22 February 2009

I think I have a problem . . .

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This evening, I found this in my cats’ bowl, apparently trying to take an entire cat biscuit somewhere. There were a number of its friends with it.

It looks like a European Wasp to me.

I don’t know where it lives nor was I aware that Friskies™ were part of the wasp circle of life.

How does one track a wasp back to its lair?

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I bought a cheap trap from Bunnings and so far it is working really well. Smells pretty bad but there are heaps of wasps dead in it and not so many flying around.

European wasps have made canberra home.And can now be found in most suburbs and surrounding areas.The thing to remember about these wasps is that they are a social insect and live in large groups working for each other.So when it comes to food once they have found a suitable feeding site they will let all the other wasps of the nest know where the food can be found.So if you find the wasps feeding on your pets food you need to change your habits and feed the pet at night and put any left over food away before morning.Wasps arent just looking for food they also are looking for building materials for there nest and they can use such things as flaking timber fence pallings or timber telegraph poles.

When european wasps nest in your building you have to be careful because they will chew the gyprock sheeting and can gain access inside your building.This can be a real problem as the wasps cant get out.

When you find a european wasp nest on your property you should have it treated to help try and stop the spread of these wasps(may be to late)

One last thing if you have these wasps hanging around say during a bbq or something be careful trying to swat them or waving your hands around as this will attract even more angry wasps and you could end up been attacked.Always move slowly as the wasps can not see slow movements.And keep all food and drinks covered.Most serious problems happen when a wasp gets inside a drink can and is then drunk causing severe reactions when stung in the throat or mouth

I am pest controler in the A.C.T I am not sure if I am aloud to say who i am?But my name was mentioned in a earlier post

I had a couple of them come when I was eating outside at Debacle. Damn things are going to ruin outdoor life.

Skidbladnir said :

For people thinking about leaving European Wasps somewhere for a while, I offer the following picture.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/08nF6tzcAudU6

Page down to the end of that link .. they had a rather unfortunate juxtaposition of (fire-related) photos when I looked …

tylersmayhem2:35 pm 23 Feb 09

Oh – well there you go. I’ll quietly put down my shovel and walk away. 😉 Thx Skid

Tylers:
That photo is of Vespula of unknown second descriptor, all commonly known as “European wasps” here.
Two entire insect families (vespula and dolichovespula) get called yellowjackets in the US, despite having different visble characteristsics and nesting habits, but probably because many of them are yellow. 😐

Skidbladnir said :

For people thinking about leaving European Wasps somewhere for a while, I offer the following picture.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/08nF6tzcAudU6

Omigosh!! I think poptop is right about that problem!

: /

tylersmayhem1:38 pm 23 Feb 09

For people thinking about leaving European Wasps somewhere for a while, I offer the following picture.

Except that that article is from The United States of Obama and they are Jacket Wasps rather than Euros.

Either way – damage by both can be shocking apparently. I’d suggest to get it sorted ASAP!

For people thinking about leaving European Wasps somewhere for a while, I offer the following picture.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/08nF6tzcAudU6

tylersmayhem1:11 pm 23 Feb 09

I have a nest behind some bricks of the house in a cavity… Haven’t really wanted to fork out the $200 to get it exterminated and tried wasp spray twice bu they kept re-building.\

Might wanna get that looked at Madman. I’ve been advised that they can cause nasty structural damage in time.

I’d suggest either calling Phil (if Mr Venom can post the number), or call Dr Maks pet control. He was awesome and fixed my problem for a very competitive price.

I have a nest behind some bricks of the house in a cavity… Haven’t really wanted to fork out the $200 to get it exterminated and tried wasp spray twice bu they kept re-building.

They go in and out of it all day and there is about 20-30 of them. There’s minimal activity early morning and after the sun has set.

My motorbike is parked 2 metres from the nest and I haven’t had a problem with aggressiveness.

tylersmayhem12:14 pm 23 Feb 09

I had Phil remove a nest for me yesterday (sorry Thumper, didn’t cost me)

Who’s this Phil dude, and whats hit contact numbers V Twin?

try feeding your cats real cat food instead.

Why, what do you feed you cats proofpositive? Somehow I think we won’t get a response to your idiotic point!

In my defence, proofpositive, I feed my cats a range of things, usually on a bed of cat biscuits.

This gives my cats teeth a bit of a clean and provides a snack for the extensive other wild- and feral-life that seem to enjoy catty leftovers (this includes other cats, dogs, currawongs, magpies and now European wasps.

I thought I’d probably have to find the nest before calling the experts in. Following insects back to ther nest as night is falling seems a bit difficult, is all.

Muttsybignuts10:34 am 23 Feb 09

In my experience they seem to mind their own business unless you have a go at them. Then, they get all angry and start looking for things to sting. Problem is, they don’t sting just once. They keep going and going and going.

V twin venom9:45 am 23 Feb 09

Contact the European wasp hotline. I had Phil remove a nest for me yesterday (sorry Thumper, didn’t cost me). He is a hell of a nice guy, professional and he takes the nest away for study. He even gave little venom a run down on how they make their nests and left him a bit of it and some literature to take to show at school.

The wasps had been around for many weeks but caused us and our pets no grief at all.

I had some last year, got rid of them myself with bugspray, wire and fire. Not what i would recommend to most people, but in that situation it worked just fine.

We’ve had them at bbqs a few times this summer. They really do get excited about that sort of fare, and generally won’t bugger off either.

Clown Killer8:01 am 23 Feb 09

I’m given to understand that this time of year these wasps diet is predominantly meat or meat based, so its not surprising to see them having a go at pet food.

The one European wasp nest I have found was under ground. I was a hole about 5cm across and could only really be located by watching where the wasps were going. I’m told that they can get pretty agressive around the nest so it’s a good ida to get a professional pest exterminator in to deal with one if you do find it.

cat food

noun
food prepared for cats

cat food. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved February 22, 2009, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cat food

Per the dictionary, Friskies™ is real cat food.

proofpositive1:39 am 23 Feb 09

try feeding your cats real cat food instead.

A simple trap for European wasps is to put a jam jar (with some jam residue still left in it) near the transit route of the insects. Poke a few small holes in the jam jar lid with a knife or fork. Just sit it down and the trap is set.

It won’t kill the hive but you can perhaps use the jar to track where they are coming from and the jam inside will be more of a lure than your pet food or kids.

I seasol’d and powerfed (liquid fertiliser) a whole heap of my plants last Sunday and these pricks came from all angles. Hundreds of them buzzing around my back yard. Had to take the indoor plants back in via the front door.

The other day we had some fruit salad and they were buzzing around the open back door too.

I was tempted to post back here asking a similar question. I am 99% sure they aren’t on my property, but on the reserve we back onto.

Two things I have heard, but am happy to be corrected on:

They are constantly heading to and from the nest. (this seems at odds with thumper above?)
They will be buzzing about withing a relatively short distance from the nest (couple hundred meters?)

I was tempted to start some triangulation techniques involving either undiluted seasol or pineapples, but if anyone has a better idea, let me know. I’d love to find the pricks and get ACT Gov to come burn em out…

Move your pet food bowl inside, you do not want rover or moggy to eat one of these suckers.

Yep, its a European wasp. Pet food is one of the main attractants of these pests.

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