what do wasps eat?

Answer 1

Wasps eat a wide range of invertebrates including spiders, caterpillars, ants, bees, and flies.

Answer 2

They are predators and eat small animals such as insects and spiders. They also like sweet things such as very ripe fruit, and will even eat from sugar water feeders that people hang out for hummingbirds.

Some wasps are very aggressive and will attack if you get near their nest, others are quite mild and you can walk right under the nest with no problem.

Last year I had an entire colony of wasps (or so it seemed) go after the sugar water in an oriole feeder. The holes in that feeder are open, and the wasps crawled inside, got stuck in the liquid and filled up that feeder.

I've seen wasps attack spiders too. One time I watched a wasp fly at a spider hanging from a web in my yard. She hit it full force, bit it and the spider was paralyzed. She tried to fly off with it, but the spider was very large and she kept falling to the ground with it. Finally, she dug a hole in the ground, carried the spider in, and most likely laid an egg in there with it (I couldn't see what she did in that hole). This scenario took about an hour to unfold (yes, I patiently watched).

I've also encountered mud dauber nests (a type wasp that builds a mud house to lay her eggs ins. I opened up little mud glob, built on the side of my house, only to find a dozen paralyzed, but still alive spiders inside, and a wasp larvae.

Wasps are great predators and are considered beneficial insects for the garden. I usually ignore wasp nests, but destroy those of the viscious type wasp, if located near my house.

Answer 3

Female wasps .. and white bread

Answer 4

I don't know about all wasps, but I know that mud-dobbers love to eat fiddleback (brown recluse) spiders. That's why I let the mud-dobbers live. =)