Buzz off! Anyone ever had to deal with pests before?

[Rummy]

(No, not pests like ReZ)

 

Hello, fellow Neuropers. It seems the house of Rum has been struck with a terrible affliction. For the past couple weeks some bastard wasps kept appearing in my kitchen! I thought there was some sticky goodness attracting them, but today I have seen outside at the gutter...WASPS.

 

So it looks like they're nesting in/under our roof tiles, and resultant ending up in the kitchen due to an airing vent near the ceiling(which comes out on the wall under the gutter/tiles they all seem to be going into). I was just about to get all panicky and cry, but instead I decided to turn to google!

 

After googling a bit about wasp/pest control(for local companies) I've found that my council charges £60, one company actually answered their phone today and said they'd do it for £50, but then I found some stranger advice....deal with it yourself/wait it out! Apparently it can be done with some of that ant power with a chemical in it if you can get it near the opening(the wasps pick it up and take it into the nest, deeeeeeeeath!) or alternatively they apparently all abandon the nest towards late autumn and don't return to it again! Though they may build another next to it.

 

 

It got me thinking though! Wow! Pests. You always hear about them, but don't really expect it to happen to you. Has anyone ever had an infestation? Also if anyone's DIY'd themselves/had wasps before let me know how if went, should you still be alive to tell the tale.

[Happenstance]

I used to get a lot of wasps coming into my room through the window every summer, drove me insane. In the end I had to put up one of those window net thingys to stop them.

 

We also had an infestation of flying ants in our downstairs toilet this year, dont know how they were getting in but there was a lot!

[Rummy]

Did they just...go away over time? I mean it seems some things do/can due to being seasonal, but I'd hate to end up having a inpestation(yeah I just did that) which kept going year to year/was hard to eradicate! When we first moved in we used to see quite a few rats(live next to park/some woods where they must all live) and I started to get worried then about what would we do if they managed to start making their way into the house!

[Happenstance]

We still get them here but some years its worse than others. I think we may have called out someone to get rid of the hive near my sisters window but it was when I was younger so im not sure.

[MoogleViper]

We had some nests in the ground in our orchard. Heard the ant powder advice instead. I chose to take a shovel, fill the hole in, then make a wasp patty with any remaining wasps. They made a new hole a few days later, so i repeated my actions, and that seemed to get them.

 

Also got some wasp spray and sprayed the hole.

[Dan_Dare]

I had fruit flies in my house in second year at uni. The girls I lived with insisted on basically trying to bake our house with the central heating day in day out so when the temperature fell in September, the flies found our nice warm house and decided to live there. Forever. Not really sure how we got them in the end but I think we managed to drop the temperature enough to kill them off, as well and being ruthlessly clean for a bit and taking away all their food.

[Rummy]

We had some nests in the ground in our orchard. Heard the ant powder advice instead. I chose to take a shovel, fill the hole in, then make a wasp patty with any remaining wasps. They made a new hole a few days later, so i repeated my actions, and that seemed to get them.

 

Also got some wasp spray and sprayed the hole.

 

I'll look into specific wasp stuff/ant stuff with the chemical in, would rather have a go at it though the location is mildly awkward. The only other time I've dealt with a wasp nest was in an allotment where I essentially petrol bombed the fuckers then ran far away. I later found out that's not very sensible, and it's definitely not a good idea with my roof :p

 

I had fruit flies in my house in second year at uni. The girls I lived with insisted on basically trying to bake our house with the central heating day in day out so when the temperature fell in September, the flies found our nice warm house and decided to live there. Forever. Not really sure how we got them in the end but I think we managed to drop the temperature enough to kill them off, as well and being ruthlessly clean for a bit and taking away all their food.

 

Wow, don't they grow through generations at a ridiculous rate? I dunno how long they live, but I find them annoying enough just when there's a few of them!

[MoogleViper]

I'll look into specific wasp stuff/ant stuff with the chemical in, would rather have a go at it though the location is mildly awkward. The only other time I've dealt with a wasp nest was in an allotment where I essentially petrol bombed the fuckers then ran far away. I later found out that's not very sensible, and it's definitely not a good idea with my roof :p

 

Yeah I shoved a firelighter down the hole as well. Didn't seem to do much.

