European Wasps

[echnidna]

I'm doing some renos on an old weatherboard house.

The back wall was so rugged I thought it best to replace all the weatherboards on the whole wall.

All was going well until I ripped the last board off and found a nice lively wasp nest just below the noggin line.

So I got a spider bomb from the supermarket and set it going and put in on the bottom plate straight below the wasp nest.

Then I went and had lunch.

After lunch no wasps so I knocked the nest off and put the new weatherboards on.

Just thought I'd mention this as it turned out to be a very safe and easy way to handle the wasps in this particular type of location.

[ThePope]

now that don't sound like a fair fight at all.
I'd have preferred to hear the OH S.HIT!!! hammer vs wasp story...

[Kev Y.]

Good one Bob,

The "Lust of my Life", had the little mongrels in behind her chimney.

we waited until after dark, when they are all home for the night and tucked up in their beds, then filled the entrance to the nest with "baygon" powder and promptly sealed it with silicone.

To date not a sign of them:)

In your case I would be doing a good search of my property just incase they have decided to set up home close by.

[Mirboo]

When I was a kid we had a similar problem with a swarm of wild bees getting into the wall of our house through a gap in the weatherboards. My dad waited until after dark when the bees had all quietened down and then put about a quarter of a phostoxin tablet into the wall through the gap the bees were using as their entrance. It got rid of the bees quick smart, we almost had to leave the house as well.

Phostoxin is a substance that dissolves on contact with moisture in the air to form phosphine gas. Back in the 70's we used the stuff on the farm for gassing rabbits. We would fill in all but one of the holes in a rabbit warren, chuck a tablet down the one remaining hole, and then quickly fill in the last hole. Taa... daa... no more bunnies.

I'm not sure whether you can still buy phostoxin tablets over the counter but they were good for getting rid of rabbits and bees. I'm sure it would work on wasps as well.

Regards,
Mirboo.

[woodbe]

I had a wild bee hive decide to nest in the wall of the old familyroom. It was AC sheet on the outside and gyprock interior. Caused some grief as bees would find their way inside because of the poor seal where the gyprock met the side of the house proper (butt join gyprock to freestone)


Anyway, I sliced about 5mm off the side of a sheltox peststrip, drilled a 6mm hole through the gyprock at about the noisyest spot and slid the strip in. I have never seen bees evacuate so fast! The entire nest was emptied within a couple of minutes, and there was a large angry swarm in the driveway while they worked out where to go. Gone in about 30 minutes.

Some bees were overcome by the strip, and there was a large bluetongue lizard below the nest mopping up the casualties! :)

Haven't seen peststrips in the shops for a while, I guess that's another nasty poison the public should not have been exposed to...

woodbe.

[DanP]

Funny you should mention this today.

Should have seen the big tough burly copper running round the yard today swatting at the paper wasps swarming around his head. :eek: :rolleyes:

Dan

[goat]

i got bit by one of these little buggers today just as i pulled up at the gate on the bike one got trapped between the inner upper thigh and the petrol tank felt like a red hot needle another inch higher i would have been in trouble:o

[ThePope]

Should have seen the big tough burly copper running round the yard today swatting at the paper wasps swarming around his head.

I'm trying to avoid that sort of situation, I've a couple of nests over the backdoor and I aint going near the little bastards.

[Wood Butcher]

When we got the keys to our first house a mate of mine helped me start to move in. Right next to the front door was a massive paper wasps nest in the shrubs. Tony walked back to his ute grabbed a can of WD40 and a lighter. Did you know that paper wasps can't fly very much once their wings have been burnt off. (Actually they were all dead straight away). Tony reckons its easier than using insect spray and having off wasps flying around.

[Barry_White]

Bunnings sell a special wasp killer spray that shoots a stream up to four metres that you fire at the wasp nests. The stream ends up about 2 inchs diameter as it gets to the wasp nest.

Very deadly to wasps and heavy on the pocket at about $13-14 a can as it gets rid of the product fairly quickly, but you have to have a very steady hand and a good aim as the stream is very eratic.

[Exador]

Bunnings sell a special wasp killer spray that shoots a stream up to four metres that you fire at the wasp nests. The stream ends up about 2 inchs diameter as it gets to the wasp nest.

Very deadly to wasps and heavy on the pocket at about $13-14 a can as it gets rid of the product fairly quickly, but you have to have a very steady hand and a good aim as the stream is very eratic.

