Squirrels will also take more care with big acorns, carrying them further from the tree and burying them more deeply than smaller acorns. When wasp larvae hatch in spring, they secrete a substance that causes their oak hosts to grow succulent green or red galls that reach the size of tennis balls in just two months. Bitter tannic acids in the lumpy spheres repel hungry predators, protecting larvae until they mature into adults and emerge after one or more years. As the gall ages, its surface turns hard and creamy white or tan. Its outer flesh grows pithy while an inner chamber that houses the larvae hardens.
Galls can hang on the tree for a few years after wasps leave, harboring a host of other insects.
Male beetles dig their way out and take wing during the evening and at night for a week or two after the first soaking rain. In central California Pleocoma blaisdelli can be found in Calaveras County near the towns of Arnold, Avery, and Sheep Ranch. December Breeding season for most mule and black-tailed deer populations in California starts in November or December. As often as every 50 to 200 paces, a buck will pause to horn, then lift his head to listen for a like response. Dozens of bushes and small trees with broken branches and flayed bark are left in the wake of a horning buck.