WASP AND BEE PROBLEM

[geekgranny]

These like to sit in the front of my mom's house. They look mean about 2" long, but they are really non agressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_cicada_killer

We have loads of those, we're not really bothered by them but I do exercise caution when I see one near a hole in the ground.

We also have a lot of these, Tarantula Hawks, that we see stunning and dragging Tarantulas all the time, especially around the pool. The stings from these, although they are not very aggressive, are supposed to be one of the most painful stings in the world, according to an international sting pain rating system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk

Through out the whole day we have one at a time, a Texas Red Paper Wasp sitting on the surface of the pool water. It will fly away if disturbed. It's probably the whole colony, visiting the pool, one at a time. Most of the other "bugs" drown, if they fall in the pool, and end up in the Pool Skim bag or the skimmer sock.

When the two big Holy trees are blooming in the spring we have hundreds of honey bees swarming them. I've never been stung but carry on with my work around the pool. I just don't sit in the shade of the trees when they are swarming. I go into anaphylaxic shock from one bee sting but I've never been stung out here in 24 years, knock on wood; lots of wasp stings but not allergic to them. I always have a sting kit within a few yards of where I am, at all times.

gg=alice

 

[geekgranny]

You need a jack russell terrier...

Chase snap chase snap...dead. So far no ill effects on the dog's part.

My Jack Russell mix does the same thing. He's been stung a few times, his snout will swell up and then he goes extra nuts for about 30 minutes.
We have a pretty big bee problem around our pool as well. The city website says that if anybody gets stung to call 911 and the FD will come, find the nest and get rid of them. That seems a bit dramatic plus it ties up emergency services, but it may be an option if it gets worse.

I agree that that is pretty drastic but it can also be pretty drastic if someone goes into anaphylaxis from a sting. You can go all your life without having a drastic allergy reaction to some things and all of a sudden have a drastic reaction to a sting you've never had severe problems with before. That happened to my father. After a long lifetime of no problems to wasp and bees he suddenly developed a severe allergy. He was a rural mail carrier and bee and wasp stings were a regular thing as they love mail boxes. One day, after one sting, his arm swelled up like Popeye. He didn't go into full anaphylaxis but did get some throat swelling. Benadryl, which he always carried helped somewhat. It was probably only a short time before that would have happened. He started carrying a kit after that. I didn't go into anaphylaxis until I was a teenager after having a lot of stings as a child (mostly stepping on them).

gg=alice

 

[rsharp]

from watching the show "Billy the Exterminator", the more times you get stung the greater chance your gonna have an allergic reaction.... im 21 right now, about 5-6 years ago i witnessed my mother get stung by one of these wasps and she emediatley started bleeding from it. ive been scarred ever since. it formed into a phobia now and any time i see i flying bug i automaticly assume it can sting and i become very paranoid......i saw the "w.h.y." traps and they seem pretty convienient..... thanks for all the great stories and tips!!

 

[geekgranny]

from watching the show "Billy the Exterminator", the more times you get stung the greater chance your gonna have an allergic reaction.... im 21 right now, about 5-6 years ago i witnessed my mother get stung by one of these wasps and she emediatley started bleeding from it. ive been scarred ever since. it formed into a phobia now and any time i see i flying bug i automaticly assume it can sting and i become very paranoid......i saw the "w.h.y." traps and they seem pretty convienient..... thanks for all the great stories and tips!!

I think the jury is still out on whether insects can smell "fear" but one thing for certain is that going into a panic, swatting, flaying, sweating, can cause a flying insect to become defensive. It then does release a fear scent that can actually cause others to come to assist, if it is a social insect. In terms of "sweating", which often happens with a fear reaction, the sweat can help release scents on us and our clothes that make us attractive to the insects. One way to help from getting stung is to remain calm. Another, and as important, is to wear clothes that have no scent from washing products and no scent personal products. Bright colors also attract stinging insects.

It's really hard to get away from using any products with scents or fragrances but the sweeter ones seem to attract bees. About the only scented product I use is hair conditioner but stay away from sweet smells.

