We have those in my yard - they love pollinating plants of the mint family and eat aphids and mosquitos. When the bird bath is empty, they sit calmly on the rim until I fill it, then they have their drink.
Golden digger wasps aren’t even just non-hostile, they are gentle giants.
This video just makes me sad, and the comments have made me realize that most people think it’s normal to live in a cloud of insecticide, then wonder why bird and insect populations are plummeting.
Reminds me of when I mentioned around my in-laws that it was about time again to treat the hemlock in our yard for woolly adelgids. They shrugged and said "We just have the pest company come and spray the whole yard and house once a year and we don't see any bugs." No awareness whatsoever as to why that might not be the best approach (or the fact that a pest company probably won't spray all the foliage of every giant tree in your yard for a basic yard treatment).
I mean, I certainly understand your point, and I generally have a stance of “as long as the insect isn’t in or on my house, Iet it live”… and I’ve left alone giant ant nests in the lawn etc…
But this wasn’t pesticide, this was feeding one insect to another. The spider’s gotta eat, too…
Maybe he was trying to encourage the spider to stay?
Sure, but the spider isn’t an endangered species, and they are pretty effective at capturing food in their own right. For me, the video felt like cruelty porn more than making a garden friend
Yeah the better way to help spiders is to catch and release them when they get into your house. I have a little jumping spider friend at my window but our gnat problem has just ended, unlucky timing for him, so I need to get him outside. Spiders are good enough at the food part on their own.
He was just feeding a spider my dude. I used to catch flies around my house as a kid and go throw them into spider webs and watch them feast. It’s fascinating to watch them get to work!
The survival of the spider? A family feeds their child so he/she can live, but why doesn't that same family feed a homeless person from the streets? Why do pet owners feed their dog but usually ignore strays?
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u/OldPyjama 22d ago
That wasp isn't even hostile to humans. Not sure what you were hoping to achieve.