28 July 2004, 11:49
EXPRESSHELP (not big game hunting) hornet invasion
I have a serious problem with hornets at home this summer.
They have decied to try and make nests in my study and my bedroom.
Having very high ceilings it's hard to get at them, so in the study I use a spray can and cigarette lighter, which is nice n effective, though it leaves some residue on the ground. I can't use poison sprays since I have to keep the windows open(they're also too big to put screens on) and spend a lot of time in the study.
In the bedroom, I can't do anything except knock them out of the air with whatever will reach them.
So far I've had them land on me twice tonight one got in under my shirt and I've had them land on my bed several times.
So far I have accumulated a large pile of dead hornets that just keeps on growing. Sometimes I'll walk in and find 10 or 20 of them buzzing around, shut the windows n doors and fry em with the flame thrower.
I'm buggered if I can work out what is attracting them inside.
What can I put down that will keep them away? Will diesel applied to the roof (I have terracotta bricks on the inside of the roof) dissuade them from coming in? They seem to hang around on particular spot on the roof in each room, but don't venture into other rooms in the house.
If anyone has experienced a similar problem please let me know what you did.
It is pissing me off at this point, living in parania of these bastards, having to check everything; clothes before I put them on, shoes, chairs, under the keyboard and having these things that just won't take a hint. I must have killed many hundreds by now and the flow is only barely less than it was a week ago.
Please help me out with some adivce.
Some info I found
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Alarm in the Wasps
The only wasps that are considered social and exhibit alarm pheromone communication fall into the family Vespidae, although not all wasps in this family are social. Within this family, there are two groups: the vespine wasps (Vespinae) also known as yellowjackets and hornets, and the Polistine wasps (Polistinae) or paper wasps. Table 6 shows the wasps that have been identified as having and responding to alarm pheromones, although many more have been speculated to exist. Maschwitz (1964) was the first to report the existence of a wasp responding to an alarm pheromone. Although most social insect will attack an intruder, there are some species of wasps which will retreat into their nests such as Protopolybia fuscatus and Polybia emaciata (Vander Meer et al., 1998).
As of yet there have only been three species of wasps in which the alarm pheromone has been identified and all of them occur in the Vespinae subfamily: Vespa crabo, Vespula squamosa and Vespula maculifrons (Sledge et al., 1999). All alarm pheromones so far have been found within the venom glands of worker yellowjackets and hornets except for a few reports of Vespula squamosa and Vespula vulgaris workers responding to crushed heads of conspecifics (Vander Meer et al., 1998 and Landolt et al., 1999). Reed and Landolt (2000) found that when Vespula squamosa applies its alarm pheromone to an enemy, the alarm pheromone persists for up to 15 hours which is very uncharacteristic of alarm pheromones in general. This long lasting pheromone may aid in detecting predators, such as skunks and raccoons, when they return to the wasp colony. There have also been a small number of reports stating that the alarm pheromone may be released before the attack, which would be a much more advanced method of communication (Evans and Schmidt, 1990).
More recent data now suggest that alarm pheromone is also found in the Polistinae. The first evidence for this was presented by Jeanne (1981) with the venom of Polybia occidentalis. Since then there have been several other reports of alarm pheromones found in the venom of workers, but none have been identified yet (Dani et al., 2000). Alarm pheromones are also found in some independent-founding paper wasps. For example, Polistes canadensis females will attack when they detect alarm pheromones from conspecifics as will Polistes exclamans and Polistes fuscatus. However, alarm pheromones are certainly not common among independent-founders (Vander Meer et al., 1998).
A study by Moritz and Burgin (1987), briefly mentioned in the previous section, conducted an experiment to quantify the reaction of social wasps to their own alarm pheromones. What they found was that wasps react in the opposite manner as honey bees to increasing group size. Isolated, single wasps responded more to their alarm pheromone than those that were in large groups. They also found that wasps with larger bodies typically have lower defense activity than smaller species.
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I would suggest not killing them or at least remove the dead ones. They could bee attracted to the pheromones givin off by the dead and dying wasps.
29 July 2004, 06:31
Dago RedI personally like racket ball rackets, small and short and fast. Sadly that is the only advice I can give on dealing with them, I don't know what would keep them away. Too bad you don't have a lizard problem too, they could work out the hornet problem for you. What about a pet bird that likes to eat them?
Have you to up on a ladder and seen if there is anything in or on the ceiling that might make them want to come there? What about bug bombs, we have them here, close off the room and "detonate" it, wait a few hours and go back inside, dead buggies.
I used the Wasp and Hornet spray to very good effect just Monday morning. I found two nests, one very large, of wasps above my car. I am allergic to them so don't take chances. The one can that was almost empty was still potent, just the light spray left in it was dropping them.
Red
29 July 2004, 06:53
Paul BIs there any kind of extermination service where you are located? here in the states we have outfits like Truly Nolen or Terminex and many smaller outfits that handle "buggy" problems. I had a problem a few years back where yelloe jackets (hornets) found a way to get in betwen the roof of the house and the ceiling. They would then find their way into the house though a ceiling fan. (Still haven't figured out how they did that.

) Anyway, we have a contract with Terminex to come out and spray around the house once every thre months and they also come out for "special occasions" like my yellow jacket problem. I'd tried that hornet and wasp spray and take my word for it, you don't want to use it indoors. It's some bad shit. It does drop horneys and wasps like right now, but once again, not inside. I had to use it inside my shed one time and it was uninhabitable for over a week. My reloading set up is in that shed. Anyway, Terminex located the entry point, sprayed some kind of powder into the hole, end of hornet problem.
I'm of the thought that your situation requires the services of a professional exterminator.
You're lucky in one aspect. I'm in southern Arizona and we have killer bees infesting the whole state now. My next door neighbor's house has been hit by them trying to nest and form a hive twice now. Soapy water takes care of them, but it's best to let a pro handle those bugs.
I think the idea of disposing of the carcasses of the ones you've killed is a good idea. Even if you've cleaned them all up, double check to be sure you haven't missed one.
Whatever you do, make sure you don't piss them off.
Paul B.