GK's War of the Wasps!

GK · 06-02-2007, 06:16 PM

On Sunday whilst mowing the lawn, I got hit twice by European Wasps. "Flaming wogs" I thought! LOL! It's ok I'm Greek Cypriot so I'm allowed to say that!

In any case today I noticed some hefty activity near the now infamous "sting site" and so I tried to get in for a closer look. I couldn't and needed to hop in the trusty SR and drive in for a closer look! LOL!

:

Even though I wasn't wearing Khaki (I was wearing camo shorts), I felt a little Steve Irwinesque in my approach.

:

And what did I discover. A NEST!

: That took me by surprise so I rang Dawson's pest control who arrived within the hour.

Here is the footage of the blessed erradication. Aaaaaaahhhhhh, I love the smell of pyrethroids in the afternoon! LOL!

It's the first video link I've ever posted so I hope I've done it ok. It's a big file though, 10meg so you've been warned. It's just after the main chemicals were sprayed and the wasps are seeking vengance!

Some interesting info from the Dawson's guys.

Wasps can feed and forage for 24/7 as they aren't affected by the cold, unlike bees.
Wasps can build a nest in 4-5 hours! Scary indeed!
Wasps roam up to 500 metres from the next, bees go about 100 metres at most.
Upon threat to the nest, they spray you with pheremones and you are the painted target. (Just check out the video to see this in action!)
It will take up to 7 days to kill them all as the ones away forraging will need to revisit the next to make contact with the chemicals and die!

:evil3: DIE WASPS DIE! :evil3:

Cost me $198, worth every darn cent! If there are still wasps living in 8-9 days, they'll return and spray again for no extra charge.

Even now, an hour after that footage was taken, the activity at the hive has almost totally ceased. Amen to that! Just wait for the forragers to return and find what awaits them, DEATH! :evil3: :evil_laug :evil3: :evil_laug :evil3: :evil_laug

Sorry, that last line got away on me a little. :hihi:

Cheers,

GK

AU2PWR · 06-02-2007, 06:22 PM

My Word , thats incredible !

XR6-VCT-2000 · 06-02-2007, 06:31 PM

Yeah die wasps , i hate the buggers , they always seem to chase me and no-one else ! ..lol. 3 times i've had them enter my cabin while stationary at traffic lights with the window down.

AUIII XR8 MAN · 06-02-2007, 06:39 PM

LOL at the story. I know how you feel, i been stung a few by the little bastard.

Kryton · 06-02-2007, 07:33 PM

all stinging insects suck.
we had some guy standing in our driveway one day poking around the bushes.
im staring at him thinking this guy must be a fruitloop or something.
turned out we had a wasp nest in that bush and he was there to erradicate them.
strange thing was i didnt even know the nest or wasps were there and i walk past that point most days.
the pile of wasp bodies left behind was a chilling reminder of what could have been.

rodderz · 06-02-2007, 08:12 PM

I got stung twice by them just this afternoon, I thought I had one of those sharp grass seeds in my sock as i felt a little sharp jab, went to scratch it and disturbed the little bugger still on my leg so he stung again!

He became part of the road pretty quick

Ford_Boy · 06-02-2007, 08:17 PM

do wasps make honey? stupid question i know but are they related to bees?

rodderz · 06-02-2007, 08:24 PM

No, while they still eat nectar they dont produce honey, only the stuff they use to build nests with

I dont think they are directly related to bees. They can sting repeatadly too, not once like bees

FPV8U · 06-02-2007, 08:30 PM

LOL don't think i'lll bother watching the Vid, im a Pest Controler myself, a fair bit of activity this year.

And as Rodderz said they can sting repeatadly so if you have a problem stay clear and leave this one to the professionals, can get quite nasty...

Bill M · 06-02-2007, 08:33 PM

We were being bothered by Euro wasps and luckily I found their nest, it was in an old tree root and had two entrances that I could see so I blocked both up, one with a funnel and gave the little bastards a few litres of regular unleaded, waited for that to settle and lit it, it burned for hours! Very satisfiying :evil3:
Warning this is not a recommended way to deal with wasps!
cheers
Bill.

[Tonko] · 06-02-2007, 08:45 PM

we had about 100 of the little buggers in the mailbox last year, we couldnt even cross the road and theyed go silly, (rural area, mailbox is on the other side) so after a little brainstorming, (and a failed deoderant can flamethrower later) i had a good idea, run past and put tape over the slot then drop one of those bug bombs in it, it worked, and i havent seen a redback in there for a while...

XR Martin · 06-02-2007, 09:00 PM

Paper Wasps are good, they eat catapillars, fly/mosquito lavae and other garden pests. Ive got half a dozen nest around the place and the only time ive been stung was a few years ago when the pest inspector was here looking into some termite activity. He and I were both stung.
Otherwise ive neaver had any trouble with them, theres even a nest near the back door.

mad machs · 07-02-2007, 12:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ford_Boy

do wasps make honey?

