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Getting rid of a wasp nest without killing them... How?
BhanteLucky
Alternative lifestyle person in the South Island of New ZealandNew Zealand Veteran
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!
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!
0
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
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!
Good luck and thick skin,
Matt
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.
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.
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...
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
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.
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
I'm assuming you're in the USA? Here's an example from Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Dewitt-WSP4-24-The-Original-Waspinator/dp/B002ITNBT8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1317250529&sr=8-2
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.....
Quite.
http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/21955/dredging-up-old-threads#latest