Now mosquitoes....... they hate my DH but love me. There are a few flying insects that seem attracted to the non-scented, Picaridin repellent I use, but they usually aren't bitters or stingers.

Phobias are a bummer. I'm certainly glad to have none. I would say, if you can watch that show you probably don't have a true phobia but rather heightened, somewhat realistic, fear rather than an anxiety disorder. Golly, we have so many labels attached to us, one less is all the better.

gg=alice

 

[geekgranny]

We have little black flies out here that give a severe bite, that really hurts and makes you bleed at the site. When I get a bite I usually have an histamine reaction and get a rash somewhere on my body, usually not at the bite site, though.

I use lots of those hanging, disposable fly traps all around the yard. They are by the same maker as the yellow jacket traps. I don't like to use the wasps traps though because they kill so many other pest including Black Widows and other spiders. I was bitten by a Black Widow a few years back and got really sick. Last year I had a Brown Recluse bite that didn't amount to much. I did start on oral antibiotics when I realized what it was. I probably get those all the time and they don't get bad. This is spider haven. BTW........... we usually only get to see the really bad BR bites in literature and on TV. Most cause little problems. But I know a couple of people who did lose some significant muscle tissue in area of a BR bite and had to be treated, at length, in hospital.

My DH was bitten by a big garden spider when he was a kid. He claims it was one of the most painful things he's ever felt. :sad: He's not "phobic" about spiders but puts up a big fuss when he walks through a web which are everywhere out here. Yesterday he showed me the two sticks he keeps at either end of where he parks his car. He always sweeps the area before getting in the car. It's rather amusing. But a few weeks ago he showed me the Brown Recluse that had been crawling on him when he was sitting in his recliner. He didn't panic but just calmly killed it. Go figure.

gg=alice

 

[257WbyMag]

Gosh geekgranny, I can't believe that you haven't seen any yellow jackets in 24 years. We have them all over Texas. I'll bet that in the late summer to early fall, if you set out a paper plate on your back porch with a little raw ground beef on it, you would have you some in pretty short order.

As it stands, we don't have any true hornets here in the Lone Star state. The only ones that we do have in Texas are the bald faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) but these aren't true hornets in an entomology sense. Rather, they are part of the yellow jacket family and are considered in entomology circles as aerial nesting yellow jackets. In Texas, you can only find them east of U.S. 59 in the Piney Woods region. They are actually neat to watch from a distance.

Polistes carolina is the common red wasp here in Texas. They hurt too, ask me how I know. They can be a problem because they can have perennial nests in wall voids and attics in areas with mild winters (like Texas).

You are correct in that many people use "wasp" and "hornet" and "yellow jacket" incorrectly and/or interchange the names. To the untrained eye, they can look very similar.

 

[rsharp]

i know we deffinatly have red wasps, mudd daubers, and hornets........i dont know if ive seen a yellow jacket or not...... an ocassional bee will come around....i will probrobly just end up sharing the pool with them. its been hot here in Ky!!!

 

[257WbyMag]

Yeah, unless you are getting stung or chased off, I'd leave them be. let em get their water and go. That's all they want really. If it has been dry up there, you may have the best watering hole for them.

 

[geekgranny]

Gosh geekgranny, I can't believe that you haven't seen any yellow jackets in 24 years. We have them all over Texas. I'll bet that in the late summer to early fall, if you set out a paper plate on your back porch with a little raw ground beef on it, you would have you some in pretty short order.

As it stands, we don't have any true hornets here in the Lone Star state. The only ones that we do have in Texas are the bald faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata) but these aren't true hornets in an entomology sense. Rather, they are part of the yellow jacket family and are considered in entomology circles as aerial nesting yellow jackets. In Texas, you can only find them east of U.S. 59 in the Piney Woods region. They are actually neat to watch from a distance.

Polistes carolina is the common red wasp here in Texas. They hurt too, ask me how I know. They can be a problem because they can have perennial nests in wall voids and attics in areas with mild winters (like Texas).

