Wasp nest im my Attic (help!)

jabaroon · 24-08-2003 9:49pm #1

Probably a little off topic, but its the best place the I could think of to ask!!

I heard what seemed like a faint scratching noise in my attic. Had been meaning to get up to investigate, but had loaned my ladder to a friend. Just as well really!!....today I figured out what is was/is.

Standing out in the back garden, I noticed an unusually high presence of wasps buzzing around. I watched them for a minute and noticed they were tending to be heading in the same direction! They were entering the attic through a hole in the eves that was drilled by a sattelite installation guy -- the hole was far too big for the cable.

So, how do I get rid of the F**Kers!!?? No advise along the lines of "Get up into your attic with a plastic bag....." please!! Is there a safe way to iradicate them myself, or should I be getting pro's. If so, anyone got any suggestions on who?

Thanks,
Jab

Creamy Goodness · 24-08-2003 9:54pm

look up the golden pages for a bee keeper

jabaroon · 24-08-2003 9:57pm

But they are wasps?

depadz · 31-08-2003 11:22am

I had one in my shed last year so was a bit easier to deal with as it was on ground level.

But I basically cut off the access to the nest so that they couldn't leave or get in.

I then got a few packs of the wasp killing powder & a few cans of the spray. Used the spray to kill the airborne ones and then lashed the powder on the nest.

If you open the hatch to your attic and spray your way over to the nest and perhaps try and get it into a box or plastic bag. bring it out to the back garden. Put on a snorkel jacket, a pair of goal keeper gloves and bate the bollix out of it with a hurl. Then lash the powder into it.

spockety · 19-09-2003 10:22am

Holy ****. do not do any of what these guys are saying!!

Just buy wasp killing powder or spray, and put a load of it around the entrance to the nest, or the hole where the cable goes in. That's all you have to do. The wasps as they come in will pick up the powder and bring it into the nest with them. Within a very short period of time, all of the wasps will have killed themselves with the powder.

Wasps never return to a nest, and rarely build where another nest has already been, so you can be fairly sure they won't reappear next year.

Rancid · 21-09-2003 9:04pm

Do you really have to do *anything* at all??

Unless you're gonna be spending time in your attic, they're not gonna disturb you.
They'll disappear at the end of the season if you just wait it out.

I had a wasp nest in the attic and they all just left eventually. I also had one under the floorboards in the porch (they got in through the ventilation holes). I didn't try to kill them or block the holes. They were pretty much harmless and very interesting.

And when they've left.... just take a look at the nest and marvel at what those little wasps can build!

Typedef · 21-09-2003 9:07pm

Yeah my thoughts exactly.

You don't necessarily 'need' to kill them.
Nothing wrong with allowing nature to live around you, you know.

jabaroon · 21-09-2003 10:57pm

Yeah, am kinda doing that at the moment. The only thing that bugs me (pardon the pun!) is that they seem to make a lot of noise at night.

Now its not in the room that I sleep in, but if I wander in there after 12ish, the noise is far too loud for me to sleep (Im a light sleeper).

So its not really a problem -- as I dont sleep in that room -- but if I have visitors etc.... it could be...

Any idea when I can expect them to die off?

Jim · 22-09-2003 4:48pm

i had a wasp nest once, under the gazebo out my back. when they started to die off every morning for about a week the entire sliding, glass, back door would be filled with dead wasps stuck to it.

was like something from a low budget horror film.

[the entire door]

jabaroon · 22-09-2003 7:57pm

Mmmmm...looking forward to that!....
Dont worry, I will post a picture!

Typedef · 22-09-2003 8:21pm

It's cool you decided not to kill them.

Ghandi would be well proud.

FAYESY · 23-09-2003 12:11pm

Ok I have read this post with some interest:rolleyes: I love MOST creatures and like bees but wasps are just nasty! they don't do any good and enjoy stinging people! I know at this time of year they start to die but before they do this they get very slow & nasty & will sting without hesitation! Also not all of the nest will die the queen will live & will lay eggs next year thus starting he problem all over again.

