WASPS

Philippe-Georges · Aug 30, 2023

Monday I had to call for the Fire Brigade.
It was was Friday when I went in my darkroom and all was quiet, as it was rather warm I left a window open for ventilation.
Monday, a lot of unrest: wasps had built a nest in a corner up to the sealing!
The Fire Brigade came in the afternoon and blew a white powder around the nest and closed the door.
The next day all over the floor of the hallway, the were tens of dead wasps covered with white powder, they must have found a way to escape from the darkroom, but alas...
I have to wait till Thursday to enter the darkroom and clean...

albada · Aug 30, 2023

Do windows lack screens in your area? Screens keep bugs and birds out, but alas they reduce breeze.
Anyway, powder in a darkroom can only lead to more spotting. Frustrating.

Philippe-Georges · Aug 30, 2023

albada said:
Do windows lack screens in your area? Screens keep bugs and birds out, but alas they reduce breeze.
Anyway, powder in a darkroom can only lead to more spotting. Frustrating.

That window is hardly opened, but it's a rather warm(-er) season (no airco yet)...
Please don't pronounce the word 'spotting'!

Daniela · Aug 30, 2023

Yikes!
I'd save some corpses and make photograms as a reminder of the event
Wear gloves!

koraks · Aug 30, 2023

The firemen actually come for a wasp nest in Belgium? I never thought of that. Kind of them, I guess? Pest removal as a public service? Or do they bill you for it?

foc · Aug 30, 2023

I had a wasp's nest right beside my back door a few years ago. I didn't touch them and they didn't touch me.
I could stand in front of the nest entrance and they just flew around me, never aggressive. We co-existed all through the summer without one sting.

One interesting fact about them, after they leave the nest in autumn, they won't return to that site ever again.

Of course, it is a different story in a darkroom.

In my country, I would have to call a private pest control company and pay for their services.

halfaman · Aug 30, 2023

koraks said:
The firemen actually come for a wasp nest in Belgium? I never thought of that. Kind of them, I guess? Pest removal as a public service? Or do they bill you for it?

In Spain you can call the fire brigade to remove a wasp nest in your home but they charge you for the job except it is of asian hornets which is for free in that case. They are cataloged as an "invasive specie" and there is a goverment plan for erradication.

I have spiders in my darkroom but I tolerate them up to some extent (from time to time there is a "cleaning") because they keep the space free of other insects (flies, ants).

Philippe-Georges · Aug 30, 2023

koraks said:
The firemen actually come for a wasp nest in Belgium? I never thought of that. Kind of them, I guess? Pest removal as a public service? Or do they bill you for it?

The use of insecticides is regulated, just like in NL I think, and wasps are considered as a threat just like fire, or a cat trapped in a tree (animal in danger) which all of this is charged too.
For wasps, they charge you about € 40.- and come back for free if it didn't work at once.
Private pest control wouldn't come that fast (within 24h), I don't know at what price, and they aren't interested in these small messes anyway...

pentaxuser · Aug 30, 2023

It's a good job we have lost the Soapbox. When I saw WASPS as all capital letters I wonder for a second if I had stumbled on a political discussion

I hope the Fire Brigade got all of them My darkroom is a converted bedroom next to our bedroom so a wasps' nest in there doesn't bear thinking about

pentaxuser

MattKing · Aug 30, 2023

pentaxuser said:
It's a good job we have lost the Soapbox. When I saw WASPS as all capital letters I wonder for a second if I had stumbled on a political discussion

Or a religious one .
(for the edification of the OP, WASP is an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and I had the same initial reaction as pentaxuser )

ic-racer · Aug 30, 2023

Or even worse...a digital topic in the darkroom section!

lecarp · Aug 30, 2023

MattKing said:
Or a religious one .
(for the edification of the OP, WASP is an acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, and I had the same initial reaction as pentaxuser )

After several sleepless nights and prepping for a possible hurricane I was confused.

Why had White Anglo Saxon Protestants climbed into your darkroom and why would you call the fire brigade? And, why in the world did the fire brigade powder them????
Then i came around.. good laugh after the fact.

Sirius Glass · Aug 30, 2023

Isn't WASP what Vespa [Motorscudder] means?

DREW WILEY · Aug 30, 2023

I have a huge industrial squirrel-cage pull fan mounted to the outside of my darkroom complex. Every few years honeybees discover that and try to build a hive in it. And they are darned determined. So sometimes I have to leave it running at high RPM three days straight just to push air against them, and finally discourage their venture. But inevitably, one or two of them manages to get through anyway, and is found dazed and stumbling around on the darkroom sink surface, amidst chopped-up bits of co-conspirators.

pentaxuser · Aug 30, 2023

lecarp said:
Why had White Anglo Saxon Protestants climbed into your darkroom

An angry nest of WASPS can even start a riot with resulting violence and and vandalism. Just have a look at the end of "Suburbicon"

pentaxuser

DREW WILEY · Aug 30, 2023

I've always had problems with acronyms. 45 years ago someone called a gal in the office a Wasp. I thought it referred to her wasp-waist figure. Only now have I learned the implication. Oh well. For someone who has accidentally stepped on rotten logs right into yellowjacket nests twice, there are much more painful connotations to wasps.

Vaughn · Aug 30, 2023

Back in my Forest Service days, a forester peed over a log and pissed on (and pissed off) some yellowjackets. The secretaries were in stitches trying to write up the incident report about the resulting swelling.

Sirius Glass · Aug 31, 2023

If one removed a wasp's nest, put it on the ground a stomp on it. Completely flatten it and they will not return to build another nest. If the nest is not flattened and only flying insect spray is used, they will build another nest in the same location.

MTGseattle · Aug 31, 2023

While in the military, we were doing squad movement drills and I dove into a ground nest of wasps. I only got stung about 7 times, but everyone from my squad mates on up to a 1st Lieutenant who was observing were pretty curious why I bolted from cover without being told to and left a trail of gear behind me as I ran. Ah. Good times.
@DREW WILEY I wonder if there is some essential oil you could drip in the fan housing that would discourage the bees?

Vaughn · Aug 31, 2023

I laid-out a trail in the wilderness -- a new section to by-pass a particularily steep section of trail with a couple of switchbacks in the shade. Cutting the new trail, we ran into a groundnest. I wasn't that picky about the placement of the trail, so we built the trail around it.

I appreciated the bears while I was packing mules and building trails. They loved to dig up the yellow jacket nests that were often on the uphill edge of the trail. I figure for the bears, eating a nest would sort of be like enjoying some spicy Mexican or Indian food. It was a bother when a horse or mule would step into a trailside nest. Rodeo time...one had to get the animules moving!

Philippe-Georges · Sep 1, 2023

As some of you can 'fully' understand things , what about this?
It was a little gift brought back from the US by a friend.
He told me it could be seen as a reminiscence to the USA's history...

Anon Ymous · Sep 1, 2023

Philippe-Georges said:
As some of you can 'fully' understand things , what about this?
It was a little gift brought back from the US by a friend.
He told me it could be seen as a reminiscence to the USA's history...

View attachment 347981

The Boston tea party.

WASPS

Philippe-Georges

albada

Philippe-Georges

Daniela

koraks

Moderator

foc

halfaman

Philippe-Georges

pentaxuser

MattKing

Moderator

ic-racer

lecarp

Sirius Glass

DREW WILEY

pentaxuser

DREW WILEY

Vaughn

Sirius Glass

MTGseattle

Vaughn

Philippe-Georges

Anon Ymous

WASPS

Moderator

Moderator

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