You can try at your local electrical wholesaler for some "wasp freeze", which is similar and very effective. It's also a lot of fun to shoot the little buggers and watch 'em drop like rocks. There's none of the buzzing about on the ground that ordinary flysprays cause - one drop and they're stiff as a board. I wouldn't even think about working through summer without a can in the toolbox.

Mind you, there's something to be said for a can of mortein and a cigarette lighter as well :D:D.

[Iain]

sheltox peststrip.
I think they fell out of favour after the NOrman Gunston show, he recomended grating them on top of lemon merangue pies, looks like peel but keeps the flies off at a picnic.
Fortunately we do not have any here (at the moment) but a sting for me represents a call to 000 and about a week in hospital.

[Exador]

I think they fell out of favour after the NOrman Gunston show, he recomended grating them on top of lemon merangue pies, looks like peel but keeps the flies off at a picnic.
Fortunately we do not have any here (at the moment) but a sting for me represents a call to 000 and about a week in hospital.

I've become more sensitised over the years, after dozens of stings at least. These days I tend to puff up pretty badly, but only for a few days. The trouble with the little buggers is that if you've got 1 at you, you've got a dozen:eek: .

Used to work with a bloke who had a severe reaction to bee stings. He had to work in the office when the wattle and bottlebrushes were in bloom.

[ThePope]

Bunnings sell a special wasp killer spray that shoots a stream up to four metres that you fire at the wasp nests. The stream ends up about 2 inchs diameter as it gets to the wasp nest.

do they have those in a tradies flavour, I'm thinking 10 plus metres at least.
four metres is a bit too far inside my safety zone...

[Wood Butcher]

Used to work with a bloke who had a severe reaction to bee stings. He had to work in the office when the wattle and bottlebrushes were in bloom.
I'v had the unfortunate experieence of developing a severe reaction to bee stings. (Sort of sucks when I used to make beekeeping equipment for a living:(). I now carry around anit-histamine tablets and a automatic adrenaline injector just in case. I've ended up in hospital twice and I can tell you it is a scary experience barely being able to breathe and wondering if I was going to get treatment in time.

[Munga]

My wife and I decided to fill in a Sunday looking at display homes and pinching ideas, we get to this nice brick one that is not open but wife is determined to look inside so over to the window up on tippy toes and face har against window, next thin I know she's racin round the front yard boob tube round waist and belting her self I think she's finally done it she's flipped the lid. I run after her and find out wasps had a nest under the sill and seven got her on the boobs, I didn't know if she wanted me to kiss em better rub em or keep my distance I chose the latter and with great difficulty kept a smile off the face, the other blokes that were there didn't and there women folk assisted as best they cauld.
On the way home I commented that she had always wanted a slightly larger size and now she's got it with no doctor bills.
Well that was about thirty years ago and on estimation I think I'll be out of the proverbial in about another ten.
Cheers Arch.

[banksiaman]

I can sympathise with Goat, used to ride a bike everywhere for years, and this time was in summer, so I had shorts on (as you do), riding to town and picked up what turned out to be a small wasp of some type, didn't think much of it at the time, but must have been crawling up my leg. Got to the Bank, stood in line for a little while (you could then) and a very nice young thing beckoned me to the counter and asked "Can I help you?" - then the little bugger decides to start stinging me, on the nads, and kept going....
I can laugh about it now, but at the time...

Chris

[Exador]

do they have those in a tradies flavour, I'm thinking 10 plus metres at least.
four metres is a bit too far inside my safety zone...

Most paper wasps have a reaction range of about a meter from the nest, while the European variety has a range of about 2 m. Stay outside that range and you're fine.

[Bob38S]

Mortein Black surface spray [reasonably cheap $8.00 a tin, available in any supermarket] - they don't fly at all - they just drop straight down. We have a type of wasp that likes to nest in the breather holes in the bricks - walk past a little too close and "gotcha" on the ankle. I really stirred them up one time while going past on the ride on mower - unknown to me at the time the exhaust was in perfect alignment with the breather hole - you can picture the mayhem that followed.
Bob

[Chris Parks]

Dad showed me how to get rid of a wasp nest permenantly with no chemicals. Ingredients are metho, a rag and a long stick. Wait until after dark and soak the rag in metho and put it on the end of a real long stick. The wasps don't like flying after dark and when you light the wasp nest with the rag they are all home. One important thing here is to burn it thoroughly and if they begin to fly out of the nest keep the flame up there against the nest as they can get a bit stroppy. If they fly out their wings burn off and become base jumpers without a parachute. I have burnt heaps of nests and never been stung.