Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I've got a couple of ideas to try. The
professional exterminator route is going to be our last resort, because we'd
have to be out of the house for 24 hours, and we don't know anyone who can
take care of our pets. We'd probably have to put them in a kennel, which is
gonna be expensive (typical rates are about $19 / night per pet, times six
pets).
On Tue, October 25, 2005 11:12 pm, jon@dakota-truck.net said:
>
> There is no stopping them. They are hopped up on duct tape
> and can't be reasoned with. RUN AWAY!!!! :-)
You saw that, huh? Yes, I am kicking myself in a HUGE way for not taking care
of this nest when I first found it. Between not knowing whether the poison
was going to come through our air conditioner in to our apartment, and not
ever having time at night to fool around with it, and constantly forgetting
about it, I let it go to the point where it's pretty out of control. Let my
stupidity be a lesson to everyone: sometimes, laziness does NOT pay off.
The only thing I can think is that they somehow managed to chew their way in
to the empty space between our ceiling and the upstairs floor (we're in a
basement apartment for anyone who doesn't know). There's a small pile of dead
yellow jackets in the kitchen light fixture, and a bunch of them buzzing
around in the living room light. It's a fluorescent light, recessed in to the
ceiling. It has a single flat sheet plastic diffuser which just rests on some
edge molding all the way around. (I know that's not a great description,
suffice to say it's constructed pretty half-assed, and any attempt to open it
up is going to release anything that's flying around in there, and probably
dump a few dozen dead ones on my head to boot.)
> A bug bomb is going to be a major hassle since I would guess
> you have no particular desire to collect all of the animals and
> leave the house for a day,
Nope, see above.
> so you'll probably want to find the nest.
I think it must be somewhere inside the structure of the house. Solid
ceilings, so I can't go moving tiles to look for it.
> I would probably just be inclined to arm myself with some
> wasp spray and go to town.
The foaming nest killer I have says "do not use indoors under any
circumstances", so the same rules as the bug bomb would apply. Our landlord
was over yesterday to survey the situation, and he said the same thing. I do
have some indoor bug spray, but naturally it's nowhere nearly as potent. I've
foamed the nest entrance from the outside a couple of times, but I don't know
if it's getting all the way to where they're holed up or not. It seems to do
something, because every time I do it we've noticed that we get a bunch more
flying around inside the house, like they're trying to get away from the foam
or something. Hopefully it's killing them more than it's pissing them off.
> Anyhoo - I'm not sure if
> that still applies when they are in a warm house since I have
> fortunately never had to deal with them inside before,
This is what I'm afraid of, that they won't die out because they aren't cold
enough to do so. Fortunately, the ones we're seeing are moving pretty slowly,
so it seems that they're dying anyway. If they die out to the point where I
can at least open up the light fixture, then I'll just empty a couple of cans
of Raid in to every crack I can find and hope it fills the space sufficiently.
> check around
> for a bait style pesticide. Wal-Mart or a local department store
> should have something. Basically the idea is similar to getting
> rid of ants - you attract the workers to poisoned bait, and they
> take it back to the nest and it kills everybody, most importantly,
> the queen(s).
I went to Home Depot, Canadian Tire *and* Wal-Mart last night just looking for
bug spray. Apparently they classify the stuff as a seasonal item, which means
they've already taken it off the shelves to make room for Christmas
decorations.
I did eventually find some spray, and got a trap, but I didn't see any poison
baits that would work for yellow jackets. Do you know of anything specific?
The only thing I can think is to get some of the peanut butter based ant baits
and take the tops off, then set them in the light. They may or may not go for
that stuff. I guess I could always open some cans of Coke and lace them
with... something. I don't know if that would work or not, but it might be
worth a shot. Of course, first I have to be able to open up the light without
getting swarmed.
On Wed, October 26, 2005 12:13 am, Bill Pitz said:
>
> It depends. Do they ever come out into the room?
Oh, yeah. Norah and I have each been stung already. AFAIK, the cats and dog
have been spared so far, but I'm pretty concerned about them chasing these
things. I haven't been able to figure out exactly how they're getting
through, but our place is anything but well-sealed.
> If so, you could get
> a few yellow jacket traps (they're all over the hardware stores here)
> and hang them near the light fixtures. There's bait in there that
> attracts them and then they become stuck inside and die.
I got one of those at Home Depot last night (this brand:
http://www.rescue.com/Products/ReusableYellowjacketTraps.asp lots of info on
their site). It comes with a chemical that's supposed to do a really good job
attracting them. It says to be sure to locate it at least 20 feet away from
anywhere you plan on being, because it'll bring them running from all around.
I hesitate to use that indoors, because it'll probably draw even more of them
than normal out of the ceiling and in to our living space. I did fill it up
just with sugar water this morning and left it in the kitchen, to see what
happens. I figure there's already food in that room, so it won't draw out any
more than we're already getting, and hopefully the ones that are out will
decide to go for the "easy" meal in the trap.
I also thought about setting it up outside, about ten feet or so away from
where I know the nest entrance is. It might bring them in to the yard from
all around the neighborhood, but hopefully it would draw ours out of their
nest and trap them outside overnight so they can freeze to death. I don't
know if it would get enough of them to be worthwhile, but it might be worth a
shot. Maybe I'll get a couple more of these and do a combination. Sugar
water inside, chemical attractant outside.
> On another note, I've recently seen some ads for a new insect spray
> that's "plant based" so it's not quite so toxic for humans but still
> does a number on the bugs. I can't remember who makes it, though.
I got some Raid "Earth Options" spray, which is probably what you're thinking
of. It still says you're not supposed to breathe it or get it on you. But it
does say it's okay to use indoors, just leave the room for half an hour or so.
That and the vacuum cleaner are the only weapons I've been able to find that
won't involve evacuating the house for 24 hours. (I always spray some Raid in
there after vacuuming live yellow jackets, and sometimes take the opportunity
to vacuum up some spider webs as well. I'd prefer if they were dead before I
try to empty the bag.)
-- Jason Bleazard http://drazaelb.blogspot.com Burlington, Ontario his: '95 Dakota Sport 4x4, 3.9 V6, 5spd, Reg. Cab, white hers: '01 Dakota Sport 4x4, 4.7 V8, Auto, Quad Cab, black
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