Wasp Nests

[D&D Farm]

Awhile back, maybe a year or so, good ol BC started a thread called "Everything Else". The intent I suppose, was to direct anything non-RTVish to be posted there. BC I love ya and thank you for what you give us..........BUT............For me, this became a major pain of just another something or other to open before I got to what I wanted to see..........If I wanted to see it.....Which lots of times I don't.............So, for me, and I have noticed a few others, posting out here in the open.........Surely NOT to disrupt the flow; and I truly thanks for putting up with this.....................

Anyway, what I am talking about and asking for thoughts on, is what to do about wasps in my game camera, security video cameras, solar battery collector boxes, and road alarm sensor boxes that are disguised as bird houses or just boxes.................I have built wooden boxes to protect the electronics of these devices from the weather mainly; but also to perhaps camouflage them from the vandals/trespassers who might see them...............

The problem is the durn wasps that take up residence in them. lol.....I guess they are a good "watch dog" for the vandals but they are also a pain when I go to service the device. Yes, when I discover them I nuke them with typically malathion or the like.........This might last for a few days or maybe even a couple of weeks..........In my gate opener, I have noticed over the years that fire ants LOVE the electronics or whatever it is in there..............lol......the phone guy just had to splice our cable due to fire ant damage way up on the line in the middle of it maybe 30 feet in the air from the pole......

So, what I wonder, is if there is something, like moth balls or whatever that one can put in there to last longer than a week or two as the spray lasts perhaps that long???...........A bit ago I was up on a tricky slope servicing an alarm transmitter that was working sporadically. When I took of the "birdhouse" there came the whole nest at me. Perhaps 10 or 15 wasps..........just about broke my neck/leg whatever, getting away from them down that 6' slope.........

Any thoughts you have on this would be really appreciated........Yes, I can spray them before I open; but hate to drench electronics with fluids if I don't have to.........Thanks........God bless........Dennis

 

[bordercollie]

Dennis, what about putting a piece of glass over the inside of the fake birdhouse entrance hole... that the camera looks out of? Those little plastic clip can be used so it just slides up and down. Maybe some rainex so it wouldn't get water spots so bad on it. I put screen inside on some light vents but that would probably be more visible to a thief. I know the wasps have a purpose but I haven't found it yet. collie

 

[bczoom]

My thoughts would be to put something out to draw the insects away from the cameras and die elsewhere. Kind of like those bug zappers. If you want to get rid of your bugs, give one to your neighbor and have all the bugs go to their place.

With that in mind, I'd recommend using a product like Golden Malrin.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/starbarreg%3B-golden-malrinreg%3B-fly-bait-1-lb

It's for flies but kills bees as well. It has an attractant that draws the insect then a toxin that kills them.

If you go this route, use with care. Whatever eats it, dies. I've heard where people mix some with Coke or Pepsi and put in a little bowl for raccoons. The coons don't get 5' from the container before dropping dead.

 

[D&D Farm]

Thanks guys..........These critters are the paper nest type of wasps that one finds in a barn or up in the eaves of one's buildings............
Thanks BC..........Am totally afraid of using any type of poison as my border collies and guard dogs are all over the place and the last thing I need is for them to chew on a dead animal that is poisoned and then pick it up from them...........
Sitting back for other ideas and thoughts???????...........God bless.......Dennis

 

[muleman RIP]

Vaseline or lube grease applied to the inside of the box will keep them from building their nests on the box.

 

[TWO GUNS]

With that in mind, I'd recommend using a product like Golden Malrin.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/starbarreg;-golden-malrinreg;-fly-bait-1-lb

I've heard where people mix some with Coke or Pepsi and put in a little bowl for raccoons. The coons don't get 5' from the container before dropping dead.

That is some bad axx stuff. Been told of stories of that.

........... two guns

 

[Doc]

some mice found their way to my garage. I've caught two of them in the old fashion trap but still have more. So I went to Tractor supply to get some of that stuff. Looked all over for it. It was not with the regular pesticides. It was back in the horse supplies.
I wanted to put it out last night but we had a visit from a granddaughter so I did not get time to mix up the poison.

How bout sharing some of those stories Two Guns?

 

[clh73]

Hey, for those fire ants the love to get into electrical contacts and the like, there is a spray for that at electrical supply stores. Works extremely well for me. Dirt dobbers though get into EVERYTHING.

