The strange little blobs of dried mud that we’ve seen attached to the rafters, the walls, or just about anything else – both inside and outside the house – turn out to be the work of mud wasps. These aren’t nests, though. They are receptacles for the wasp’s food. When you break one open you find spiders (either dead or paralyzed) and larvae and other tasty morsels the wasp is keeping for future meals. They are kind of like insect kitchen pantries. I’m told you have to be careful when you break them off not to get any of the shattered remains in your eyes as whatever the wasps use to bind the mud together is toxic. They haven’t stung us or even acted aggressively at all, but I always destroy the little food lockers as soon as I see them to discourage the wasps from hanging around the house. So far the strangest place a wasp has chosen to build one is inside one of the homeowner’s guitars. We had to tape over the sound holes to deny him access, but I have to assume a little mud pantry is still in there somewhere.
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A wasp working on his mud construction
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This one was built on the tubes for the gas cylinders._
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This one was at the top of a wall inside the house._
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Bob the builder.
Inside the wasp's pantry. Yummmm.
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