My grandfather has had his house manifested by wasps over the summer, and it would appear that his loft and his neighbour's loft are now proud owners of their very own wasp nests!

The Environmental Health were contacted and the men in white suits (literally!) came out and sprayed the nest with something......

They then refused to remove the nest, stating that they had done their bit by spraying it. I can half see their point as I wouldn't want to be crawling about stranger's lofts either.

Anyway, I had a look up his loft yesterday and what a sight!

The floor is COVERED with literally hundreds (maybe more) dead wasps, and the nest thing is stuck up in the rafters, about the size of a basketball!

Not a pretty sight and tbh, I nearly $hit myself when I saw it as I wasn't expecting it to (a) be there or (b) be quite so ugly!

It reminded me of the film Cocoon or Gremlins.... ready to hatch!

Anyway, has anyone removed these things before?

If so, how, and is it quite safe to deal with?

Is there any chance that there could still be some of the little b'stards inside, perhaps spawn after the massacre?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Put a bin bag around it and gently dislodge the whole lot into the bin bag. There is a chance a few may still be alive, or at least the pupae may be, but they are harmless. How long ago was it treated?

 

Nope they will be well dead, had one in our garage a while back. Sprayed Wasp Nest Killer on it. Waited a few days then pulled it off the rafter and disposed of it in the bin. Simple

 

They should be dead but you never know.. Vacuum the bodies and drop the nest into a large bin bag. It will be stuck pretty firmly to the beam though so be aware. It's basically a papier maché type construction so be careful not to put your hand through it. And remember that the stingers will still contain trace venom and will sting if you stick yourself with one.

All that said, if you can bring yourself to break it open, they're a fascinating example of nature's work at it's finest. Amazing things. Look for the queen, a big grublike looking thing by this time of year I'd imagine.

 

A pic of ours just before we removed it

 

LOL! Who missed and hit the wall with the powder?

 

Wasn't powder was a foam and just making sure we covered the whole area

 

Good advice guys and gals.

Redkop, thats exactly what it looks like, utterly disgusting.

It was sprayed about a month ago, yesterday was the first chance I had to check it out. (forgot all about it tbh!)

I'm not particularily squeamish, but this thing gives me the heebie-jeebies! lol

I'll give it a bash. (not literally of course!)

 

<pedant> So le me get this right, some wasps did some sort of stock take at your granddads house? </pedant>

 

Do as ajm says, put a bin bag round it first. Being left for a month, I imagine the nests will be far more fragile and crumbly, ours was pretty soggy from being saturated with foam.

 

PMSL... yep I reckon that got it alright!!!

 

Killed all the pesky ******* though Was very sceptical that a £4.45 can of wasp nest killer wouldn't be very effective, but it did what it said on the label

 

here was mine that i zapped with powder, removed them with bare hands and they were still hatching











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