Yellow Jackets Attack At Elementary School

CHANNEL CINCINNATI.COM ^ | 08/26/2005 | CHANNEL CINCINNATI

[dr_lew]

I had a lawn care business as an adolescent. I ran over more yellow jacket nests than I can count. They do swarm you, and I have suffered more than a few stings. My MO was to take a 16 oz bottle and fill it with gasoline, haul ass up to the mouth of the nest, and set it upright. Do it quick and get out. Then go running up again and tip it over into the hole. Then you can throw in a match from a few feet away. Almost always a workable plan.

I ran into a nest once when I was mowing a lawn for hire. I took it on with a garden hose. I backed them off with the fine spray and advanced to the entrance, then blasted them with the nozzle in the ground. After a while I saw larvae and paper comb floating up, so I figured I got 'em.

If it was up to me, I would have let them alone, but I figured my client, an elderly woman, would not want them around. All part of the give and take between myself and my most esteemed insect friends.

[tortoise]

That's photoshopped. Right? Right?

Probably not. One thing I've learned out on my remote ranch is that all herbivores are merely opportunistic carnivores that were not graced with the equipment to fetch their own meat from birth. Carrion is good food for just about any critter that manages to grab it before a professional scavenger shows up.

The first time I saw cow chowing on a dead critter, I did a "WTF?", but I'm jaded now. :-) And most critters appear to view Mormon crickets as manna from heaven, and will gorge themselves on them. Seeing nominal herbivores chase and occasionally catch rodents in their teeth is something else. A calf will eat just about any critter that is slow enough.

[AntiGuv]

Clearly you do not have a proper appreciation for the insanity of yellow jackets. :p

[Schwaeky]

no those are red jackets... (Century 21 agents)...

[RandallFlagg]

Manifestly untrue. If you're at a picnic or someplace where they are foraging, you can let them crawl all over you, ( or your hand anyway ) and they will not sting.

Yeah. That's what I was thinking when I was 16 and simply lounging on a chair outside. I looked over and saw one land on my wrist. My exact thoughts as I completely stopped moving were, "Hmmm. They always say that if you don't bother them----OWW!!!"

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yellow jackets are the most vicious buggers that God saw fit to put on this earth for some reason. When I was a kid, I fell feet first into a large nest built into the base of a creekbank. Needless to say, I was immediately swarmed and when I took off running down the creek, the little kamikazes CHASED me all the away home, about a hundred yards away. They got into my socks and underneath my clothes, and stung me 33 times. My dad rushed me to the hosptial where I nearly met my maker. I still remember the intense pain on my legs and feet, which literally felt like someone had poured gas on them and set them on fire. It hurt like h#LL, and since then I have made it my personal mission in life to kill as many of the little bastards as possible.

[RandallFlagg]

My gawd....they're even selling Mantis eggs on ebay!!!

Yeah, but now's not the best time to get them. Wait until Jan-Mar.

[miele man]

Soapy water works best.

[Revelation 911]

funny you mention that - I witness one devour a wasp last week - It snagged it right from the air and started eating it, stinger first !

[Loud Mime]

---Yeah, but now's not the best time to get them. Wait until Jan-Mar.---

Why?

[Trailerpark Badass]

All 11 children were taken to Holy Cross Hospital to be checked out.

I had my spleen removed there. Oh, the memories...

[Hot Tabasco]

I plan to breed them to get to be about the size of a doberman.

I think one the size of a toy poodle would be cute around the house, let me know when you get them........

[Hot Tabasco]

I plan to breed them to get to be about the size of a doberman.

When I wake up in the morning my cat is sitting next to my head staring at me. One of those the size of a doberman on the other side of the pillow would take getting used to.......

[MarkL]

Re: Preying Mantis

They're as friendly to humans as a cat. Completely harmless.

[snip]

I plan to breed them to get to be about the size of a doberman.

And like a cat, if they get big enough, the first thing they're going to try to figure out is how to have you for lunch!

Mark

[MarkL]

My MO was to take a 16 oz bottle and fill it with gasoline, haul ass up to the mouth of the nest, and set it upright. Do it quick and get out. Then go running up again and tip it over into the hole. Then you can throw in a match from a few feet away. Almost always a workable plan.

Try "Gunk Engine Brite"

When I worked at an auto parts store machine shop, we had problems with wasps. One blast from this stuff begins desolving their exo-skeletons, and will kill then really quickly. But the best part is that it immediately dissolves their wings. So if you give them a good blast, the fly like bricks.

Mark

[RandallFlagg]

They hatch around spring and die around November.

[RandallFlagg]

Yeah, but at least my "Rumsfeld/Tancredo '08" yard signs will remain intact.

[Wednesday's Child]

Last summer I was weeding and there was a dead log in the flowerbed which I never saw due to the weeds. I must have moved it and all of a sudden I saw something flying at me and felt intense pain.....I was stung 3 times on the face. My husband came up with a solution.......a SHOP-VAC! He attached a section of 2" pipe with DUCT TAPE on the end of the shop-vac hose and moved it towards the nest and turned it on........out they came to attack the pipe and WHOOSH! up the pipe they went! very, very cool :)

[RandallFlagg]

Lemme guess: They were all saying, "This sucks!"

/rimshot

[Wednesday's Child]

LOL! good one!