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WOWBug FAQs
(Frequently Asked Questions)

• What are WOWBugs?
• What can WOWBugs teach my students?
• Are WOWBugs practical in the classroom or laboratory?
• What curricular materials are available to help me use WOWBugs?
• Where can I get living WOWBugs?
• What should I feed my WOWBugs?
• I have a species similar to WOWBugs. Can I use them instead?
• Some of my cultures have mold. How can I prevent it next time?
• I'd like to do the mud dauber nest dissection activity. But won't collecting a lot of nests for my class reduce local mud dauber populations?
• Help! My WOWBugs are dead! What now?
• How long do adult WOWBugs live?
• Do mud daubers specialize on any one kind of spider?
• I ordered a WOWBug culture from Carolina Biological Supply Company, and when it came, it included a couple of adult wasps and a pupa. But even under a microscope I don't see any eggs. Is something wrong?
• If mud dauber wasps are the WOWBug's natural host, how did anyone figure out that they can be reared on blowflies?
• My WOWBugs are developing more slowly than I expected. Any tips for speeding them along?
• Can I use WOWBugs to teach genetics to students?
• In our Advanced Placement biology classes, we traditionally study fruit fly courtship, but it's a difficult lab for students. Could we use WOWBugs instead?
• When making a new culture, do I need to break open the blowfly puparium or mud dauber cocoon, or will WOWBugs go through the shell to lay their eggs?
• I've seen materials describing WOWBugs as "new insects." Are they the product of some sort of genetic engineering? I don't want to accidentally release mutant "killer bugs" into the world!
• I recently saw some living WOWBugs for the first time, and they seemed awfully small. Will they be any bigger when they grow up?