Ok, I'm fed up with the critters in my shop....

It's gotten to the point where I can't even go in there and work during the day. The place is damn near overrun with wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets during the day. Nothing I've tried works, and I can't stay in the fighting with them too much since I'm allergic to most of them. I tried spraying them, killing some, but without finding the nests that's not very effective. I tried the paper bag trick, and making a trap out of a drink bottle like I was told before. Nothing seems to be working, and I'm pretty sure they're trying to nest in the customer truck I've been tryign to work on. They're moving in & out of the trim holes non-stop.

I need some new ideas. I know other people with shops around here and they never have any problems with this stuff. Mine is right next to a wooded area though. This is getting REALLY old....

 

Build a trap, these are pretty common.

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/INSECTS/wasp_traps.htm

 

<<<<<I need some new ideas.

Long time ago, My DAD used to take a piece of bacon and soak it in flying wasp poison, then cut open a milk carton (so you had a top and a bottom with open sides) and hang the bacon in it. Hang the carton up it the raffters and the wasps love to eat the meat/fat and also take it back to the nest. Kills them all, but could take a day or three.... Good Luck ...H

 

Tried that already. Made a few of them with different "attractants" in em'. I never caught a single one....

 

They tried that shit in my old 49.

Spray some regular brake parts cleaner into the trim holes or anywhere else you see them comming out of. They HATE the smell of that stuff, and direct contact with it will knock 'em right outta the sky!

They started trying to nest in my old Chevy, and I just sprayed brake cleaner in the trim holes that I saw them comming out of, and they quickly abandoned ship and never came back.

This is the time of year that they're looking to nest...chase 'em out of the cars and shop with the brake cleaner now and they'll go elsewhere.

 

do me favor and please video tape the chase and post it via you-tube on here, thanks.

(good luck, i hate those little bastards)

 

....yup I feel your pain..this is going to sound crazy..but it WORKS!! here in oregon I have the same problem an OLD rancher told me this ..for wasps take a brown paper bag med size blow it up making it as round as possable tie it with string from the door aera in your shop take your "sharpy" and put a small black curcle close to the bottom about the size of a "dime" basiccally making it look like a hornets nest...hornets EAT wasps and they WON'T come neer it.one more thing.go to the store and get some "BOUNCE" fabric softener sheets (
(the regular kind)and put a few around where your working BEE"S and WASPS..DON'T like being around them ether..don't know why..THEY WILL LEAVE!!.mosquetos won't land on you ether if you wipe your arms with one...A tree hugger told me about the "bounce"..stupid??/it works....

 

You might try calling your County Extension Office, they help people with questions about things like farming, gardening, and outdoor critters. They may have some good advice for you.

 

This looks like a condo for those flying critters:

http://www.biconet.com/traps/PICtrap.html

 

Son, dem ain't Critters. Dem is Varmits...

 

as a stupid last ditch effort i used an oxy acetalyene torch and a fire extiguisher after all else failed. THAT worked

 

If you've got a place where they're moving in and out through, rig a shop vac up with the hose end at the point of entry. Pour an inch of motor oil into the bottom of the bucket, close it up and switch it on for a day, or at least a few hours. It doesn't give them the option of not going into the trap, the air moving inside the vacuum will make sure they all end up in the oil.

Flatman

 

They Are At Your Place Cause Its Quiet Keep The Headbanger Noise Way Loud..double Bass Thumping
Put All Attractents At The Naybors Yard Edge Or Further

They Are Being Drivin To Your Place From The Other Old Likley Places
Smoke Stogies Or Burn Old Wet Mattresses...

TRY AS MANY TRAPS AS YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN THE STORE BOUGHT AR JUST THAT STORE BOUGHT IMPROVISE A TRAP THAT YOU CAN REPRODUCE CHEAPER BEER BOTTLE /CANS
Good Luck Hate The Bees Love Your Honey

 

I REALLY know what you are going through.Unfortunately I don't have an answer to your question. I CAN tell you what NOT to do:

DO NOT use gasoline! When I was sixteen and living at my grandfather's house I had purchased a 1933 Hudson coupe and was working on it in the back yard.Next to the car was a mound of dirt where a colony of yellow jackets had made camp.

Yellow jackets are particularly nasty as they can sting you repeatedly and bite as well.After being stung several times I vowed to rid myself of them forever.

After dark one night I snuck down to where the entrance to the colony was and poured nearly 5 gallons of gasoline into the hole. I let it set for a few minutes and then stepped back and dropped a book of lit matches into the opening.

The only smart thing I did was turn my face away from it as the resulting blast blew the top half of the dirt mound completely apart scattering dirt and small pebbles everywhere including a couple of windows in the back of the house.

The fire and police department was there VERY quickly as they were informed that someone had detonated a stick of dynamite.They were just a little(?)piseed but nothing compared to my grandfather!

