# jewel wasps



## droseraman (Jun 17, 2004)

anyone know were i can get jewel wasps. i swear i was on a site that had them but cant remember what site it was.


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## joeyo90 (Nov 5, 2006)

i was on a site that had them to (maybe the same one) and would also like to know  i should have saved it :?


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## droseraman (Jun 17, 2004)

i know i cant believe i cant remember


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Carolina Biological is one place....click on the link below.

Bill

Jewel Wasp


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2006)

that link doesnt work for me ???


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## Guest (Dec 4, 2006)

try this


http://tinyurl.com/y3dvkk<Woohoo! Another chance to get TinyURL funky... Catfur>


Bill, your link is missing the brackets for the closing URL tag. []


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## droseraman (Jun 17, 2004)

thanks guys


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Link in my post is fixed...yeah misplaced bracket...too early in the morning I suppose :roll: 

Bill


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## Guest (Dec 5, 2006)

Allright, what happened to my nice long URL Catfur??? Not everyone likes those short skinny URL's, some of us are used to working with the longer URL"S. :twisted: :twisted: 


This is a very long link to click on if you want to find Jewel wasp feeders and would rather click on a really long link rather then one of those short and sweet links



Just playing with ya Catfur!!!


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

I get mine from Beneficial Insectary http://www.insectary.com/

They call them "fly parasites" I like theirs because they sell a blend of about 5 species of wasp so you get a little variety in sizes. Also, they will split a colony into fourths so you can get 1/4 ready to hatch and 3/4 delayed hatch.


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

I've read a little on these before but I can't remember much on them. What do you all feed them to? Is there a problem with them flying off? I remember being interested in them but can't remember why I never moved toward getting some.


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

nburns said:


> I've read a little on these before but I can't remember much on them. What do you all feed them to? Is there a problem with them flying off? I remember being interested in them but can't remember why I never moved toward getting some.


I've used them to feed newly morphed pumilio - a tip Christina Hanson shared long ago. They do fly but weakly. They will accumulate in lights and such but don't live very long so don't become a pest. The best way I have found to feed them is to fill a Bug Bazooka with wood shavings and pupae and let them emerge through the screen. You don't want to leave the fly pupae cases where they can get wet because they are good botulism incubators.


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## christina hanson (Feb 16, 2004)

Tiz true. We get ours from Arizona Biological Supply. You can retard their groth in the refrigerator and take out small portions as needed. Additionally we have set up a schedule with the company so they send us out regular shipments.

I concur with Brent you want to rig up a feeding staton that eliminates the possibility that they'll wallow in the fly larvae. We also use a small condiment cup with a piece of screening on top, and feed them along with Drosophila to feed newly metamorphosed tiny froglets. I haven't noticed them flying, but I do see them however gathering at the window sill in summertime, and they will parasitize drosophila pupae. However I have not noticed a reduction in those colonies.


http://store.arbico-organics.com/1901001.html

Christina


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I buy a lot of things from this place, benificials included. Never for darts though (way too expensive). But if you were willing to culture your own this would be the place w/ a nice diversity of things to consider.

They have a couple differents aphid predators. I would think of culturing if I had a seperate house, I'm concerned they would go from one culture to another eventually wiping out all my aphids. There so small it would be really easy.

Culturing some of the mites if thought about and may do someday as they arent the pest species.

Fly parasites I have tried with unworthy success. But would make a good addition if you had a huge amount of room to culture.

White fly/parasites would be nice to culture (as they do work in the green house). But then you risk infecting your wanted plants w/ the flies.

Some ideas to expand on, lots of possiblities.

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/searc ... %20Insects


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

I forgot to add that Ed's FM used to sell wasps, I'm not sure if they still do.


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## joeyo90 (Nov 5, 2006)

i looked on his site and didnt see them listed so youd have to contact ed to get a difinite answer about the wasps


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## steelcube (Mar 17, 2004)

Would they survive in hydei culture? or do they need housefly pupaes to grow? Has anybody tried to culture your own wasps?


