When they come uninvited to our breakfast or coffee table on the terrace, the culinary preferences of wasps seem clear - but apart from ours, the striped insects also have other food sources.
What do wasps feed on in different phases of life?
As adults, wasps feed primarily on flower nectar, sweet plant juices and honeydew. In their larval phase, however, they require protein-rich food, which they receive from the adults in the form of chewed, protein-rich insect pulp.
Different food for young and old
Unlike humans, wasps get completely different food in their young stage than they eat in their adult stage. This is because the larvae need a lot of protein to develop in the pupa. As an adult animal, many carbohydrates in the form of sugar are necessary to cover energy requirements.
In nature, the wasp usually finds a table set for itself and its offspring. Workers primarily feast on nectar-containing flowers and sweet plant juices. Because their mouthparts are less geared towards collecting pollen, they can only get nectar from flowers that are more easily accessible, such as those of ivy, brownwort, swampwort, buckthorn or umbelliferous plants. They get plant juices from trees with injured bark.
The excretions of aphids, so-called honeydew, are also part of the diet of adult wasps.
The adults hunt insects for their larvae and give them to them in the form of chewed pulp.
Wasp menu in brief:
- Adult animals: flower nectar, sweet plant juices, honeydew
- Larvae: chewed, protein-containing insect pulp
Food stolen from our tables
The wasps that we see in normal everyday summer life are of course only adults. With the nutritional knowledge explained above, you could now ask yourself the question: Why do the black and yellow insects not only attack the sweet delicacies on the breakfast or coffee table such as jam and icing cakes, but also savory foods such as ham, grilled meat and egg salad ? Well, after all, they also have to provide for their offspring. And to do this, they not only hunt insects, but also enrich the baby food with protein-rich food from our patio tables.
As everyone has probably already experienced, the animals are extremely determined and therefore difficult to drive away. However, you should avoid waving your hands around as much as possible. This makes the wasps aggressive and stinging - which they are not naturally.
To get rid of annoying pests while eating, you can take advantage of your preference for easy-to-reach sweets: for example, set out a bowl with sugar water or a dollop of jam. If a wasp settles on it, you can slowly put a glass over the bowl. After you have finished eating in peace and the table has been cleared, you can free the wasp again.
In this way, you can give yourself peace of mind without tormenting the insect unnecessarily, which is the case with many commercially available wasp traps. Often the wasp under the glass doesn't panic too much, but rather takes advantage of the treat offered despite being in captivity.