I not only had to replace the broken windows but I couldn't work on the car for nearly 3 weeks because the ones that were most pissed off were the surviving yellow jackets! Judging by the numbers flying around very angrily above their former residence,I reckon I killed about 3 of them.

Anyway I hope you find a solution and when you do post it here for all to read.
Ray

 

Try a five gallon bucket with one inch of gas in it.

 

Have you tried the aresol "bombs" made for this that you set off in an enclosed area? We use them at work in old semi trailers that we use for storage. We open the door of the trailer, preferably in the early morning and set one of these things off and close the doors. It will kill every living thing in the trailer so we can get things out. Of course with these trailers the wasps/hornets come back because the trailers are full of holes and they sit unopened for weeks at a time.

 

ha ha ha Safari, that is a good story.

I'm watching this thread closely. I don't even have my garage door up yet(currently building a garage), and the buggers are starting to move in!

 

i did a great tech on removing unwanted pests with oxy-acetylene a while back...works damn good too, i might add.

 

The bounce thingy's really do work,,,at least ehre i Texas they do.

 

I'm gonna try building a couple more of the traps. Just have to get a little more creative with what I bait them them with I guess.

The gas story is HILARIOUS....I'm sure it wasn't for you at the time though.

My brother is bringing me a 3 pack of some supposedly kick ass foggers I'm gonna set off in there tomorrow night. Gonna set two of them off at once at night to kill any that might've nested in the walls, then I'm gonna set the last one off during the day to kill any stragglers flying around. I used some spray around the doors & windows today to try to make them want to stay away.

My shop is not very big at all, so anything that has to do with fire is OUT!

 

as a last ditch effort call a pest control guy. my step dad who passed away a few years ago was a pest tech for 20 years or so. they have shit that will get rid of them but it'll cost you. i seem to remember something about old burnt motor oil driving them away to. just dab it around where they are coming in and maybe keep the out. we live in the hell hole for those things anyhow. they like to try and follow us into the house. i've knocked 2 small begineers nest off the motor in the vw. i'm beating there could be one in my fanshroud. i can tell you they are also not fond of starting fluid hahahahahha.
i had heard the paper bag trick usually worked. sounds like you got some real hardcores on your hands. bomb 'em and bomb 'em again. bastards...ken....

 

I've used 2-stroke engines to my advantage...get your weedeater/chainsaw/dirtbike/whatever...fire it up and run a full tank through it...they hate the smoke. Clove smoke will work too...get whole cloves in your supermarket, or talk to the local goth kids about where to find clove cigarettes..cloves will run any flies or ants out too

 

Bingo- They kill ewverything. No traps, no decoys, just good old fashioned toxic chemicals. Works every time. I always set of a couple of bombs off in a car thats been sitting outside before I start to work on it.

 

We didn't have much of a winter here so the pests are DAMN bad. Yesterday I was doing some body work and I was so pissed at the mosquitoes, I pulled out 4 foggers, set them off, and continued work. I was wearing a respirator anyway so it didn't bother me any.

I must be sweet.

 

I heard that Purple Martins will eat those wasps. If they can/do live in your area, get a birdhouse for them. My folks are putting one up.

 

I don't have any good suggestions, but I can share a wasp story.

When I was 15 or so, we had a yellowjacket nest hanging from our roof above the front door. I decided I was going to knock the nest down and take care of it.

I dressed in coveralls, gloves, and hat and armed myself with an 8 foot 1x3 board. I poked the nest off the roof and as it crashed onto the front porch, the resulting cloud of yellowjackets that emerged looked just like a cartoon version.

I turned tail and jumped over the porch retaining wall and ran across the front yard. Of course, the cartoonish cloud of wasps followed and swarmed all over me. I hit the ground, undoubtedly screaming like a girl, with my hands over my face. I rolled around, hoping to squash any wasps that were clinging to me. They sting repeatedly, you know.

I think I got away with about 15 stings on my back.

I don't recommend this plan.

 

Before you start up a two stroke engine or use sound to drive them off, make sure you know what they are. The africanized bees get real pissed off and will attack everything in sight. Most attacks here, where a person is stung several hundred times, are the result of a mower or weed eater being used close to the nest. Do you know where their nest is? Might be a good idea to get an exterminator involved if you're allergic to them. If you get stung, your history man!

 

I have half a dozen in the shop, not one damn bee of any kind since installation, save your money for hornet spray and take a day to sip beer and spray wasps, you'll get to where you can hit them on the wing after a awhile!

 

I use the aeresol bombs - it's fun, like throwing grenades.

Seriously they kill everything, whatever escapes and doesn't die probably won't want to come back. There's the granular stuff that you open the can and place in water and they aeresol cans that are pull tab and get away from.

I bomb both of my shed/buildings every spring.

 

In CA we just have spiders... Black Widows. Usually carb cleaner and a lighter works fine for "tactical" situations, but what about a "strategic" solution? You know, for stuff that doesnt take a direct flame well?