Wow! Very cool.

You know in some places the larvae is a delicacy


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## swampeh (Dec 4, 2011)

Dude you are totally mad :no1:
I just tend to avoid them, i've been stung on the tongue while going to an interview (that went well lol) and my dogs keep getting stung every summer.
They seem to take over old rabbit burrows and fallen trees where we live.
Keep up the good work : victory:


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