Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Not much change
This morning, the first worker has started flying all around the enclosure, getting used to her surroundings. The second one is already more mobile. She has started moving all over the nest.
There is not much change to the nest. The only difference is that three new cells have been constructed and there is an egg in each one. I did not see which wasp made the cells or laid the eggs; I am also not sure which piece of wood they used for it. It could have well been the paper towel, since this shows some bite marks! Still, I am usually not at home till evening, so I'm sure I miss much of the activity.
I noticed something new. The wasps hate my long steel forceps. When I offer food on it, they ignore the food, but latch on to the forceps and sting it viciously! All three got into a frenzy tonight when I fed them with the forceps. They stayed in a threat posture, with legs raised and mandibles wide open, even after I hurriedly withdrew the forceps. They never show such aggression towards the toothpick, so I have to use it, although the distance from my hand to the nest is shortened considerably. When the workers are more in number, I can start simply leaving food in a dish and let them forage on their own.
As expected, they have become tired of cooked chicken. However, they are taking luncheon meat again. I also gave them some raw chicken, which they readily grabbed.