[Rowan]

If there's a nest or 2 I would just suggest letting the professional pest control deal with it.

[nightwolf]

If there's a nest or 2 I would just suggest letting the professional pest control deal with it.

 

^ This.

 

We had a wasps nest the other year, we left it for one year and they came back, only way to deal with them, is to kill them off, but I'd say a professional will do a better job.

 

We had ants on the front window one year, a massive infestion out of nowhere it was crazy, but otherwise the house tends to be alright, I've not really had much infestion wise whilst being at uni, I was pretty lucky in that respect.

[Eenuh]

We have a few stray wasps from time to time, but don't think we have had a nest anywhere. We do have lots of ants around the house though (well outside mostly). They somehow find their way into the veranda, where they bring in lots of sand haha. They're pretty harmless though and seem to stay in their tiny little area.

 

Now the flying ants are more annoying! Luckily they only come out once a year I think, but they're always everywhereeeee. Not much we can do about them it seems, so we just let them be. =P

 

 

Lately my sister has been complaining about woodlice/pill bugs appearing in her room. I found one in mine too last week, so I have we don't have those crawling around in the attic or something. Though they seem to need water/damp places, so maybe they're crawling in through the rain pipes, hmm. Ugly creatures. D:

[Yars Revenge]

Never had a problem with wasps but when i was young i remember an invasion of earwigs which even today 20 years later seems unusual,i mean you might get the odd one in a damp place like in the bathroom but they were everywhere!,they were in the house in all rooms especially in my bedroom crawling aver the carpets and even in my bed when i pulled back the sheets,i also remember one instance where i picked up a towel out of the cupboard to dry my washed hair and when i sat down i had one crawling in my hair ,it must of been brought in from outside in the towel and out in the garden we could see the odd earwig out on the washing line which confirmed this.

Never seen anything like it in my life and i will never forget it lool

[EEVILMURRAY]

Urrrgghh... Wasps... I fucking hate wasps.

 

I don't think I could live in a house which seemed like wasps were making a home for themselves... Get the pr0s in.

[Dog-amoto]

I know this may be a bit stupid but are you sure they weren't honey bees?

 

 

I had loads in my house last week. Worked out that they were getting in through the flue of my boiler so I just turned the heating on for a couple of hours - never saw them again.

[S.C.G]

Never had a problem with wasps but when i was young i remember an invasion of earwigs which even today 20 years later seems unusual,i mean you might get the odd one in a damp place...

 

I hate earwigs too, on more than one occasion at work, customers have brought in their reusable bags which for whatever reason have had an earwig in, which then proceeds to crawl across the till...

 

...

 

Where do these people store their bags, in the garden?

[Rummy]

Never had a problem with wasps but when i was young i remember an invasion of earwigs which even today 20 years later seems unusual,i mean you might get the odd one in a damp place like in the bathroom but they were everywhere!,they were in the house in all rooms especially in my bedroom crawling aver the carpets and even in my bed when i pulled back the sheets,i also remember one instance where i picked up a towel out of the cupboard to dry my washed hair and when i sat down i had one crawling in my hair ,it must of been brought in from outside in the towel and out in the garden we could see the odd earwig out on the washing line which confirmed this.

Never seen anything like it in my life and i will never forget it lool

 

That sound freaky enough to be like some shit from a movie. That's like...seriously messed up. How/why/where did they eventually all go?? Earwigs suddenly seem to have appeared in my life again recently(conversationally, physically) and it's funny it makes me wonder if we're having a heavy summer of them atm or something. I literally feel like I ain't properly seen earwigs for years(maybe an occasional) but recently I'm bumping into them everywhere!

 

Was quite funny when I found one in my house like a day or two ago, it proper froze and pulled like a scorpion/stinging pose but it was so small and harmless it just looked a little funny and arguably cute, lol.

 

 

I know this may be a bit stupid but are you sure they weren't honey bees?

 

 

I had loads in my house last week. Worked out that they were getting in through the flue of my boiler so I just turned the heating on for a couple of hours - never saw them again.