Call rentokill for god sake & get rid of the evil little b******

There are six species of wasp commonly found in the UK but only two enter buildings. Wasps can be seen throughout the country but the wasp 'season' tends to be shorter in the cooler north.

Wasps build elaborate nests made from a papery substance. This is produced when workers mix wood scraped from trees, fence posts or materials scraped from dried grasses with saliva. Nests can be located hanging from trees, bushes and hedges, or beneath roof tiles, in attics, garages, etc.

A wasp nest survives only for that season as the nest dies off in the late autumn, and although they will never re-inhabit an old nest, they may build a new one directly beside an old nest. At the height of the season, there may be as many as 25,000 wasps in a very large nest!

This info was found on the rentokill web site

http://www.rentokilpestcontrol.co.uk/what_have_you_got/wasps.php

Typedef · 23-09-2003 12:19pm

Hrrm

You sight rentokill, as an objective source on whether to kill a Wasp's nest or not.

</sarcasm>

FAYESY · 23-09-2003 12:22pm

I sight a good reason to kill wasps is my unrelantless fear & hatred of those little evil black & yellow stining machines!

Rentokill or ANY other pest control oufit will happily get rid of them!

Jak · 23-09-2003 12:37pm

Use the powder.

It's simple and amazingly effective.

Have had 2 wasps nests and it worked a treat on both.

JAK.

jabaroon · 23-09-2003 6:37pm

Whats the name of the powder and where do you get it? Not saying i will use it, but forearmed etc....!!!

Also, it would be very difficult for me to use a powder because I would have to shake it UPWARDS .... eg: nest entrance is on the underside of the eves. Not sure how I would apply it?

Is there an aerosol equivalent?

Jab

Don1 · 25-09-2003 10:25am

If you must kill them, the best way is the powder all over the entrance method. Worked twice for us. In more open or non-flamable circumstances a proprane blowtorch seems to work wonders, plus it get's rid of the nest too! I'm not very cruel, it just happened to be the only option in the place they were!

Rancid · 26-09-2003 8:44pm

Originally posted by FAYESY
... I love MOST creatures and like bees but wasps are just nasty! they don't do any good and enjoy stinging people!

I disagree!
In the 7 or so months they lived under my front porch, there was only ONE case of stingage! One of the wasps got trapped between the glass and curtain on the front door (they sometimes accidentally drifted into the porch when I opend the door) and as I was trying to help it go back outside.. it stung me. It didn't know what I was doing and reacted instinctively.
It was the only sting I've ever had and it didn't seem such a big deal, to be honest.

The following is an interesting observation I made during those few months that they lived here:

They gained access to their nest through 4 small circular ventilation holes about 6 inches off the ground so I could easily observe them entering and leaving.
As a wasp approached the vent holes.. he hovered a bit...then headed for a particular hole. Many times I noticed wasps almost enter one vent hole, back off and try another. I watched, thinking that the hole was blocked by an exiting wasp.... but none emerged.
This type of procedure occured daily.
At the end of the season, I often found tired wasps on the ground near the vents... and sometimes "helped" some of them in by holding them on a tissue or a leaf right outside a vent hole.
Sometimes they surprised me by refusing to enter... turning around to avoid the hole... but eagerly crawling into another one.

Did each wasp really have a particular "door"???

It seemed that way.

By December that year they were gone.
To my disappointment, they never returned.:(

zeris · 27-09-2003 3:19am

Originally posted by Rancid
By December that year they were gone.
To my disappointment, they never returned.:(

The link FAYESY gave has the reason.

A wasp nest survives only for that season as the nest dies off in the late autumn, and although they will never re-inhabit an old nest, they may build a new one directly beside an old nest.

Wasp nest im my Attic (help!)

Comments