 

[bordercollie]

On the dirt dabbers, I do what muleman does and it helps a lot. Those things were putting the mud in every machine screw/bolt head, every hole they could find. The drill press and every piece of anything with inset screw/bolts had white mud plugs. I took some grease and went around, cleaned the mud out and put a dab of grease. They didn't try to rebuild. I had literally 15 dabbers at any one time buzzing around before that and must have swatted 100's. I used to have patience with them until they ruined an expensive piece of equipment with that hard mud nest. It seems to me that they have sort of a homing instinct- staying near where they came from, I don't have any dabbers now but sure paid the price for letting them have at it for years. ( I liked the fact that they caught spiders and put them in the nest for the young to eat. saw many black widows and brown recluse stunned by them and packed in their mud caves)
Also for those with electronic gates, wasps and rats will overtake them unless you screen every hole. We had a rat almost as big as me cut wires in the gate opener . The repairman said screen wire and one of the ultrasonic gizmos worked for his clients. I don't have much faith in those electronic things but he said they worked.
I wonder if some of the long lasting contact insecticide would work for the wasps. I am thinking the termite type . . collie

 

[Kanook]

I do not know if it is an issue further south but the the bee populations in these parts have been having a very hard time. Bee keepers are reporting the death of 3/4 of their hives due to some disease affecting the bees. Our apple trees have little fruit this year because the trees didn't get pollinated well this past spring.

My point.....Please use caution when usings these poisons...our bees and honey producers need all the help they can get.

A couple of years back a lot of birds and small rodents (squirrels and chipmunks) were being killed off in the neighbourhood and more than one cat and a neighbours dog died as a result of poisoning. One of our 'good' neighbours was setting out homemade bait to kill the coons and skunks. He has since moved....good riddance!

My point....Please use caution and common sense when dealing with that s#*t....

Kanook

 

[bordercollie]

Agreed Kanook. I love nature and do my best to be a good steward. I am conscientious of the chemicals I use and do have a license to use the potent stuff. I detest the glue traps too... A terrible experience had a wren get in one, didn't find it till too late, another wren, it's mate, looked to have tried to help it and also got caught but not before he had pulled the tail feathers out of the caught one he was trying to pull out of the glue... Just hate those glue things laid out in the open.. collie

 

[D&D Farm]

Really good thoughts about the dobbers........Went the other day to take the knives out of my limb shredder/chipper...........All of the inset 8mm allen bolts had red mud.......
So the question is, does one put up with them or the spiders.........God bless.....Dennis

 

[bczoom]

So the question is, does one put up with them or the spiders.........God bless.....Dennis

Spiders are pretty easy.

For those, just spread some Borax in the areas they like to stay (e.g. sill plates on the house). When they walk on the Borax, it burns their feet so they lick them. When they lick them, they ingest the boric acid and it kills them.

When I build something, I almost always include that. If I'm putting up a wall, I'll put some between the wall before closing it up. When kept dry, it will stay in there and work for lots of years.

In general (like unless they eat half a box), this stuff is harmless to animals that are bigger than a mouse so it won't bother your dogs or cats.

 

[Kanook]

OK!.....I give up!......What are "Dirt Dobbers".....You southern folk sure have some strange critters..

Years ago I had to go to this forum to explain to me what "grits" was....

Kanook

 

[bczoom]

OK!.....I give up!......What are "Dirt Dobbers".....You southern folk sure have some strange critters..

Mud Wasps for the rest of us.

A general term for all those wasp species that build their nests out of mud. Around me, most will be vertical tubes on the side of a building about the size of a sharpie marker.

 

[Heatwave]

Moth balls work. The roof on our back deck has little partially closed-in spots out on the ends of the rafters ... wasps like those areas. Early each Spring I toss 3 or 4 moth balls up in each overhang ... when I see a wasp or two buzzing around later in the Summer, I add fresh moth balls. I also drop a handful of moth balls in an old sock, tie a knot in the sock, and stuff it in the far backside of the mailbox to keep wasps from beginning urban renewal in there.

 

[geohorn]

Get a cheap pump-up garden sprayer ($8 at WM) and fill it half way with water. Add one or two cups of liquid laundry detergent. Gently swirl it to mix it without creating foam.

Merely walk up to a nest of wasps... and using a coarse spray pattern.... spray them down. They will not attack you because they think it's just rain. But in a moment the entire colony will be on the ground writhing in death. For colonies high up in trees, simply use one of those "Scott" or "Orkin" water-blaster soap dispensers that screw onto the end of a water hose, filling the chemical bottle with liquid soap instead of chemical.


It's how I rid our neighbor of Brazilian "killer" bees. They do not see the water spray as a hazard... but in only a moment any bee, wasp, etc. colony soaked in soapy water will be dead on the ground.