I remember my daughter asking me this very same question, so I told her that while Bees make honey, Wasps make mustard..... she still hasn't forgiven me :evil3:

Neat video, nice to see it dealt with professionally

My old mate Baz, who collects aircraft (full size) did some DIY pest control on a wasps nest that the little critters had built inside a wall cavity, his methods involved a vacuum cleaner, large poly bag, some gasoline & his bonfire

: Funny though;)

angelfury · 07-02-2007, 12:59 AM

my dad found a euro wasp nest in the trunk of a half dead nectarine tree at his place. he poured a cocktail of chemicals down the entrance to the nest and then threw in a match .............. we spent a number of hours plucking the remains of that tree out of various neighbour's yards.

:

Bucket · 07-02-2007, 01:53 AM

Got bitten by a Nest of Hornets climbing through a tube of tyres as a little boy...one of the worst memories i have....ever.

GK · 07-02-2007, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by angelfury

my dad found a euro wasp nest in the trunk of a half dead nectarine tree at his place. he poured a cocktail of chemicals down the entrance to the nest and then threw in a match .............. we spent a number of hours plucking the remains of that tree out of various neighbour's yards.

:

Classic do it yourself explosion. I think most of us would have a story similar to that one! LOL!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bucket

Got bitten by a Nest of Hornets climbing through a tube of tyres as a little boy...one of the worst memories i have....ever.

Oooohhhhh that must have been absolutely horrible.

Are you from the States, I didn't think we had hornets here, unless they are of the Rambler kind LOL!

GK

4.9 EF Futura · 07-02-2007, 09:55 AM

$200 is good value!!

GCFordChic · 07-02-2007, 10:47 AM

I am having a debate at the moment as to whether we have a Bee or a Wasp problem...

All around our house there are little mud looking things in the grooves of the brickwork and most of the time under the window sill of the toilet window. I thought they were wasps, being allergic, I got Brett to go round and poke them all with a long stick and kill anything inside. The other day I was cleaning in the bathroom and toilet and I could hear little taps against the wall in the toilet. Didnt think anything of it until I went to clean the bathroom and there were 4 bee/wasp things buzzing around at the window on the inside. Ran off screaming, went and got the normal bug spray and from a distance of about 2 metres started spraying the window where they were as i moved slowly closer. They died fairly quickly.

Phoned Brett and he said they must be in the wall and coming in through the exhaust fan in the bathroom. That freaked me out because I was yet to have a shower, he said as long as I left the fan on they wouldn't come out. I sprayed about half a bottle of bug spray at the fan as I turned it on (didn't want any more coming out) but when I had a shower I was looking up at that fan the whole time! Getting a pest control dude out to do a full spray of the house.

But are they bees or wasps?

henry 351 · 07-02-2007, 10:48 AM

If you don't want to fork out for the professionals, Baygon comes in a powder bottle, perfect for nuking wasp nests. It works quite well too. Used it on more than one occassion with wasps and bees.

K_Man · 07-02-2007, 11:06 AM

Hahahahaha! Top stuff that vid, reminds me of the time we had a wasps nest in the backyard. Mum and dad both put on countless layers of dad's garbo gear, clipped flywire around the brims of their hats with clothes pegs, went out to the nest in the middle of the night, chucked more flywire over the hole and emptied about 4 cans of Raid into it. Cheap and effective :evil_laug

I wish i got a picture though...They looked ridiculous

:

**Linz** · 07-02-2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

I am having a debate at the moment as to whether we have a Bee or a Wasp problem...

All around our house there are little mud looking things in the grooves of the brickwork and most of the time under the window sill of the toilet window. I thought they were wasps, being allergic, I got Brett to go round and poke them all with a long stick and kill anything inside. The other day I was cleaning in the bathroom and toilet and I could hear little taps against the wall in the toilet. Didnt think anything of it until I went to clean the bathroom and there were 4 bee/wasp things buzzing around at the window on the inside. Ran off screaming, went and got the normal bug spray and from a distance of about 2 metres started spraying the window where they were as i moved slowly closer. They died fairly quickly.

Phoned Brett and he said they must be in the wall and coming in through the exhaust fan in the bathroom. That freaked me out because I was yet to have a shower, he said as long as I left the fan on they wouldn't come out. I sprayed about half a bottle of bug spray at the fan as I turned it on (didn't want any more coming out) but when I had a shower I was looking up at that fan the whole time! Getting a pest control dude out to do a full spray of the house.

But are they bees or wasps?

They'd be mud wasps...we've got a few up here in Brissie and I've never been stung by them. AFAIK they're pretty harmless...had them fly right past me on a number of occasions. Having said that, I wouldn't be getting up close and personal LOL...Linz.

FPV GT · 07-02-2007, 11:35 AM

GCFordChic

They are wasps.
These one's are usally larger than the european wasps and are found by themselves. However they can make a number of mud "homes".
At late arvo / night you will see it completely closed, then during the day it is open at one end.

