Mud Dobbers --- Doing What Mud Dobbers Do

[Chadeaux]

Circle of life and all that ... was posting spiders catching dinner.

Here is a spider being caught for dinner.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Peyton Manning]

Are they the ones who make those mud things in my garage?

 

[tamrock]

I watched a mud dobber hunting a spider on a pile of cordwood once. The spider would peek out of a split in the wood and then hurry up and scurry to another little hole or split in the wood getting further away the pursuing wasp. I'm not sure how the mud dobber knew there was a spider around, but it seemed like it was sniffing around like a dog would do. I wonder if a mud dobber can identify things by scent?

 

[Chadeaux]

Are they the ones who make those mud things in my garage?

Yep. Interesting thing is they fill those with the spiders they catch. It's kinda like their "pantry".

The old folks used to tell me the spiders were not dead, they just couldn't move. Dad's step mother swore they "hypnotized" the spiders. She always said that if you broke one, sometimes the spiders would awake and crawl away.

 

[pat-tekker-cat]

Isn't nature amazing! Thank you all for sharing!
I thought they laid their baby larva in those mud-dobs
never knew they stored spiders in them, yuck!
almost like an alligator will do, with it's catch, again, yuck!

After hurricane Irma last yr,
I saw a mosquito trapped in a spiderweb.
I didn't set it free.
I did make popcorn, tho….

 

[Chadeaux]

Hi Pat! Good to see you around.

Yep, nature is amazing.

 

[WannaDig3687]

Very interesting series of pics. Learn something everyday on here.

 

[buck8point]

Isn't nature amazing! Thank you all for sharing!
I thought they laid their baby larva in those mud-dobs
never knew they stored spiders in them, yuck!
almost like an alligator will do, with it's catch, again, yuck!

After hurricane Irma last yr,
I saw a mosquito trapped in a spiderweb.
I didn't set it free.
I did make popcorn, tho….

They do lay a single egg in separate mud chambers, each laid and sealed up with multiple spiders that have not been killed, but paralyzed by a sting, and put in the mud chamber for the developing larva to consume as it grows large enough to emerge from the chamber. This is pretty much the same for all the different varieties of Mud Daubers, that make all kinds of different shapes of mud chambers. Some, Long, some Round, Some piled on top of each other... Etc.
Next time you see a Mud Dauber Nest, break it up and look inside, its amazing whats going on in there.. If you dont like Spiders, Mud Daubers are your friend.. lol.. They kill lots and lots of spiders..
Also, if you have issues with Mud daubers building lots of nests around your garage or what not, paint the walls, or ceilings sky blue, and you will never get another nest built there. They think its the sky..