You are correct in that many people use "wasp" and "hornet" and "yellow jacket" incorrectly and/or interchange the names. To the untrained eye, they can look very similar.

Great info. I did do an edit to my post at the top of post to say that we do have Yellow Jackets (meat bees). I always thought the black and yellow paper wasp was a yellow jacket. I'll go edit the rest of post to correct that and the hornet comment. I didn't know we had only one true hornet until reading up on it.

I'm outside most of my waking hours many days year round. I'm very "intimate" with our "bugs". We're virtually part of protected habitats so it's pretty wild out here. It seems like every other summer or so I discover a new insect I haven't seen before. Being the Cross Timbers and a blend unique blend of both east and west Texas flora and fauna we do have some flora, for sure, that wouldn't be expected here.

For instance, in 1999, on an exploratory hike, amateur naturalist David Hurt discovered a stand of flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida)--a rare and remarkable find, as the flowering dogwood is common to the Pineywoods and post oak belts of Texas, but is generally absent from shallow clay soils of the limestone regions. This was the first of many rare flora and fauna discoveries in the Canyon. (from this site http://www.tx.audubon.org/Dogwood_Plants.html) David and his wife own land, at the end of our dead end road where our shared, with two other houses, driveway is, going back into the woods. They donated a lot of their land to the Audubon project, as did other neighbors.

See also, http://www.cedarhilltxgov.org/index.aspx?NID=61 and http://www.cedarhilltx.com/index.aspx?nid=861.

So no telling what one can see out here. It's a paradise for nature lovers, if you can get past the snake population.

gg=alice

 

[257WbyMag]

Great info. I did do an edit to my post at the top of post to say that we do have Yellow Jackets (meat bees). I always thought the black and yellow paper wasp was a yellow jacket. I'll go edit the rest of post to correct that and the hornet comment. I didn't know we had only one true hornet until reading up on it.

I'm outside most of my waking hours many days year round. I'm very "intimate" with our "bugs". We're virtually part of protected habitats so it's pretty wild out here. It seems like every other summer or so I discover a new insect I haven't seen before. Being the Cross Timbers and a blend unique blend of both east and west Texas flora and fauna we do have some flora, for sure, that wouldn't be expected here.

For instance, in 1999, on an exploratory hike, amateur naturalist David Hurt discovered a stand of flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida)--a rare and remarkable find, as the flowering dogwood is common to the Pineywoods and post oak belts of Texas, but is generally absent from shallow clay soils of the limestone regions. This was the first of many rare flora and fauna discoveries in the Canyon. (from this site http://www.tx.audubon.org/Dogwood_Plants.html) David and his wife own land, at the end of our dead end road where our shared, with two other houses, driveway is, going back into the woods. They donated a lot of their land to the Audubon project, as did other neighbors.

See also, http://www.cedarhilltxgov.org/index.aspx?NID=61 and http://www.cedarhilltx.com/index.aspx?nid=861.

So no telling what one can see out here. It's a paradise for nature lovers, if you can get past the snake population.

gg=alice

It's alright. I'm just a bug geek. No normal person would know that information anyway.

I have had a fascination with hymenopteran insects since I was a child and was stung REALLY badly. As a matter of fact, I carry an Epi-Pen now thanks to that event.

Essentially we really have one true hornet in the U.S. This is Vespa crabro, also known as the European Hornet. Lots of info on it if you Google it. It was introduced here by accident sometime in the 20th century. They are protected in Germany.

They're interesting for many reasons, among which is that they are large, striking looking insects. They fly day and night equally. They are also perennial nesters in sheltered locations. Although they are large though, they are not tempermental to the point that yellow jackets are. One can actually get fairly close to the nest (staying out of the flight path that is) and watch them.

 

[rsharp]

im pretty sur we have a hornet nest near by b/c these suckers are huge and i looked up european hornets and they look almost identical so im pretty sure they are......referring to another post.. we do have yellow jackest. i saw one trying to get some water in our small pond out front.... its been pretty dry here guessing thats why!!