deBugged

A recent trip to the zoo reminded me of an old joke. Ccustomer goes into a cake shop and says to the assistant: “How much for a wasp?”  The assistant looks puzzled saying: “But we don’t sell wasps only bread products!”  The customer replies: “Well, why have you got plenty in the window then?”

Why is this joke of yesteryear so relevant? Because myself and my family were plagued by these little brutes wherever we went whilst on a visit to the Zoo.

There was not a moments peace anywhere, my eldest daughter had great fun watching Grandad clapping his hands and dispatching these beasts one by one (must be where I get my pest control killer streak). I joked to the wife that the most successful breeding program within the zoo must be for these animals as there are loads of them about.

Speaking to one of the cleaners around the food area my wife asked what could be done and he replied they had tried wasp pots (pots with a sweet substance which attracts and drowns them) and not only had people complained that it looked unsightly but one person had lectured him on how beneficial the wasp was in his garden and so they were looking for other measures to curb this problem.

I know on other posts on this site the wasp gets lots of coverage but in this zoo it is a big problem. The ways to remedy this problem are simple:

• Take some insect spray with you – easy enough
• Don’t eat sticky food – hard when its hot and sunny, ice creams are great
• Don’t go to the zoo – might ruin the kids day if you stay indoors
• Take with you someone who has sting proof hands to splat this pest at a high success rate  – as my dad quite competently showed on this visit.

Did you know it was wasp week? I certainly didn’t know this until a colleague came into work today and told me. Apparently this is meant to be the worst week of the year for wasp problems according to:

an insurance firm which handles 3,000 wasp and hornet claims a year. In the last week of July last year, wasp and hornet claims leapt by 98 per cent compared with the summer average. More than 200 claims were made in a single week – compared with the average of 106 for the whole summer. A similar pattern was found in 2007. Read more.

The term has been used by the Daily Mail (above) and the Daily Express so far, so I’m sure other papers will soon follow suit. Personally, I think that the fact that schools have now finished for the summer so children are at home is no coincidence. Parents are more likely to spot wasp nests (or vespiary if they are to be known by their correct name) with their youngsters playing in the garden, climbing trees, routing around in the shed to dust off bikes, balls, tennis rackets, etc.

As you all know by now, I hate wasps and so when I found the beginnings of a vespiary in our garden shed about two months ago, I got worried. It was only the size of a large egg – but I still got my husband to remove it rather than me, yeuch! The thing is, there are times when you can try to solve pest problems with DIY products, and then there are times when you really should call in the professionals.

When we lived in our previous home, a top floor maisonette, one afternoon we got a knock from our downstairs neighbours. They suggested we close our windows and either go out or stay in for the next couple of hours because a wasps nest was causing them grief and “a bloke was coming round to sort it”. This was life BR (before Rentokil) so I had no idea who “the bloke” was from (council, Rentokil or another pest control company) or what they were going to do.

About 15 minutes later we heard a serious buzzing noise and watched with fascination as some really angry wasps started hurling themselves at our now closed windows to try and remove the (I presume some kind of) nest killer powder from their bodies. We literally had to wipe all of the front windows clean after they had settled down/died. The treatment obviously did the trick – they didn’t survive nor did they ever come back!

Not my garden - but a lovely picture none-the-less!

Its funny how you forget things as you get older, isn’t it? As I was searching for inspiration for yet another “pests & me” post I recalled an incident at home when I was fairly young.

Late summer and as usual lots of bramley apples had fallen from the tree at the end of our garden. To help out my mum, my sister and I would be charged with collecting and clearing away all of the windfall apples from the grass. Since I wasn’t a gardener by any stretch of the imagination back then (or even now!), I would insist on wearing gloves – I hated/stll hate getting my hands all dirty.

So apple by apple they were sorted out. Mouldy or edible, they were appropriately bagged up. My mum has an amazing apple cake recipe, we would halpe her make it most weekends!

All of a sudden I felt an itch on my hand so I scratched it, and then again and again. When I heard the angry buzzing noise I realised it wasn’t so much an itch than a wasp that had got its way into my glove – three actually. I know this because as I started shrieking, I ripped off the glove and all three flew out.

Being stung several times has given me a permanent phobia about wasps so I am always ultra-careful about when I drink and dine al fresco. For example, I never leave my drink unattended just in case some thirsty wasp takes a nose dive into it. Now that I work for Rentokil, I know what a Waspin pot is and am always relived to see them hanging in outdoor eateries and restaurant/pub gardens.

It is known that dogs have an excellent sense of smell and this has been capitalised on for years by police forces across the globe when it comes to drug and bomb detection. The down side of using dogs is that they need to be trained, housed, fed and cared for all of which comes with a hefty price tag . The training itself will take around 6 months and around £25,000.

Much of this cost is negated with the next generation of animal detectors – Insects. To be more precise wasps!

Yes, that’s right, scientists in America have successfully trained wasps to sniff out such substances as explosives, drugs and even bed bugs. Scientists say that they can now train a wasp in as little as 5 minutes - so some day in the not too distant future, man’s best friend could be replaced by wasps.

I guess there are many other insects which have an acute sense of smell which may be used in the future such as ants. So remember, next time you feel the urge to swat a wasp which looks to be on its own, beware – it could be on duty!

This week sees the start of British Summer Time. The onset of summer also heralds the arrival of summer pests including wasps including wasps and ants.

For me, summer is when pest control comes to life. Within the pest control world there is the inevitable banter, modelled on fisherman’s tales, of who treated the biggest wasp nest etc.. The pest controller will once again be faced with the task of explaining that flying ants are the same as garden ants and not a mutated species and other such pest urban myths that are common belief to the untrained.

Summer is when our technicians can use all facets of their training, especially the ability to turn into Sherlock Holmes at short notice and informing the clients why the pests have shown up in the first place. Many a summers day will be spent on a clients premises meticulously tracing ants back to their nest in order to carry out an effective treatment rather than just spraying poison carelessly around.

Of course when the sun shines there is also the risk of an exotic pest species or two making its way from the European mainland to liven thing up as we have seen in previous years with the Oak Processionary Moth.

These non indigenous species keep me on my toes with adapting / extending our control techniques so we are ready for their invasion. Lets hope the sun puts in a prolonged appearance!