Previously a poster had mentioned cicada killers. Coincidently my back
yard became the playground of a tarantula hawk. This is a rather large
wasp that successfully drags a tarantula out of their burrow, stings it,
and turns it into a paralyzed buffet for its own offspring.

It started last weekend when I saw an immobile tarantula on my deck
where I had just walked a few minutes before. That seemed a bit curious
but I just scooped him up and deposited him into a flowerbed. The
tarantula was not stiff and was not obviously dead.

Later that evening I was hanging out in the pool and saw a large
wasp-looking insect cruising about on the ground in the dim light. I
followed it around the edge of half the pool and then it disappeared
into the yard.

A few minutes later I heard the noise of large insect wings flapping
real close to my head and I splashed a bit of water, ducked, then
resurfaced. The insect was still near and I splashed some more, spilling
most of my gin and tonic in the process :-(

The bug was knocked into the pool and turned out to be a large wasp. It
was caught in the currents and it soon became obvious that it would be
in the skimmer basket in short order. For some reason I took mercy on it
and scooped it out and tossed it into the yard.

Later that night I saw the reference here about the cicada killer and
realized that my visitor was probably a tarantula hawk. The next morning
it was buzzing around the deck and I feared for my little Boston Terrier
as I had read its sting could make a human ache for over an hour. My
pioneer justice was meted out by the wasp and hornet spray but to no
avail..........it lived!

Tonight I looked out the window and saw the bugger hauling another
tarantula across the deck. I then saw the knothole it was using as the
entrance to its burrow. Too bad the tarantula was about 4 times too big
to go through it.

I then went for the latest in tech weapons............the electronic fly
swatter. This is a taser for flying insects, 9 volts in and zillion
volts out. It would make a fly pop with a puff of smoke and a spark. I
also didn't want to spray more death chemicals around.

The wasp was quite resilient and took numerous shocks. All the while its
stinger was groping for vengeance. I soon realized the shocks were
inadequate and I zapped it directly with chemical spray that ended its
agony quickly.

It was a freakish monster of a wasp that seemed average in size for its
species. Apparently the tarantula owed it some money and after refusing
to pay the wasp killed it as an example to others. RIP-city

p.s. the wasp is somewhat aggressive toward humans and was always
folowing the wrong path so I needed to zap it

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 03:27:19 GMT, jOhN
wrote:

The wasp was quite resilient and took numerous shocks. All the while its
stinger was groping for vengeance. I soon realized the shocks were
inadequate and I zapped it directly with chemical spray that ended its
agony quickly.

Well, I guess that leaves us all with some happy tarantulas!

Rusty Mase
Austin, Texas

Wow..I didn't even know we had tarantula's here..I have big ole wolf spiders
and the wonderful golden garden spider but no tarantulas that I know
of..They are cool..
John
Bastrop.


"Rusty Mase" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 03:27:19 GMT, jOhN
wrote:

The wasp was quite resilient and took numerous shocks. All the while its
stinger was groping for vengeance. I soon realized the shocks were
inadequate and I zapped it directly with chemical spray that ended its
agony quickly.

Well, I guess that leaves us all with some happy tarantulas!

Rusty Mase
Austin, Texas

John wrote:
Wow..I didn't even know we had tarantula's here..I have big ole wolf spiders
and the wonderful golden garden spider but no tarantulas that I know
of..They are cool..
John
Bastrop.


"Rusty Mase" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 03:27:19 GMT, jOhN
wrote:


The wasp was quite resilient and took numerous shocks. All the while its
stinger was groping for vengeance. I soon realized the shocks were
inadequate and I zapped it directly with chemical spray that ended its
agony quickly.

Well, I guess that leaves us all with some happy tarantulas!

Rusty Mase
Austin, Texas



We've seen a few tarantulas over the years but this year the number hit
4 and they've all been comatose. Apparently they were victims of this
wasp that couldn't get them into its burrow. As a hunter I eat what I
kill so zapping this wasp seemed appropriate in a way.

Wow..I didn't even know we had tarantula's here..I have big ole wolf
spiders
and the wonderful golden garden spider but no tarantulas that I know
of..They are cool..
John
Bastrop.

It's hard to believe you haven't seen any in Bastrop! I live in Wimberley
and remember seeing them on the road all the time. I would notice them
walking across the road on the way home to pick up my kiddo from her
sitter's. I see them in Wimberley on the road too... but haven't seen any
this year, now that you mention it. I've never seen them in the yard.

We've seen a few tarantulas over the years but this year the number hit
4 and they've all been comatose. Apparently they were victims of this
wasp that couldn't get them into its burrow. As a hunter I eat what I
kill so zapping this wasp seemed appropriate in a way.

LOL
I used to have a tarantuala - they are fascinating creatures. It was a
Brazillian tarantuala (name escapes me ATM) and when my brother went into
the Marines I took it for him. The only pet I ever had that didn't stink
and could be left at home for a week or more with no problems.
With hope and heart,
Kathleen

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 02:27:04 GMT, jOhN
wrote:

.............As a hunter I eat what I
kill so zapping this wasp seemed appropriate in a way.

Whoa, I do not think I want to get into this one.

Rusty Mase
Austin, Texas

J Rob wrote:
jOhN wrote:
...

wasp that couldn't get them into its burrow. As a hunter I eat what I
kill so zapping this wasp seemed appropriate in a way.


How'd it taste? ;^)
heheh! nothing like another perspective to put a Usenet post in its
place :-)

In article ,
jOhN wrote:

snipped

p.s. the wasp is somewhat aggressive toward humans and was always
folowing the wrong path so I needed to zap it

You did good.
Sorry, but I LIKE spiders and to me at least, the tarantula is far more
useful than the wasp as a garden predator!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

In article , J Rob
wrote:

OmManiPadmeOmelet wrote:
In article ,
jOhN wrote:

snipped

p.s. the wasp is somewhat aggressive toward humans and was always
folowing the wrong path so I needed to zap it

You did good.
Sorry, but I LIKE spiders and to me at least, the tarantula is far more
useful than the wasp as a garden predator!

Well, paper wasps actually do a pretty good job. They patrol for things
like caterpillars and leafhoppers and such. As long as their little
paper bell is in an out of the way place, they aren't much trouble.
I only knock them down if they decide to build over my doorway or
similar busy location.

I agree. And I leave my paper wasp nests alone unless they are near a
doorway! Then they gotta go.

I meant that I found T's to be more useful than what prey's on them. ;-)
Mud daubers are good at taking out sphinx moth larvae.

But I think you knew that.......


But I could appreciate the need to eliminate this hymenopteran slightly
smaller than a sparrow as I understand it... a sting would ruin your
day, or maybe several days.

Indeed!

Cheers!
--
Om.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." -Jack Nicholson

jOhN wrote:
Previously a poster had mentioned cicada killers. Coincidently my back
yard became the playground of a tarantula hawk. This is a rather large
wasp that successfully drags a tarantula out of their burrow, stings it,
and turns it into a paralyzed buffet for its own offspring.
snip
Speaking of cicada killers, I just noticed one buzzing around today.
From this tamu website it appears it was a stingless male on patrol.

http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F1...cles/AUG22.htm

However, as I was standing there watching it fly off a very noisy cicada
in the tree right above my head abruptly fell silent. Seconds later I
heard something go "thunk" in the area under the tree around my pool
equipment but I couldn't find the body.

Cicada killers appear to be quite less aggressive than the tarantula
hawk from the literature so I'll ignore it. They do look mean though.