 

Nah I'm pretty sure these are social wasps, considering having them in my kitchen on a slow trickle basis recently I've managed to get a better look, they just don't look...hairy enough to be bees(not that I know what defines bees anyway), but they're definitely not honey bees on that front. Interestingly in my travels of research, I found out apparently it may be slightly illegal to kill off a honey bee infestation. Not sure about other bees though.

 

Urrrgghh... Wasps... I fucking hate wasps.

 

I don't think I could live in a house which seemed like wasps were making a home for themselves... Get the pr0s in.

 

Aye, though it looks there's only one nest and from what I've seen I might be able to give it a go myself first. If it doesn't work then there's always room for the pros, but for a potential saving of like £50 for a quick two minute job? I'll take the chance, and possibly feel like a real manly man.

[My Buttons are Magic!]

We had a mouse invasion in our house a couple of years ago

16 in total

 

I swear I was glad I was only home at weekend at that point (uni woo)

Found out there was a hole in the floor that someone (some work guy person) had just put a board over but not like secured it (behind a radiator) and the little buggers were sneaking through.

 

Worst couple of weeks in my life

[Rummy]

Just an update! I attempted the 'extermination' last night, and looking up there today...it so far looks successful and I'm still alive and sting free! I actually ended up with the wrong powder/stuff but then looked into it and found out it was arguably even better for them!

 

We had a mouse invasion in our house a couple of years ago

16 in total

 

I swear I was glad I was only home at weekend at that point (uni woo)

Found out there was a hole in the floor that someone (some work guy person) had just put a board over but not like secured it (behind a radiator) and the little buggers were sneaking through.

 

Worst couple of weeks in my life

 

That's the only sort of 'pest' I've majorly been worried about, I don't know why they would bug me more than...well...bugs(other than spiders, ick!) but having some sort of more mamailian(word?) invasion would freak me out more. Probably cos I'd find them harder to kill, and cos they're a little more out in the open. And more reproducey/space consuming.

[flameboy]

I thought you meant pests as in annoying people when I read the thread title cos I have lots of tips about that!

[Grazza]

I'm going to confess that I do quite like wasps. I think they're much-maligned. They only sting if you bump into each other (ie. they think you attacked them) and it doesn't hurt much anyway.

 

Looks like I'm too late to convince Rummy though.

 

I suppose it's different if you're protecting your family, but my attitude to creatures in general is "let them be".

[EEVILMURRAY]

I know this may be a bit stupid but are you sure they weren't honey bees?

 

 

I know this may be a bit stupid but are YOU sure they weren't Beedrill?

[MoogleViper]

I know this may be a bit stupid but are YOU sure they weren't Beedrill?

 

Is the plural of Beedrill not Beedrills?

[Rummy]

I'm going to confess that I do quite like wasps. I think they're much-maligned. They only sting if you bump into each other (ie. they think you attacked them) and it doesn't hurt much anyway.

 

Looks like I'm too late to convince Rummy though.

 

I suppose it's different if you're protecting your family, but my attitude to creatures in general is "let them be".

 

Admittedly normally I'm against killing most things, it was just with them managing to pop into the kitchen from their nest I worried about them managing to end up stinging any one of us(one was on my foot, the other day!). Also I've seen them sting just when sitting on people, but yeah usually I'm totally cool with wasps, just not so much if they're nesting in my house. They probably picked the most unfriendly spot to do it! Most other bits of the roof I'd probably never have even know they were there!

 

I know this may be a bit stupid but are YOU sure they weren't Beedrill?

 

I thought you meant pests as in annoying people when I read the thread title cos I have lots of tips about that!

 

I tried to pre-empt that with a ReZ joke :p. I remembered on that mouse thing when we had one somewhere near our house(our old house) in the back and everyone was trying to catch/kill it and I had the hit but didn't take it cos I couldn't bring myself to smoosh it and my dad told me off

[EddieColeslaw]

I once lived in a terrible place in which maggots lived in the kitchen drawers.

 

I have no good advice...just...wasps nesting behind roof tiles sounds terrifying :'( Get some kind of pest control service? Good luck!

[EEVILMURRAY]

Is the plural of Beedrill not Beedrills?

I don't believe it is.