Wasp's nest...

So - after following a trail of wasps we found out that we have a wasp's nest in our attic (they went up through vents in the eves of our house) - I have asked my sister (who works for the local council) to check environmental health - she can't get to them until tomorrow.  My kids are totally petrified of wasps (having both been stung in the past) and our SIL is allergic (think epi pen!!)

Does anyone know of the best way to get rid of them - permanently!!

HELP!!

edited for spelling!!

Comments

  • BookyBooky ✭✭✭
    Urgh. I have no words of wisdom, sorry, but *shudder* image
  • We had one in the roof of our conservatory when I was younger. Think you need a professional to deal with it permanently, but while waiting to sort it we had lots of cans of wasp killer around!.... if you do use this be careful of them dropping onto the carpet as they can still sting when dead. If they are mostly staying in the attic they should mostly leave you alone, can you block any vents into the house temporarily? Good luck getting sorted .. . in the time we had a wasp nest none of us got stung so try not to worry too much.... though agree *shudder*!
  • We had a nest of them at work last year, discovered when the sky tv man ventured into the attic.  I phoned a local firm who came and got rid of it for us.  They took the nest thing away and blocked the hole where they were getting in.   Think it cost us around £70.

    I'm not at all bothered by wasps but would totally freak if it were bats up there.

  • The council wont do anything about so it's down to you.  Just google or use yell/yellow pages etc for pest control.  I had to have one sorted a couple of years.  The guy came around next day, sprayed and that was that.  I think it cost me around £40.

  • Well your only luck is go to a DIY shop or supermarket and buy some wasp killer.
    You need something which the wasps will feed and eventually kill the wasps and nest.
    Or better still, buy a few cans of wasp killer. Or phone a pest control like Rentokil.
    Though it will cost anyway.

    I remember having a load of wasps in the middle of the night. They were attracted to
    a very bright light. The nest was in the loft. Had nothing. No killer. No shops open. So had to kill
    them with a newspaper. Did the job. But had to phone council pest control to clear the nest.

  • We had one recently in our loft, someone told us to try ant powder and it worked a treat.
  • BDB, most Councils pest control services will deal with this, but are likely to charge.  £40 is about average.
  • We've had two!!  One in a shed at the bottom of the garden, but the wasps didn't bother us and all zoomed off to other gardens to harrass other poor peeps.  It was actually very beautiful and the good news is they're not supposed to nest in the same place twice - which has been true for us.  We left that one alone and the wasps all die in the autumn.

    Then we had one in the eaves of the single storey extension.  This was a problem with thousands of wasps zooming angrily over our patio especially with 3 toddlers!  The council came out and sorted that one within a day or so as I recall.  We did have to pay (about £40 as Nam says).  We had to stay off the patio for a few days as the chemicals were quite toxic and it did look like some kind of waspish nightmare war zone out there, but sorted the problem.  We've had no more nesting wasps since then and that was about 4 or 5 years ago.

    Good luck!

  • I haven't even told our son (nearly 19!!) about the wasps (a couple of bad stings in the past!!) he'd FREAK!!  I'll give rentokill in the morning.....*shudders along with the crowd!!*
  • Nam - my council's website said something like "Wohoo there - nowt to do with us.  Give these guys a try instead".  I think that was true of the neighbouring borough I used to live in too.  Had to contact a private firm and pay them something like £70 to take away a dead fox from my garden.
  • Let the council deal with it.  A bloke will turn up with all the right protective gear, some powder, and pressurised container.

    Unless they're coming in to the house leave them alone.  Once the summer's over the nest will die and the wasps won't return to it.

  • Tell them to buzz off. image
  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    the best way to handle wasps is just ignore the feckers. sure they can be bloody annoying getting into your drinks and food but in reality they're interested in just that, not you.

    by flapping your hands, running around shrieking etc you're only likely to annoy them and that's when they get into sting mode. the sting is there purely for their protection, not to use it in an attack mode. they will only attack if aggravated

    as IM says, just leave them

    you may also need to check whether they are wasps - there are many other species of yellow and black insects and unfortunately many people just think wasps and don't understand that many mimic wasps as a defence but in reality are perfectly harmless. you may also find that some species are protected and removing their nests is illegal.

