A very general care sheet for Polistes wasps. I know Polistes has a better one so mine can be temporary if someone wants to post a better one
Paper wasps are by far the easiest and most fun to raise. They are for the most part quite docile and can be tamed easily
First of all, before you get a queen wasp, you should have the cage all set up and ready for her before hand. The besr method (invented by Tlielaxu himself) is to use an upsidedown "krittter keeper" (or KK for short). in one corner of the cage, tape a few squares of cardboard to provide a place for the wasp to nest. then turn the cage upside down so that they lid serves as the bottom. You can add some sticks and chunks of cardboard on the bottam for her to use as nesting material.
Now, once you have your cage set up and ready, you will need a queen wasp. the best time to find them is early in the spring (early march for me). spring queens should be out feeding and looking for nest sites at this time.
Once you catch a queen, it is best to put her in the cage and leave her alone for the rest of the day so she can settle in.
wasps will eat a variety of foods, but honey or gatorade is the best. you should prvide two bottle caps, one with water and one with food for your wasp. fresh water is important to them, so dont overlook this
Insect prey will also need to be provided. Crickets, most types of caterpillars, and flies will all work. queen wasps need some type of protien to help develope eggs, and once you get a nest going they will need a supply of insects to feed to their growing young
Now that was the basics. It is time to talk about inducing your queen to nest. paper wasps are very adaptable, and will nest in a variety of locals. taping a few squares of carboard to a corner of the cage will work. addition cardboard should be provided on the cage floor for nest material. it typically takes around 20 days until a queen begins her nest, so be patient.
on another note, a few discoveries i have made are that queens will adopt a SMALL (only a few cells) queen nest in good condition.
also factors that effect how long it takes are queen to start a nest include cage design. when they feel more confortable, they will nest quicker so adding things like fake plants and sticks will help. also queens look for a place to attatch the nest to (usually a groove or something) becuase it is harder for them to start it on a flat surface. so you can glue a narrow strip of cardboard in the nest area.
queen collecting cardboard pulp
wasp nests last but one season. once your queen gets her nest going, insect prey will need to be provided on a regular basis. as fall starts to approach, your nest will soon be producing queens and males. remove any males as soon as you see them in order to prevent inbreeding. after a while once males stop hatching, you can introduce a few unrelated males (caught outside) to mate with the new queens. you may not see any mating, so you can just leave the males in there to be sure. at this point, you should move your cage outside to a proteced place so they can experience cooler temps to prepare the new queens for hibernation. make sure food is available at all times. add some dryer lint on the bottom of the cage for the new queens to hibernate under. as temps get cooler, you will see them start to leave the nest and sleep under the lint.
you can hibernate sister queens together and then keep them together in the spring, and have a multi-foundress nest. these nests with more than one queen will get large, so i dont reccomend this unless you have a large cage.
good luck !!!!!
Subject: General Polistes wasp care 
Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:28 pm