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

the wild type from around here will parasitize hydei. mine were doing well and then they got mites. there is a longer pupation and extended time for the culture to be around. you have to keep them 100% clean and they do pretty well. the trick would be to make smaller cultures and place them in the tank and poke holes in the lid. another reason you`d have to keep the mites out till they go into the tank and then discard before they can become infested and reproduce. shouldn`t be too hard considering most jewel wasps could hatch before placing them in the tank.
i`m going to have to try again this spring.


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## steelcube (Mar 17, 2004)

Thanks Aaron.... I am going to give it a try too and see what happen...


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

best of luck, let me know how it turns out.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

I have about 50 that emerged off the back of a giant caterpillar I collected...5days ago.

My question is now what?

Can I transfer some to a hydei cx and expect them to reproduce?

Do I just feed off the ones I have and call it a treat?

What other ways might there be to keep them 'going'?


thanks

S


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

The problem with parasitic wasps is that as parasites, they are very specific to what hosts they will attack. One that parasitises caterpillars... I don't image would go after hydei. 

That's a problem with a lot of the cultured species... they rely on larger species of flies with more complex life cycles than what we typically culture. I'm going to try setting up some housefly culture rotations... maybe if I get good at that I'll make a second rotation just for some jewels


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

If it werent for mites I would`ve had parasitic wasps that parasitized hydei. Either they weren`t specialists or there are hydei naturally around here. They found my cultures and the one hole in one lid pretty well. I produced about 100 out of a couple cultures and was working toward perfecting parasitization #`s and when to introduce, temp and humidity for optimal production but the mites hit and w/ the long pupation time and life cycle of hydei it failed. now that I`ve had someone else making cultures and a linoleum floor(no more rugs) I`m working toward trying again next year. You really need lab conditions(surfaces which are easily wiped down, no rugs, temp and humidity control, etc.) to hit the next level of raising parasites on an already long life cycled feeder. I`m hopeful though.


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## sports_doc (Nov 15, 2004)

Aaron
How long did your hatchling parasites live? are we talking weeks here like a ff??

I may just experiment with the ones I have, just gauging how long I have before they die off...

I wonder about just leaving them in with the giant orange caterpillar, maybe they will breed on it again??

transfering the wasps will be interesting though...they definately fly. 

I need to get a pic up

S


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

No, as adults, they'd fly and find more caterpillars. Only good once.

When dealing with the adults, it was usually a case of letting them hatch in a set up used for flying insects (like you'd use to breed houseflies and the like) with access to new pupae to parasitize. If you wanted to feed them out, you simply could let them hatch out in the tank with the frogs. Putting the parasitized pupae in containers like FF containers that are relatively small and easy to lid helps this process.


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Ahhh Shawn now you have me kicking myself for not hanging onto a caterpillar found on our tomato plants a couple of days back that had a massive pupae load from parasitic wasps. I was so focused on explaining to my 8 year girls what was going on with the wasps and the caterpillar that I overlooked that there might be free frog food there :? 


Bill


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

It might be worth trying the caterpillar parasites on waxworms. Like Corey said, the parasitic wasps tend to be picky but not also species specific. Many of the fly parasites will lay eggs on many species of flies for example.


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

The jewel wasps lived for more than a week from what I remember.
I`m thinking of giving up the frogs for bugs! lol
living in a swamp, I`ve seen bugs out here I`ve never seen before, pretty much every day. 
I`ve had a black type house fly? hatch out of my cricket eggs that pupated in the coco peat and didn`t eat the eggs. I don`t know what they fed on but over 1/2 dozen were curly wing and never flew. There would`ve been a nice flightless housefly that the medium didn`t stink at all. beetles getting into turtle chow that look similar to flour beetles, jewel wasps, leaf hoppers in all shapes and sizes, springtails, 4 + types of isopods, aquatic insects up the wazoo :lol: .


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