European Wasps

[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.