A dirt dobber began commuting through our house a week or so ago on it’s way to work. I call her Dob (a tough name for a female, but she is an Apoidea, whatever that means). Dob’s day job is flying around collecting things. At night, she builds a dirt pipe organ out under the deck umbrella. I’ve seen her five times in two weeks – mainly in the house. She slips through the screen door, browses the den and kitchen, inspects the walls, Rudy’s head, snags a small bug or two, then leaves. She seems to be constantly looking for a good place to lay down some dirty pipe.
Rudy watches Dob warily, but leaves her to do her job, even when she lands on one of his ears to rest. He is not happy about it, but he tolerates it. There was a time when he would have turned wrong side out if any flying thing landed on him. He still hates flies, but he seems to have developed an uneasy relationship with Dob. It is downright un-Jack Russell-ish.
The mud wasp is called a dirt dobber in the South. Dirt dobbers are the likable 4th cousin to those evil little SOB’s that carry the pointy-reared wasp reputation. Granted, dirt dobbers are messy, but we get along with them, especially considering the alternative life forms cribbing in the dark cracks and corners of our homes.
Unfortunately, dirt dobbers look a lot like a wasp, and often get punished like one. Unlike wasps – which I will battle like a scene from Braveheart – I leave dirt dobbers alone when possible because we have similar goals: they are the main predator of Black Widow Spiders. The way I see it, these flying mud-packers are in the category of ‘man’s best friend’ next to dogs and ESPN. So if Dob wants to chow down on Black Widows around here, she’s got free reign.
Dobbers do pose a problem at airports, however, since they tend to build nests in delicate places on airplanes, like altimeters. You don’t have to have picked a bad day to stop sniffing glue (the movie Airplane) to understand that’s a bad thing. Dobbers don’t mean to cause problems, it just what they do. Mud daubers craft mud into barrack-shaped food storage bins, where they house insects like the aforementioned Black Widow and other things I chase with a fly flap. In that respect, Dob is a flying bug zapper. I’ll buy the mud and help her trowel if it means less Black Widows.
Speaking of Black Widows: A few years ago, a friend of mine found himself in the unenviable position of having to use an outhouse during a hunting trip. For some reason, Black Widows love out houses, especially the area just under the seat. He took the neurotoxin in the ass. It was several days before the spasms, cramps and pain even began to subside. I told him recently about dirt dobbers and Black Widows.
“Wish I’d known that then,” he said. “I won’t be using the restroom anywhere I don’t see a dirt dobber nest from now on.”
