Yellow jackets (wasps)

Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Mantidforum

Help Support Mantidforum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Colorcham427

Colorcham427

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Messages
1,027
Reaction score
5
Location
USA
These are cool or no? I found a bunch huddled inside a rotting log while collecting sleepy centipedes and ispods during the cold here in nj.

Curious if yellow jackets are super tough? They are very fat meals so if I clip their wings off they move pretty slow... Lol

 
Yea I've been stung by these guys when fishing. They're no joke. One stung me a good five or six times until the stinger got pulled out of its body. Don't know why there were so many around us..I think they're attracted to the fish smell

 
A few months ago Jordan (my younger brother) trampled on a Yellow Jackets nest and the Yellow Jackets swarmed around him. Jordan hit the Yellow Jackets like crazy and started running to the pool. When he got to the swimming pool he went to the side of the pool and looked at his shoes and carefully took them off and then jumped into the pool! All of the Yellow Jackets followed him into the pool. There were much more than a hundred of the Yellow Jackets around him. Lots of people around the pool cried because the Yellow Jackets hurt them. Jordan got stung only four times! He said it does not hurt much. It was funny. And the Yellow Jackets are very hard. Most of the Yellow Jackets drowned in the pool.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Yellow jackets tend to be carnivores and they are brought in by the smell of meat. We usually have to shoo them off of our bbq meat at the park. I usually feed them to my mantids when they are available, but I have to remove the stinger first though.

 
I've used them on occassion (I'm personally kinds freaked out by their face). I either drown or near-freeze them first. Then tweezer feed them by the wings.

 
I feed wasps on occasion, typically only to adult females. I prefer letting the wasp loose to allow the mantis a chance to surprise its prey. If fed by tweezer, the wasp is already agitated and flailing around, which can be tough to get a good grip on. Large females such as Rhombodera spp., Deroplatys spp., Sphodromantis, Hierodula, etc. are tough and can handle just about anything.

There have been some wasps that escaped by biting the mantid, though nothing bad has ever come of it. The mantid will let go and fling it away.

 
I've seen videos of wasps just destroying large® mantids. They are brutal.

When I do feed them any bees, I do the freezing thing first, so there's no fight in them ("Tore the mickey out of them" as my friend would say).

 
I have witnessed several yellow jackets actually eating an adult female chinese mantis that was alive. I would avoid them as food, mainly for your sake since they will sting.

 
i use bees more than wasps, my midget female popa ate a full size bumble bee and the bee's vomit and hemolymph went everywhere! :eek:

i've seen a creobroter eat a wasp without a problem, but i dont put more than 1 of them in a cage at a time and i make sure it gets eaten before i leave

if the mantis doesnt eat it soon i remove it

again it is risky and i use bees not wasps usually :)

 
I feed with the forceps and always crush the head, stinger doesn't seem to be a problem, but surely there will be that first time and I will then kick myself to the other side of the Bugatorium :stuart: !!!

 
I would imagine a mantis getting stung by a yellow jacket would be like us getting stabed with a one inch ice pick over and over again.

 
I have an truce with such stinging insects. As long as they keep up their side of the deal and don't sting me, I won't feed them to my mantises.

 
Ntsees said:
Yellow jackets tend to be carnivores and they are brought in by the smell of meat. We usually have to shoo them off of our bbq meat at the park. I usually feed them to my mantids when they are available, but I have to remove the stinger first though.
Click to expand...
They love fruits too! We like to watch them eat bananas, strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupe. I think honey bees would be a lot better to feed mantids.
 

Latest posts

Top