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Wasp Alert? and strange laying behavior

geckogrl6

geckogrl6

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OK, so I caught my girl Bea laying just now as I was feeeding everyone. They are all going crazy staring down a wasp that has found its way into my apt. I go to get the incu container ready to collect the eggs being laid, and this wasp has made a beeline for my breeder tank of 4 females. He flies right in, and all of them chase him down. He lands right by the lay box, and Bea charges out in the middle of kicking her eggs and chomps him down. Really seemed to love it. Now, my few ?s
Anyone hear of wasps or something looking like one targeting leos or eggs?
Is kicking her eggs around in the process of burying them normal? Is it likely to damage the eggs?
Should I be concerned aboiut Bea eating this thing? I mean other than it being a non-farmed bug prob. carrying pesticides, is it a problem that she ate the thing? I have no idea what species this was, (Im bad w/bugs lol) but I'm guessing it didnt have a stinger, or she would have spat it out?
Gotta luv these guys :eatpointe
 
Wow, what a weird scenario! I think eating a wasp is better than a bee, since bees pack a load of venom, and wasps (depending on the type) have very little or none. They have a stinger, but it's as edible as the rest of the exoskeleton. I would imagine that, in the wild, a gecko will snap up anything and everything, so eating the bug is probably noting to worry about. It was probably attracted by the scent, and not really after the geckos themselves.
I defer to the more experienced breeders regarding the egg kicks, but it would seem the only concern would be if they were tipped or rolled.
Good luck with your new geckos to be!
 
The venom in a wasps stinger only affects the target animal if is injected into the blood stream. Just like pit vipers a wasps venom is primarily hemotoxic, meaning that it attacks tissue. Which is why it hurts so :censored: much when you get stung. I've gotten my fair share of bee and wasp stings to know this. So no, other than possible chemicals or parasites the gecko wont be adversley affected. However, since you dont know if it had pesticides I'd watch out for any abnormal or weird behavior coming from Bea. The eggs should be fine since the embryos in side havent had a chance to "set" yet. I think you have maybe an hour of wiggle room(might be wrong there) before its unwise for the eggs to be turned upside down or rolled. Congrats on the double laying too, what a treat.
 
I heard they kick them around so it will harden the eggshell right before they bury them.
 
Geckogardener said:
Wow, what a weird scenario! I think eating a wasp is better than a bee, since bees pack a load of venom, and wasps (depending on the type) have very little or none. They have a stinger, but it's as edible as the rest of the exoskeleton.
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I guess we were both typing at the same time. You have it mixed up, its members of the wasp and hornet family that pack loads of venom. Bees have only a little. Relatively though, they have around the same but wasps and hornets are much much more potent. I'm pretty sure the wasps and hornets have bigger venom sacks though. If youve ever watched the discovery channel about killer bees youll see thats the reason it takes so many of them to kill someone. There may be a TON of them but there stings pack very little venom and potency. It takes I think 100 or so stings from them to kill an adult man where as 35-50 from your average wasp to kill someone. And in Japan they have these nasty buggers called giant hornets that can get ya with 10 pokes. I'm not about to go outside tommorow and certify all this however, I'll just stick to my books and online encyclopedias thanks.
 
The NY Gecko said:
I guess we were both typing at the same time. You have it mixed up, its members of the wasp and hornet family that pack loads of venom. Bees have only a little. Relatively though, they have around the same but wasps and hornets are much much more potent. I'm pretty sure the wasps and hornets have bigger venom sacks though. If youve ever watched the discovery channel about killer bees youll see thats the reason it takes so many of them to kill someone. There may be a TON of them but there stings pack very little venom and potency. It takes I think 100 or so stings from them to kill an adult man where as 35-50 from your average wasp to kill someone. And in Japan they have these nasty buggers called giant hornets that can get ya with 10 pokes. I'm not about to go outside tommorow and certify all this however, I'll just stick to my books and online encyclopedias thanks.
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No kidding? Sorry I got that wrong. I am probably remembering incorrectly due to the way I react to both types of stings! I can get many wasp stings without major problems, but a bee sting causes me to swell up something awful. I realize that has more to do with my own bodies' reaction than it does to the actual quantity of poison, though. I suppose it all comes down to how a gecko's body reacts to it, and I would think you'd know the answer to that one pretty fast after ingestion. Thanks for setting me straight!
 
No problem. Like I said though, ingestion wont go any harm so long as the venom doesn't reach the blood stream. Also, even if it does, I doubt it'll do much harm. Remember, the wasps sting isn't meant to do more than deter a would be predator. But you never know, a leo is much different from what we have around here.
 
The NY Gecko said:
The eggs should be fine since the embryos in side havent had a chance to "set" yet. I think you have maybe an hour of wiggle room(might be wrong there) before its unwise for the eggs to be turned upside down or rolled. Congrats on the double laying too, what a treat.
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Agreed. I would think it should be fine for the first few hours, but waht you want to prevent is moving them once the embryo starts to attach to a side of the egg. Some people (I hear Ron Tremper) have said you can move them for up to 2 weeks, but personally I don't beleive it, and I wouldn't worry about them getting moved within the first hour or two. I figure in the wild they kick and bury them for a while as well.
 
They should be just fine. Also in the wild they probably eat wasps too. :)
 
Wasps themselves aren't toxic to my knowledge, at least for consumption. Wasps and ants are very closely related (Vesperidae is the family name, if I remember correctly) and ants are very tasty. If you haven't tried them, you should! Their formic acid makes them pleasantly tart. But I digress... the fact that your leo ate a wasp is probably no big deal. Like someone said before, just watch for gastrointestinal upsets. The wasp might have been carrying parasites, but if your leo is healthy I don't think you need to worry too much.

As for the wasp 'targeting' the leo and the eggs, I think it's far more likely that it was actually 'targeting' the moist egg laying substrate. Wasps built paper nests and need wet soil (or in this case, wet peatmoss) as a building material.
 
Cool. Great info from all. I love this forum! I will def be watching Bea very closely for awhile. I guess they must be super tasty since she stopped in the middle of laying to chomp it down b4 anyone else got to it ( and they were all trying) I did feed a carpenter ant once, and Pepper, who eats everything, spit it out real quick like it tasted bad. My vet told me carpenter ants were a big no-no due to toxins. As a side note, these guys LOVE termites. Maybe I will try some ants for variety this breeding season. Will of course keep you all updated on those eggies!
 
the females tend to roll the eggs more than kick them once theyre layed. if u watch closely, u can actually see that when first layed, the eggs are actually mushy, not like bird eggs. this rolling motion i believe covers the eggs in w.e substrate they are layed in, and tehn the eggs hardens and they are at least somewhat pemanently camoflauged should they become uncovered. but yess, the rolling of the eggs after laying is an appropriate behavior and will not damage the eggs.
 
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