Saw the first paper #wasp queen claiming one of the #WaspHouse-s this afternoon in our #communityGarden plot—#GardenPlot14! 🥰 *made my day*
I believe they inherit the memory of their ancestors’ unsuccessful nest building in our plastic garden tool storage bench, and of the failed nest having been moved to the wooden wasp house nearby.
This wasp queen was hovering near the tool bench before deciding to go into the wasp house. They can learn, but it seems to take a few generations. 🏠🐝✨
Here’s the video: the moving of a paperWasp hive (in 2017 before I thought of the #waspHouse ). They thrived that summer. 🐝✨
@otterX
we have loads of them here and they're quite happy to have us around. we put out water for them. and they nibble our wood furniture and bamboo canes!
i did have to remove a few nestlets from a lavender that i had to prune, and i feel bad about that, but it's early in the season and the nests were tiny, so hopefully the wasps can rebuild?
@otterX
That's really cool. I kind of assumed that pretty much all wasps were fairly aggressive, which is weird because I don't assume the same about bees, especially bumble bees.
It's funny/weird the assumptions that we get programmed with by society.
@Blort @otterX The paper wasps around here are aggressive, at least if you're randomly doing gardening stuff and you accidentally disturb their nest.
(Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
The nests look like what's pictured, but the wasp are red rather than yellow.
Personally, I have learned to just deal with the occasional sting when I make a mistake. Different venoms have different effects. Our paper wasps have stings that HURT A LOT, but only for a few seconds. The pain does not linger.
@Blort @otterX We have a lot of other types of wasp, but I've never been stung by any of them.
I'm comparing to red ant stings, where the pain lingers and the sting area itself remains irritated for some time. And also caterpillars, where the pain lingers a lot!
But these paper wasps? The sting hurts a lot more, but only for a short time. And it doesn't leave an irritated spot. So I just mentally gird myself knowing that the pain won't last much longer.
@isaackuo They must be a different type of paper wasps in the south? Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate it.
I’ve been stung by a yellow jacket once (in Cape Cod), oh that was very painful, but only for a brief period of time, and left no mark.
I’ve also been stung by a small bumblebee, who got accidentally drenched by a garden hose and I was letting her dry on my hand. It didn’t hurt much, only a little prick. I think that cured the arthritis. lol
The paper wasps we have here (in Boston MA) are European paper wasps, I think, and it takes a lot to piss them off. So I was able to move the hives to nearby wasp houses without much worry. Never got stung by them.
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