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Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 2, 2016 19:44:32 GMT -5
...Today, one of these things flew into my greenhouse. I have never seen one before but they are almost twice as big as your typical yellow jacket, or the blue ones that have their abdomen hanging on a tail. So I caught it and fed it to one of my larger, seedling traps. In a matter of about 15 seconds the thing chewed a hole, like a scissor, in the trap and escaped! I don't have pics of it because I don't have eight arms, they are very nimble to say the least! I did get a pic of what it did. Don't feed these things to your Flytraps, they are a force to be reckoned with!!! ...be wary of these flying marauders!, thanks for looking. AV. EDIT - If I catch one again I will definitely post a pic here, I had no idea they were so vicious!
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Post by morphman on Jul 2, 2016 20:08:02 GMT -5
Awesome. I find wasps incredibly interesting and hope to learn more about them. Hope you don't have to kill them all but I understand if they are becoming a problem.
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Post by lloyd on Jul 2, 2016 20:29:10 GMT -5
Wasps can break out but they are the staple food of my Sarr's and it's fun to hear them buzzing like crazy at night.
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Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 2, 2016 20:46:55 GMT -5
...they are not a problem at all. I pick them off my Sarrs and feed them to my Flytraps all the time, Sarracenia are probably the most efficient at attracting and catching insects, they are pigs! I have just never seen a black and white wasp before. They are vicious!, I thought the thing was gonna chew through my tweezers, I could feel its mandibles grinding away. They are very strong. I don't know if they are common or not but be very careful with these, just a word of caution.
AV.
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Post by ellsie on Jul 5, 2016 13:40:25 GMT -5
Hi amanitovirosa,
I couldn't see your pic, and was wondering if your wasp resembled a bald-faced hornet?
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Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 5, 2016 16:33:41 GMT -5
Hi Ellsie, I don't know what a bald faced hornet looks like so I can't say. I can say however that I used to go on a lot of wasp nest destruction rampages with my little brother when we were a lot younger, with out badminton racquets. In all of the years we used to do it as kids I think we only got stung once or twice. I am familiar with the various wasps native to this part of the country, I have never seen a black and white one! Will look up the bald faced hornet, Thank You.
AV.
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Post by exoticplantseller on Jul 5, 2016 19:20:17 GMT -5
There are wasps called white jackets, they are black and white instead of yellow and black. They are a bit bigger and their stings hurt a lot more. I learned about them when I was camping. There was a nest in a tree above our campsite, it was the size of a basketball! And a lot of us got stung!
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Post by jbron on Jul 5, 2016 22:17:50 GMT -5
I've had something similar! except it was an underground nest, legs were just covered in white jackets haha
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Post by exoticplantseller on Jul 6, 2016 14:48:14 GMT -5
I've had something similar! except it was an underground nest, legs were just covered in white jackets haha Yeah I have had that too, I was at camp and a kid stepped on one and everybody got stung! The one kid got stung about 25 times!
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Post by peatmoss on Jul 6, 2016 20:45:47 GMT -5
Definitely sounds like a bald faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). They're impressive critters, with apparently painful stings, but they're reasonably peaceful, and aren't likely to attack unless they're provoked or you're near a nest (which are large and papery). I can imagine their mandibles would shred Sarracenia with little trouble! Here's an image of one from a few years back: D. maculata feeding by Gabriel Levac, on Flickr I've not been stung by one yet (despite harassing them for pictures relatively often), and they're a beneficial pollinator (all yellowjackets are) and a native species, so I leave them be.
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Post by bonfield on Jul 6, 2016 20:54:44 GMT -5
At least we don't have these...yet: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornetI usually have a substantial population of mud daubers in my back yard, but they are fairly docile and never harass me like the yellow-jackets do... or did since I sealed all their potential nesting sites along my fence with Great Stuff foam.
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Post by lloyd on Jul 6, 2016 21:44:22 GMT -5
I've never been stung by wasps, only by a honey bee. We had a nest of those black wasps on our roof once.
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Post by jbron on Jul 6, 2016 23:27:01 GMT -5
At least we don't have these...yet: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornetI usually have a substantial population of mud daubers in my back yard, but they are fairly docile and never harass me like the yellow-jackets do... or did since I sealed all their potential nesting sites along my fence with Great Stuff foam. Those Asian giants are nasty. At the nursery I work at we get some big orange wasps that get up to two inches in length, they like to hang out in the flowering thistles, sem false, and false spirea. They don't really do anything when we gotta move the shrubs though which is good; just look really intimidating haha.
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Post by amanitovirosa on Jul 7, 2016 21:42:02 GMT -5
...I was bitten today, in my left eyelid by a horse fly and am currently growing a third eye/second head. Is this the bug's revenge??? The irony just slays me! I will have MY revenge!!!
AV.
EDIT - Peatmoss, that wasp looks like the one that chewed through my Flytrap, although I didn't really get such a nice close up. It had a white, perpendicular stripe on its abdomen. I guess these are the ones that build the paper nests.
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Post by RuBisCO on Jul 7, 2016 21:52:37 GMT -5
My son was bitten by a deer fly yesterday while playing by the beach - his whole right face is puffed up now. I got swarmed by yellow jackets when I was 16 and ultimately needed to go to emerg for epinephrine. All of the little buggers should make their way to the bottom of a pitcher... after pollination is done... No wait, there are paintbrushes for that.
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