Potential wasp nest problm

[manas]

I'd go for extermination

and what about the first precept?
True followers of the Buddha's teaching are supposed to be ready to die for their moral values.

Hi sekha,

here's the problem. Aiui it's extremely hard to get born as a human being. To get born as an insect, it's easy as falling off a log. So weighing things up, I think that if there is a real risk to human life, that sometimes we need to make a difficult choice - with a heavy heart yes, but still, I would not risk my life or the lives of my nearest and dearest, for the sake of not killing a bunch of wasps, sorry. Human life is too precious. Consider also this scenario: the op does nothing, and then one day the ceiling gives way and dumps an entire colony of startled, angry wasps into his living room. (Ceilings can sometimes give way, it does happen.) Seriously, we have to be practical here.

[Schaublin]

I don't want to sound grumpy or holier-than-thou but two very basic points bother me about this whole thread:
(1) We have been through it all before - endlessly. This - http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=16026 - is just one of many.
(2) If we are this concerned about a few wasps - which outnumber people by dozens or hundreds to one and are replaced by others every year - why aren't we showing more concern (or even as much concern) for children dying of starvation or poor hygiene right across the third world, innocent civilians dying in civil wars across Africa and the Middle East, whole eco-systems ruined by pollution, deforestation and (I don't want to start another thread on this topic but I've got to say it) climate change?


Kim

The wasps are before him and a practical solution to encouraging them to live elsewhere can be accomplished. That is the best anyone can do.

[Digity]

This nest is driving me nuts. My plan is to just let it die off until the winter and then sealing up the crack where they got in. Is that safe or will wasps still be in the wall in the winter hibernating? If I see that it's not active (i.e. none are coming out of the crack) can I just seal it up and not worry? I know some people sealed up a crack and then the wasps got into the house, because they didn't have a way out. However, I think these people did this when the nest was still very active. I'm frustrated, because there was so many swarming around in front of my house and I found a dead one inside my house. It's tempting to just call an exterminator, but I'm trying to do the compassionate thing.

[santa100]

You might want to try one of those natural repellants and see if it works..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sour ... 3di45DFyRA

[beeblebrox]

This nest is driving me nuts. My plan is to just let it die off until the winter and then sealing up the crack where they got in. Is that safe or will wasps still be in the wall in the winter hibernating? If I see that it's not active (i.e. none are coming out of the crack) can I just seal it up and not worry? I know some people sealed up a crack and then the wasps got into the house, because they didn't have a way out. However, I think these people did this when the nest was still very active. I'm frustrated, because there was so many swarming around in front of my house and I found a dead one inside my house. It's tempting to just call an exterminator, but I'm trying to do the compassionate thing.

Hi Digity,

That sounds like a good plan... just make sure that the colony's actually died out, and that their new queens are gone before you seal in the crack.

I did some googling and found the following:

At a certain time of the year (often around autumn), the bulk of the wasp colony dies away, leaving only the young mated queens alive. During this time they leave the nest and find a suitable area to hibernate for the winter.

After emerging from hibernation during early summer, the young queens search for a suitable nesting site. Upon finding an area for their colony, the queen constructs a basic wood fiber nest roughly the size of a walnut into which she will begin to lay eggs.

The sperm that was stored earlier and kept dormant over winter is used to fertilize the eggs being laid. The storage of sperm inside the queen allows her to lay a considerable number of fertilized eggs without the need for repeated mating with a male wasp. For this reason a single queen is capable of building an entire colony by herself.

Wasp queens generally (but not always) create new nests each year, probably because the weak construction of most nests render them uninhabitable after the winter.

and:

When hibernating, the Queen wasp leaves the nest for a warmer place where it may wrap itself in a cocoon to keep itself warm. The Queen wasps mainly protect their wings and antennae under their bodies as these are vital to them. Most of them die during winter as a result of falling prey to insects such as spiders.

[Digity]

How do I ensure the queen wasp is out of the nest? They built the damn nest inside my porch...I just see them coming in and out of the crack. To me, it seems like a good place for the queen to hibernate over the winter. Once I see them die off I was going to spray into the hole just as a precautionary measure and then seal it up, but I have no idea what's in there. The queen might still be in there and alive after I spray the stuff and seal it off. If so, then what? That's why I'm a little confused and unsure about what to do. Will the queen be in there all winter after I seal it off? If so, what's that going to cause?

[kc2dpt_deactivated]

I have had wasps crawling in and out of a crack in my siding for a few years. Nothing ever happened to me nor to my children. I also find nests in the trees around my house. Some I knock down. Some I leave alone. The wasps never bother me unless I bother them, which mostly happens if I'm mowing the lawn and bump into their tree branch as I pass by. Those I try to remove. But I just found one huge nest way up high in a tree. That doesn't bother me as I can't bump into them.

I have thought about killing the wasps many times; the arising of such thoughts is perhaps unavoidable for the time being. It's just a one time thing. Then they will be gone. But then it occurs to me that even if I killed the wasps today, soon enough there will be more wasps. They live in my neighborhood. They will always find their way back to my yard. Do I really want to commit to killing wasps over and over again? It's not worth it to me, killing wasps over and over for only temporary reprieve plus the karmic burden. Plus I would be teaching my kids bad behaviors.

I have these fake wasp nests which I use to dissuade them from moving in. Apparently wasps are territorial and won't move in if they think another colony is already living there. Between knocking down nests which are built and using the fake nests to discourage the building of new nests, I hope I can keep the stinging down to a minimum. Wasps stings hurt!

I wish I could relocate their nests to the edge of my property. Then they could have their nest and I could have a buffer zone of no stinging. I regularly relocate crawling bugs and mice but I haven't figured a way to move the wasp nests yet.