Mud Daubers
Aug. 22nd, 2005 05:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreAwesome critters. I used to be terrified of anything waspy, but I'm quite used to having these guys buzz around me, I haven't been stung yet.
One began to build a nest on Stu's chair outside his room. We watched as she brought caterpillars back and shoved them into the tiny hole of the segment. Then the chair got moved. She abandoned the nest.
However the next morning she was busily beginning a compartment on a shell just outside of Chris's room. In the morning the groundwork was laid, by the afternoon a complete compartment with a little hole was finished. She must have shoved a caterpillar or two inside, laid an egg and sealed it up, before building about 4 more segments on the same nest. I thought she was done when the hole in the last segment was closed but no.
Today she flew back and forth carrying small clods of mud, and built the nest up to a smooth, round surface. It's now a thick walled fortress for her developing eggs. There's still a possibility of cuckoo wasps invading anyway. I'll keep and eye out and let you know when the babies emerge, I'll know because they will dig holes in the nest to get out again.
One began to build a nest on Stu's chair outside his room. We watched as she brought caterpillars back and shoved them into the tiny hole of the segment. Then the chair got moved. She abandoned the nest.
However the next morning she was busily beginning a compartment on a shell just outside of Chris's room. In the morning the groundwork was laid, by the afternoon a complete compartment with a little hole was finished. She must have shoved a caterpillar or two inside, laid an egg and sealed it up, before building about 4 more segments on the same nest. I thought she was done when the hole in the last segment was closed but no.
Today she flew back and forth carrying small clods of mud, and built the nest up to a smooth, round surface. It's now a thick walled fortress for her developing eggs. There's still a possibility of cuckoo wasps invading anyway. I'll keep and eye out and let you know when the babies emerge, I'll know because they will dig holes in the nest to get out again.
