Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Relocation to a new home
The colony has been steadily growing, and I thought the enclosure looked a little too cramped. Six or seven can be seen flying around the tank at any time, and their flight is quite limited. Therefore, I took out an old cage, originally intended for arboreal (tree-dwelling) reptiles such as geckos and chameleons; the wire mesh is very fine and ideal for a colony of these. The ventilation is also much better, and there is more space.
I tried pulling the suction hook off the tank, but it was too tight and the movement angered the wasps; I almost got stung. Therefore I used one of my tried-and-tested (but extremely time-consuming and requiring great patience) methods: luring the individual wasps off the nest with honey on a stick and then netting/bagging them. In this case, since it was within a confined space, I lured the wasps onto a cotton bud soaked with honey and then simply slipped a plastic bag over them; the net was unnecessary. It took nearly half an hour. There were 13 wasps excluding the original queen; 14 altogether. At this time, none of the workers are the same size as or bigger than the queen.
I tied the nest to a large branch, as shown in the photo. Taking a good look at the brood within the nest, I was surprised to find that many of the original cells have been reused and the larvae in them are quite big already. The number of new eggs, built in tiny new cells at the side, is surprisingly great. These new cells have been steadily increasing in number. They can be seen in this photo. Ten pupae can be seen at the bottom; ten new wasps can be expected soon!
To my chagrin, the part of the nest from which I tied it to the branch broke off. I could not find any other empty cell to attach it from, so I had to pull out one larva in order to slip the fishing line through! This was unfortunate, but the growth rate of the nest will not be affected much by just one larva. I decided, however, that the tension required to tie the nest to this branch would cause this empty cell to tear too. So I tied it to a hanging ornament I bought some time back. This is a small, light ball-shaped object made of rattan , originally for use as a household decoration. I easily tied the nest to it, and then tied it through the top of the new wire mesh enclosure. I then introduced the wasps back to the nest and left them alone.
All this was done last night. This morning, they seem to have adapted fine. I will try to take photos of the new setup later.
