Comments on: European Paper Wasp Queen

By: Insect Picture of the Day » European Paper Wasp Queen

Insect Picture of the Day » European Paper Wasp Queen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:21:33 +0000

[...] first brood of the year. You can see the eggs have changed to a milky color compared to the eggs I photographed a few days ago. It also looks like she’s provided some nectar or other form of nutrient goo for the larvae [...]

By: David Brady

David Brady — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:38:26 +0000

MacNut: When it happens, I’m going to blame you. >:-)

By: MacNut

MacNut — Thu, 29 May 2008 03:23:41 +0000

Don’t feel too bad David-both those nests were entirely too close to your front door, your family would have risked being stung daily if they had remained and the eggs matured. They had to go. Like you said, there’ll be more nests to be found.

Of course you do realize, that bragging about how you’ve never been stung etc., means you’re gonna fall into a hornet’s nest or something and get nailed really good now right? Oh, and they’ll most likely be the first colony of Asian Giant Hornets ever discovered in the US. ;)

By: David Brady

David Brady — Wed, 28 May 2008 21:20:34 +0000

tceisele: That would have been a great idea for me to have before I swept off the nest. Unfortunately, it had to go–it was about half a meter from the front door.

Had I had this idea beforehand, I could have waited until the first gen hatched. Sorry.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled for another nest, though. Shouldn’t be too hard to find. I actually cleared off two nests, and this one wasn’t he closer of the two. (The other one was just above the porch light, about 10cm from the door.)

By: tceisele

tceisele — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:57:38 +0000

Oh, incidentally, could you check back on this nest from time to time, to see how long it takes for the eggs to hatch and mature? I’m thinking this will be the perfect time, seeing as how there is evidently only the one adult to work around when taking pictures.

By: JFargo

JFargo — Wed, 28 May 2008 18:46:25 +0000

(Testing a theory)

That is such an awesome photo. Like JTan, I really admire the fact that you can see the eggs in the nest! Glad to hear you haven’t been stung doing this, but I really hope you knocked on wood after typing that out.

By: JTan

JTan — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:26:33 +0000

I especially like the fact that you can see the eggs in the nest as well!

By: Kestralyn

Kestralyn — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:37:44 +0000

that is such a fantastic photo!!!

By: David Brady

David Brady — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:10:14 +0000

tceisele: cool. I have sort of hoped that they don’t nail you as hard…

I am happy to report that, not counting mosquitoes, I have been stung zero times and bitten zero times since starting InsectPOD.

By: tceisele

tceisele — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:02:46 +0000

Ah, wasp stings are overrated anyway. I think they hurt more when you are a little kid (the venom is a bigger share of your body mass then, after all, plus I think that kids have had less chance to get used to the idea of pain[1]), and the memory of childhood bee and wasp stings conditions us into adulthood into thinking that they are terrible experiences. Last summer, I accidentally mixed it up with a nest of these paper wasps. Even though I got several stings, fifteen minutes later I could barely tell where each sting had been.

[1] “Life is pain, Princess. Anyone who says different is probably selling something.”