Moretein, Baygon etc do the job well

Regards
Paul

GCFordChic · 07-02-2007, 11:42 AM

But I don't know if the things that have come inside are the same as the things making the mud things on the bricks. The ones inside look bloomin nasty and really big. I know I am allergic to wasps (bad incident years ago) but don't know about bees, haven't been stung by a bee yet.

Looking at photos when I search "mud wasps" in google, the ones that came inside didn't look like that... they didnt have the long thin bit from the body to the bum...

When talking to the pest control person they said it might be paper wasps which have made a nest in the roof cavity...bugger ever going up there!
Should find out next week when they come, until then eyes and ears continually scanning for signs of those buggers!

Sorry GK, don't mean to hi-jack, just got me thinking is all...

FPV GT · 07-02-2007, 11:48 AM

Thats the bugger, or quite similar to it.

Paper wasps are smaller darker, and thier nets look like paper hence the name. There can be anywhere from 20 or more, and the nest can get quite large.

Regards
Paul

GCFordChic · 07-02-2007, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FPV GT

GCFordChic

They are wasps.
These one's are usally larger than the european wasps and are found by themselves. However they can make a number of mud "homes".
At late arvo / night you will see it completely closed, then during the day it is open at one end.

Moretein, Baygon etc do the job well

Regards
Paul

Thanks for the info Paul, but they definitely are not by themselves! There were heaps (around 10-15) flying around the toilet window, then 4 came into the bathroom in one day. They are not that big, only about 50% bigger than a fly, they are quite fat looking, but not as fat as a bee. On the bum part they are Yellow and with a few small black stripes and kinda furry on the head. But I'll stop randomly guessing what they are and wait till the guy comes to inspect the place.

xalent · 07-02-2007, 05:13 PM

Like this one?

A European wasp.

Those other mud wasps put spiders that they have sedated into their little mud coccoons and lay their eggs there. Then when the eggs hatch, they have a nice meal of live spider, albeit heavily sedated. If you smash them open you'll see the spiders inside, still alive but not moving. Creepy and cool at the same time!

T_Terror · 07-02-2007, 08:13 PM

My girlfriend had wasps start crawling out of her sink pipes in a two story house, they had somehow gotten into the drainage system and were roaming throughout the house using the pipes!!! Was like a horror movie.

S3SR · 07-02-2007, 08:36 PM

bugger wasps, id burn the entire house down and the rest of the block given the chance......wasps, spiders and ants KILL EM...but not snakes i love snakes i can even catch them..taipans...long story

normxb · 07-02-2007, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GCFordChic

Looking at photos when I search "mud wasps" in google, the ones that came inside didn't look like that... they didnt have the long thin bit from the body to the bum...

When talking to the pest control person they said it might be paper wasps which have made a nest in the roof cavity...bugger ever going up there!
Should find out next week when they come, until then eyes and ears continually scanning for signs of those buggers!

Sorry GK, don't mean to hi-jack, just got me thinking is all...

Hi GCFordChick

We always called these "Hornets" , see them out when watering the vegie garden (yep , we're still allowed to do that here , before 10am after 5pm

: ) they'll build mud nests in between bricks , corners of eaves , in sheds . If you break open a "finished" nest you'll find their eggs & also find "stunned" spiders for the little critters to eat when they hatch , they're normally pretty docile & won't hurt you unless really prevoked.
As a kid I used to love chasing them through the shed & swatting them with a ruler , you've got to be quick & accurate :evil3:

Ok , back to GK's topic , glad it was you , mate , those buggers hurt when they sting . When living in Sydney we had some Bee's decide to swarm on one of the bedroom windows and into the wall cavity, called an "Apiarist" (Bee Keeper) & he wanted the "Queen Bee" . Afraid we didn't agree , because he would have had to either pull a few bricks from the outside or cut a hole in the Gyprock on the inside . Mmmmm , the house was 2 months OLD

out: so under sufferance he sprayed them , got some photo's here somewhere .

Norm

Edit: Xalent , "great minds think alike" sorry I hadn't read both pages .

:

FALCONSR , Mate, only good snake is a "dead one" . I'll leave the live ones to YOU . (shuddering while typing lol.)

GCFordChic · 07-02-2007, 10:01 PM

I think I was a bit confusing before, the picture I posted is what mud wasps are meant to look like, but the ones I saw were not like that, they were much more like the pic xalent posted. I cannot quite remember if the markings were exactly the same, but very very similar shape and colour for sure!

So I have mud wasps somewhere (haven't seen them around this house) because there are mud nest things, but there must be a different sort of nest I haven't found yet for the other ones.

GK, that bloomin video is like a horror movie for me, now I am scared to go outside! I'm scared that there must be a nest in the garden, particularly since we just moved in and haven't done the gardens yet, but there is a lot of leaf litter and weeds and places for nests.