My Pet Wasp Colony Escaped…

There is a common misconception that this is an invasive species. These wasps are native to my area and play a critical role in the environment. In addition to helping farmers regulate pest insects, they are also pollinators. They love to drink nectar from flowers, pollinating them in the process.

Even when the wasps escape and swarm your bedroom, you still end up making professional video shots of them. This channel is so friggin good.

Letting wasps escape into your bedroom, that's like the worst nightmare. Respect to you to be able to calmly get them all back 🤣🤣

The lizard’s cuteness and innocence at 06:20 took my heart 😇

Now that's what I call a box of constant anxiety

as someone who is desperately afraid of wasps, it's reassuring to see that those paper wasps are super chill, even with you so close to their nest. reminds me that most things just want to vibe as long as you're not trying to kill them

"Many of you are probably wondering what happened to the queen yellowjacket in the last video. After caring for her for two weeks, I quickly realized she was too aggressive. I settled on releasing her far, far away from my house." As someone who knows wasps really well, this was a smart move. The queens you had before represented basically the two most aggressive, unruly wasp species in North America. They both would've tried to build nests that were way too large for the enclosure you had. The paper wasps in this video are kittens by comparison. For reference, your first queen was a bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata). The second was a southern yellowjacket (Vespula squamosa). The third is a northern paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus).

I know people have told you multiple times how Incredible this channel is: the dedication, the builds, the maintenance, the level of knowledge, the videography, the editing, the layers of foley… I’m just here to say that the writing has not escaped it. Masterful narration, captivating and artful and filled to the brim with information. Just beautiful.

I saw this title and said helll noooooo

I've been terrified of bees and wasps since I was little, seeing you almost 'socialize' with these insects has put me at peace, beautiful channel

Your breathing outside of the frame is why you can hand feed safety. The co2 you produce is what they hone in on. Neat video.

I've seen studies that show that wasps can recognize the faces of other wasps. I've also seen by my own experience that captive crickets, katydids, and crayfish can recognize individual humans - and remember them. I have no doubt that your wasps were aware of who you are. And if they are anything like my arthropods, they were aware that you were the bringer of food and caused them no harm. As long as you didn't change their opinion on accident, you were probably safe with them around.

Gosh you’re such a risk taker with these! Such an encouragement to see how far you’ll work for and how experienced you are with handling these animals. Keep up the good work man!

What beautiful creatures. Thank you for showing them so clearly.

The beginning of this summer (2023) I had a wasp nest of these same type of red and yellow paper wasps, at my work and watched it grow from a single queen into about 30 individuals. They were doing amazing and even though their nest was under the main steps into my warehouse, they never stung a single person or even bothered with them. Sadly this past week I went to check on them and some smaller animal (racoon, skunk, fox, etc) had pulled down their comb and ate all the larva. Destroying the entire neat. All the grown adults still stay in the same spot but they don't have a comb to live on anymore. It actually made me pretty sad because they are beautiful and were doing so well. Next year I plan to do something like this, keep a nest inside a clear box and have an outlet hole to the outside but keep them nice and safe on the inside. This picture frame idea is actually perfect. Thanks for the idea.

I love your editing! It's so professional and engaging. I can tell you put a lot of time and effort into your videos. Keep up the good work!

dude i am deathly afraid of wasps, like if i hear buzzing and i dont know what it is i will run and scream like a toddler. how you managed to gather all those wasps and put them back into their habitat without dying is beyond me. props to you

Wasps are my biggest phobia and this video helped me a little bit with that, still absolutely terrified of them but I can appreciate them just a bit more now

Thank you for explaining the situation so properly with emotions and a balanced voice

It’s incredible how wasps work, thanks for the great videos Dr. Plants