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Getting rid of a wasp nest without killing them... How?

BhanteLuckyBhanteLucky Alternative lifestyle person in the South Island of New ZealandNew Zealand Veteran
edited April 2010 in General Banter
At my meditation centre there's a wasp nest very close by the path to the meditation hall.
There are about 6 or 7 wasps leaving or entering per second at the moment, but next year it will be bigger, and the year after that bigger still... etc etc.
How do we get rid of the nest without breaking the precepts? A friend of the centre mentioned putting a water hose in it at night, and slowly flooding the nest with a trickle of water, allowing them time to escape.

Are there any other non-lethal solutions that will encourage them to leave the nest?
It's in the middle of a flammable grassy and wooded area, so smoke from a small fire isn't an option.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Comments

  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited April 2010
    Just do what needs to be done, and kill them.

    I was attending attending a Zen center for a while a few years ago. There were a number of people with construction and landscaping backgrounds. There was a tree with a root system which threatened the house. They were advocating for its removal. The Roshi said "That tree was there long before any of us were born, and it'll be there long after we're all dead." Case closed. A few weeks later, it fell over, and in the process its root system ripped up the back veranda of the house. They were still dealing with the fallout from this when I showed up. They'd developed a more pragmatic philosophy about such things, by that time.

    Think twice about the water strategy. Think three times!
  • aMattaMatt Veteran
    edited April 2010
    If you call an exterminator and explain to them your preferences, you might find one that has the protective equipment and willingness to move the hive someplace less path-stingy. If one of your members is a bee keeper, they would also.

    Good luck and thick skin,

    Matt
  • edited April 2010
    Interesting... I have always been one that felt a pang of guilt after killing such pests. Just this morning before the sun was fully up I sprayed a wasp nest that was growing in a shed where garden supplies are kept. I didn't like it, but I couldn't risk them getting agitated and attacking my mother. I knew she planned on working in the garden today.

    I step around ants, when I see them. I love to watch how spiders tend their webs and let them be. In fact I sit at watch them... But, if there is one on or near my bed have always killed them. I suppose I could catch them and remove them.
  • edited April 2010
    Swanny wrote: »
    I step around ants, when I see them. I love to watch how spiders tend their webs and let them be. In fact I sit at watch them... But, if there is one on or near my bed have always killed them. I suppose I could catch them and remove them.

    I heard a story once that some practitioners had been meditating very well more or less on their own, but forgot to make many karmic connections with others. When they were liberated, they had no students; no-one happened to want to learn from them. So they picked some animals with short lives - ants, I think - and blew mantras over them. Pretty soon they had a bunch of students they could work with.

    Far-out maybe, but if I have to move critters then I'll say some mantras over them. The big guys say mantras are really powerful and lay karmic seeds.

    Having said that, I do kill mosquitoes sometimes, but I figure hey, they started it.
  • patbbpatbb Veteran
    edited April 2010
    dress up with protecting gears, take the nest and move it somewhere else.
  • edited April 2010
    ^^ Is it always that simple?

    What about termites eating your house? Do you herd them out? The mosquito... Do you sit there and let them do their thing? I know if one lands on me I'm swatting it.
  • edited April 2010
    I've had wasps nests in my loft for years and just leave them there. Once quite a lot of them got into the house and I had to catch them individually in jars and then put them outside which took a long time.

    I've never been stung by a wasp in my life.






    .
  • ManiMani Veteran
    edited April 2010
    Dazzle wrote: »
    I've had wasps nests in my loft for years and just leave them there. Once quite a lot of them got into the house and I had to catch them individually in jars and then put them outside which took a long time.

    I've never been stung by a wasp in my life.


    .

    I had a similar situation where I used to live. Wasps nests on the side of the house on the back deck. Some would even get inside, buzz around a bit, and eventually get going. A neighbor doing some work said "You gotta get rid of those!", and I said "what for?" I never got stung either...
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited April 2010
    I certainly *have* been stung by wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets all around my house and garden areas. Many times. If you piss them off, they will sting you, and in so doing release pheromones that attract their nest-mates to you for stinging. Hornets and yellow jackets in particular will chase you down to sting you.

