I collected a large P. exclamans colony and brought it into captivity on Thanksgiving Day of last year. It is still doing well in captivity. In fact, there are literally 50 or 60 females which are still alive after nearly four months in captivity! Also, there are 14 males which are still alive in a separate enclosure. My experiment obviously PROVES that a person can sustain a wasp colony (including workers & males) for an entire winter on water and honey! The wasps did not raise any young during this time. Interestingly, I did NOT put these wasps into hibernation during the winter. I am VERY THRILLED that my wasp colony has made it through the winter!!!
I am breaking new ground with my experiment (I am not aware of anyone else who is doing this!). The next step is to transfer the colony & their nest outdoors inside a bee skep so the wasps can free-range. The goal of this experiment is to see if I can get a huge perennial Polistes nest... which has never been done before to my knowledge. I don't know if this is even possible since I didn't hibernate the wasps. We will see what happens... Regardless, my experiment has been a COMPLETE SUCCESS so far!
Linear Mode
