Wasps

[Alcdrew]

Hmm be carefull with this one. When I was younger me and a friend spent hours one day catching bees and wasps and half drowning them in a bucket of water, and then take delight in watching them squirm about when we fished them out. We were too stupid to realise that they would start flying once they dried out. I think I got stung about 11 times by angry bees/wasps. Not clever.

Another time my friend had a huge wasps nest at the bottom of his garden. I came along to find him and another few friends pinging small stones off it and laughing at the angry wasps as they buzzed around the nest, no doubt trying to protect it from the unseen assailants. Me being really clever picked up a half brick and threw it into the centre of the nest. That really annoyed the occupants. If I remember correctly I got stung over 35 times that day!!!

Thats great, I laughed, imagining a little kid throwing half a brick at a wasps nest and then running for his life as a swam were stinging him.

I remember once a friend and I had a competition to see who could hold a bee in their hands the longest, can't remember who won, but I remember the pain...

Instead of just using an insect spray (or the Mrs' hairspray etc.), ignite it as well; voila! One instant flame thrower!

Maybe not such a good idea, I have one of those wooden sheds... and I reckon wood and fire don't mix too well (or maybe they mix too well, and thats what I'm worried about). But then maybe... If I half drown the wasp first then set fire to it, the shed won't go up in flames as it'll still be soaked from the water.

 

[simonali]

An aerosol of compressed air is no good, has to be a liquid. Insects breathe through their skin, so any other aerosol will do the trick. No need for specific sprays. As FF says, deodorant will bring her down long enough to skvish!

 

[Fnaar]

What was Nessy doing in your hedge? Shouldn't she have been in a Loch somewhere?

 

[Mr Pig]

How dumb can it be

It's probably watching you with your compressed air and thinking the same thing! ;0)

You get stuff called Crawling Insect Killer. It's designed for ants and stuff but it'll kill flying insects just as well. What you do is spray it onto the surfaces were the insects walk, they pick it up with their feet and it kills them! The best bit is that it doesn't kill them straight away. If the insects in question have a nest they carry it into the nest on their feet and it gets some of the insects in the nest as well! :0)

I've used it loads of times. Just spray it all over the inside of the shed and it'll kill every bug that goes in there. Coat the wasp's nest building site and it'll wipe them out.

 

[piedwagtail91]

we've had several nests, I'd kill it now quickly or you'll lose the use of your shed for the rest of the year, i think you need only kill the queen and the rest will go. some of the nests i've taken out have filled a 2 gallon bucket.
you can get stuff for destroying the nest but i found they're not too keen on freshly crushed garlic, trouble is that doesn't kill them!

 

[Alcdrew]

Wasp update...

It's dead..

Got home, went to put my bike away, and their its re-building its nest again. Even after I sent it packing this morning, must have really like the look of my shed. But out came my newly purchased bug killer, and 10 second latter it was wiggling about on the floor. I have left the dead body on the floor as a warning to any other wasp the feels it can make my shed home.

I have to say though, this is another plus to biking, if I only used my shed for storing stuff other than my bike, I probably wouldn't have found the nest till it was a lot bigger than one queen trying to make a home for her soon to be babies.

 

[Milo]

Queen wasps are massive aren't they?
Or is that bees.

 

[Milo]

I had a spate of wasps coming through the windows 9 acts of war later and they appear to have retreated the siege for now.

 

[Alcdrew]

That won't work.

What you need to do is chop its head off and stick it in the bed of the next wasp you find.

Maybe I need to put its head on a stick on top of the shed.

 

[Mr Pig]

The next morning I woke up to find hundreds of dead wasps lying around the inside of my window.

The stuff I've got is a liquid, I think it's Rentakil, red bottle, but I've seen the powder stuff too. When I first got it I wondered how effective it was and I made the mistake of spraying some on the 'outside' of the kitchen window, you know how flies bounce of the window in summertime because if the light? I had to go out and wash it off, it was ridiculous! Total fly carnage, what a mess!

 

[Globalti]

What the hell do wasps do anyway?

When the world floods I am going to leave wasps out of my ark, along with estate agents.

 

[Paulus]

For those who are interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp

 

[Milo]

You dont want one of these bad boys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_giant_hornet

 

[Mr Pig]

When the world floods I am going to leave wasps out of my ark, along with estate agents.

Could car salesmen be left off too?

 

[rogerzilla]

Jaspers! It it just me, or are wasps crap these days, and very easy to squash? They used to be crafty little critters, managing to sting you before you got them.