    You cannot move a wasp or hornet nest to another location. It is built in a particular location, and only the queen can select another location. You can move it, but the insects will abandon it and build a new one somewhere else. But removing one in the middle of their breeding season means that all of the larvae and/or pupae in it will die (they will be abandoned). Odds are also as good as not that if you move it they will simply return to the same spot and build again if it's a particularly good spot for them. As repugnant as it may be, if the nest is somewhere that irritating them will cause you harm, the best bet is to spray it.

    Mtns
  • kennykenny Explorer
    edited April 2010
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  • edited April 2010
    There was a wasps nest in the last place I lived, right above the front door of all places. I left the wasps there and moved out myself! (Though to be honest I did plan to move out around that time anyway, wasps nest or not). :lol:

    The place was rented, and I was told by my landlord that if I just leave it there they'll all die when the cold weather comes, and I won't get a problem with them again after that... no mention of there being even more the following year (as someone else here mentioned). I'd like to think that my landlord honestly thought I wouldn't get another nest there the following year, but I guess it could be that she didn't want to fork out the money to sort it out...

    It's a difficult problem to sort out, without killing them. I have to be honest, if I was still living in that place now and the nest did come back, I would have seriously considered killing them, even though it would make me a bit sad to do so.
  • Mr_SerenityMr_Serenity Veteran
    edited April 2010
    You need to get yourself one of these. Shoot for a few seconds then run.


    cps3000.jpg
  • fivebellsfivebells Veteran
    edited April 2010
    That is such a stupendously ill-conceived idea.
  • edited April 2010
    smoke it out.... worked for me. light something which will make a lot of smoke and just wave it around.
  • Raid wasp killer it sprays up to 20 feet works real good unsented too.
  • I know I know I have a looonng way to go...
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited September 2011
    Raid wasp killer it sprays up to 20 feet works real good unsented too.
    But it's still an irreversible phosphodiesterase inhibitor (nerve agent). We've outlawed their use in human warfare, but we sell them at the grocery store. It boggles my mind...

  • Can you make a sangha project to make a new path?
  • I recently bought myself some fake wasp nests. They look like brown bags to me, but to a wasp they look like super, mega wasps nests.

    Wasps hate to nest anywhere near another wasp's nest, especially if it's bigger than their own, so tend to move away if they see one. You hang one of these fakes up on a tree or rafter near your wasps, and chances are, the real wasps will move on. After that, just keep fake nests in place and you shouldn't be troubled again.

    I bought them to take on picnics. Wasps are remarkably stupid creatures, thankfully ;)
  • Never heard of that, but it sounds like a sound idea. I'll have to see if I can find (or make) some...
  • Looks like an easy Saturday morning papier mache project to me :)
  • I used a blower which annoyed them at first, then broke the hive. At least, from their entry point down.
    Then I sprayed it with water. Most of it fell off and the hornets were wet and most of them won't fly.
    Knocked down their nest part for the baby nursery. Placed it in a plastic container.
    The hornet went back to the nursery and built a cover within three days.
    I put the cap of the box on at 3AM(when I got up to meditate) and moved it to a safe place where nobody would get close to them. About 100 ft away.
    The ones in charge of the nursery stayed with the larva.
    The ones doing the construction went back to their old site. I had to burn the old nest and they built a golf size new base within a day. There are about 20 of those builder bees. I burned it again today.
    Just used a sandwich bag to pretend it is a hive and will let you know what happens

  • ShoshinShoshin No one in particular Nowhere Special Veteran

    @myata said:
    I used a blower which annoyed them at first, then broke the hive. At least, from their entry point down.
    Then I sprayed it with water. Most of it fell off and the hornets were wet and most of them won't fly.
    Knocked down their nest part for the baby nursery. Placed it in a plastic container.
    The hornet went back to the nursery and built a cover within three days.
    I put the cap of the box on at 3AM(when I got up to meditate) and moved it to a safe place where nobody would get close to them. About 100 ft away.
    The ones in charge of the nursery stayed with the larva.
    The ones doing the construction went back to their old site. I had to burn the old nest and they built a golf size new base within a day. There are about 20 of those builder bees. I burned it again today.
    Just used a sandwich bag to pretend it is a hive and will let you know what happens

    @myata this thread's quite old, you might like to start a new one.....

  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited July 2015

    @Shoshin said:
    myata this thread's quite old, you might like to start a new one.....

    Quite.

    http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/21955/dredging-up-old-threads#latest

This discussion has been closed.