Wasp Control

[barratt_sab]

There is a company in the US selling glue boards specially designed for snakes - apparently the glue needs to form a narrowing passage to catch a snake properly...

They even have a movie showing it in action, but I don't think your snake would fit in the box, Norton!

http://snakeguard.com

Don't you just love the interweb...

 

[kazmcc]

Sorry, I'm just trying to picture coming to a rat trap and finding live rats glued to it!

Yikes!!!!!!

Scrub that awful image from my mind please I have a cat, who just loves to kill rodents, sometimes he drags them indoors just to show me how it's done





when the factory on the corner was knocked down, we got lots of them in this row of houses.

 

[darren64]

I used to get quite a few wasps,but they seem to have declined quite a bit,maybe their colony was somewhere they have grown to be a niusance and they have been dealt with.

 

[buzz lightyear]

I've been using the usual thick sugar solution / vinigar / rotten fruit / cat food mix in a post box opening in a plastic milk bottle. worked very well in the past, but not at present. Getting more bees than wasps at present. Any suggestions? could they be too close to the apiary? Never been a problem before, suspended the battle at present due to loss of bees. The wasp problem is bad around me as I am based on a fruit farm. Any suggestions much appreheated, Rat glue on order. Thanks, Dave

 

[FROGDOGDIVER]

Nice close-up!
We have a BIG problem here with Vespa orientalis - it is possible within an hour of putting the bait board out that it is completely covered with hornets/wasps. Estimate it to be be 250-300/hour. It is the only way to safely control these pests for honeybees.
In the past we used Lannate - very toxic and caused a lot of damage to anything that came near it - lizards, snakes, dogs, cats, hedgehogs etc. etc. etc.
though I would not have minded if the snake in the attached photo had been a victim. This very aggressive and venomous viper was killed recently in the same general area that we have a couple of apiaries. It was killed in the exact spot that a policeman's wife died after being bitten three times whilst out on an early morning fig collection trip. Even though a protected species, it was killed by a friend of mine after years of creating a myth and terrorising the locals ever since. This grumpy old female displayed real aggression towards the person that killed it. The facial expressions tell the story!!!!
Sleep well!
Norton.

That is a BIG snake Norton. Where was that one found? Greece or in Cyprus?

 

[Norton]

Cyprus

 

[roche]

We found one of the colonies being ravaged by wasps last week - It was a small colony, starting up from an A/S. Wasps were coming and going pretty much at leisure. We reduced the entrance to about one inch, and moved the entire brood to the entrance end. We added a frame of capped brood and a frame of stores from a handy colony. We then put up two "standard" wasp traps about fifteen feet from the apiary enclosure. ( we use water, sugar, vinegar and banana skin ) One was in a 2l milk container, one in a 2l Ribena bottle. The Ribena was much more effective than the milk.
I think there are some key elements: The wasp will fly to the brightest point; in a milk container it is the entrance, in clear plastic it is towards the sun.

So my lessons are - clear plastic only, and orientate the cut entrance to the north.
Importantly, the colony is now well on the way to recovery - no wasp entry or exit seen yesterday, plenty of bee traffic.
This picture is the weeks catch in the Ribena bottle. It also attracted Wax Moth, so served a dual purpose....

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I'm sure this is a daft question (not the first, and not the last), but do the bees not land on the board - or does this depend on the proximity to the hive?

Roche - Out of interest, why to the North?

 

[roche]

Roche - Out of interest, why to the North?

So that the sun will be predominantly on the side where the hole isn't - the wasp will try to get out of the bottle towards the sun....or the brightest aspect.

 

[Essexgary]

I'm sure this is a daft question (not the first, and not the last), but do the bees not land on the board - or does this depend on the proximity to the hive?

Roche - Out of interest, why to the North?

I was reading this thread wondering exactly the same thing!

 

[biggles]

You tell the bees its a trap.

Pete

 

[tkwinston4]

Nice close-up!
We have a BIG problem here with Vespa orientalis - it is possible within an hour of putting the bait board out that it is completely covered with hornets/wasps. Estimate it to be be 250-300/hour. It is the only way to safely control these pests for honeybees.
In the past we used Lannate - very toxic and caused a lot of damage to anything that came near it - lizards, snakes, dogs, cats, hedgehogs etc. etc. etc.
though I would not have minded if the snake in the attached photo had been a victim. This very aggressive and venomous viper was killed recently in the same general area that we have a couple of apiaries. It was killed in the exact spot that a policeman's wife died after being bitten three times whilst out on an early morning fig collection trip. Even though a protected species, it was killed by a friend of mine after years of creating a myth and terrorising the locals ever since. This grumpy old female displayed real aggression towards the person that killed it. The facial expressions tell the story!!!!
Sleep well!
Norton.

Well i feel sorry for the poor snake. Wouldn't you be aggressive to someone trying to kill you?

 

[starflex]

What on earth is rat glue??

Some times you cannot use rat poison. If you are a food business and/or you have "organic" certification, then poison is not an option; bad for customer relations.

Hence the poison-free option is to catch the blighters on a glueboard. I think I'll give it a go as there is a surfeit of wasps and hornets here in Andover.

Glue - strong stuff!

 

[MJBee]

Buzz,

The sugar in your bait is the problem. I use a splash of fruit syrup (strawberry or raspberry) a splash of cider vinegar and water to the required volume finally add a banana skin

Catch lots of wasps, flies, hornets and moths but NO bees

 

[buzz lightyear]

cheers MJb

 

[merylvingien]

as there is a surfeit of wasps and hornets here in Andover.

Yet you have one of the fastest and cheapest responces in the country, yet andover (my home town) yeilds very little work for me as a specialist wasp controller.

I do believe that the people of andover are the tightest cheap skates around!

 

[FROGDOGDIVER]

Cyprus

Yikes!!!! Only seen black ones in Cyprus. Hope I dont see one of them near my mums house.

 

[alex]

Thanks for that link you gave earlier, Admin. [ http://www.rat-x.co.uk/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=2&category_id=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 ]

I paid by Paypal and it arrived next day - here's the result after just 1 hour, using one dollop of blackberry jam - well over 100 wasps already:

 

[blackbrood]

I have been using this method with 2litre milk cartons. I have several dotted around and they are catching wasps. my best one though it a wasp catcher put underneath an apple tree. so I think position is important to.

 

[oliver90owner]

Cost per quid expenditure is probably with a few bottle traps, unless a cheaper but still satisfactory glue can be found.

Regards, RAB