    I had some mining bees in a wall years ago but couldn't do anything even if I'd wanted as they are a protected species

  • JWrunJWrun ✭✭✭

    I'm not so sure that's true FB, as the certified spawn of the devil, wasps have been known to sting people for absolutley no reason - just cos they are having a bad day, thats why i hate them, they are PURE EVIL!!!

    We had a massive nest in the loft of our house when we moved in, but as someone has said they won't nest in the same place twice so i wasn't too worried once it had been removed.

    Hate the buggers though (Never mind *shudder* - *run off flapping arms and shrieking like a like 2 yr old*)

  • They are amazing works of art if you get to see one, once the stripey ones have vacated.

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    I don't get this panic about wasps?  They will, as FB says, only sting in defence or themselves or their nest.

    Even if they do sting (and it happened to me last summer) it's hardly a big deal (unless you are allergic).  I had a small, sore spot on my skin for a couple of hours and then it was fine.

  • Stings are painful, but most people do just panic.

    Not as bad as other stings - I was stung by a bee once.  £20 for a jar of honey.  I thank you.  I'm here all week.

  • The environmental health said that they could "guide us through how to remove it" ummm - NO! image

    But they did give me a number of a pest control place who will go and have a look and remove if it's the bad 'uns!  £50

    Both my kids have had several stings (having been stung myself I think they hurt like a so and so!! )image so they are nervous when wasps are about and my son in law (who is in our house several times a week) is allergic so I do think it's advisable to get rid of it if we can....

  • JWrunJWrun ✭✭✭

    Up until late July and early August they are busy bringing up and feeding larval wasps, chasing insects, and foraging for food and maintenance materials for the nest.

    After that their job is mainly done and they gorge themselves on the food they collect, especially on ripe and fermenting fruit; they become more and more dependent on sweet foodstuffs like these and will aggressively seek it out.

    Additionally it will be getting hot and very crowded in the nest; the internal temperature of the nest is 5 - 10ºC above the outside temperature, so on a good summer day it can reach 25 – 30ºC inside the nest. On top of this the nest’s population is at its highest.

    It is at this time when they are most likely to sting humans, partly due to bad tempers caused by the heat and overcrowding in the nest, and partly in a semi-drunken reaction to being obstructed in their quest for sweet food.

    As i said - they are just bad tempered evil buggers image

  • BarklesBarkles ✭✭✭
    I had one last week - I used the rentokil spray and it worked a treat!
  • Tickled Pink wrote (see)

    I'm not at all bothered by wasps but would totally freak if it were bats up there.


    On a similar vein, I keep having to remove Bees  (perhaps 2 per day) from the family-room in the basement. I can't see where they're getting in, or any sign of a nest.

     Digressing

    Bats??, you'd be no good at Chester Zoo then??

    You can walk through the Bat House, & they're all flying around you... of all sizes,as it says here;

     "The Livingstone’s Fruit Bats are one of the largest types of bat in the world, weighing 750 g, and with a wingspan of up to 1.3 m. They come from the Comoros Islands, in the Indian Ocean.

    Rodrigues Fruit Bats are also a large bat, weighing 350 g, and with a wingspan of 75 cm"

    http://www.chesterzoo.org/Visit/MainAttractions/Fruit%20Bat%20Forest.aspx

    It's an experience, but the smell in there is a bit ........interestingimage

  • Richard!

    Bees normally enter the house via a hole the size of the o on your keyboard in the cement line between bricks. so the nest could be in the cavity !

  • If you do kill of the wasps yourself and the nest is a large one, make sure you take it down a dispose of it. The compost bin is perfect as its full of decomposing bits for next years veg. If its left the fruit and dead insects etc will eventually rot the bottom of the nest and fall on to the plasterboard ceiling, and give you a nice black mark to dry out and the ceiling to repaint.
  • Bats??, you'd be no good at Chester Zoo then??


    I've never been to Chester Zoo but, by the sound of it, no I'd be a screaming wibbly mess.  I did accidentally  venture into one of those bat houses at some other zoo but I got out as soon as I realised - probably a new PB, if not world record for the 200m.

  • Well the man's been!  We had a nest the size of a football in our attic with (he guesses) in the region of 3-4 hundred wasps in it *ugh!!*image - it's been sprayed now and they'll all be dead by tomorrow...*phew*!
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