Wednesday, September 28, 2011

HOW TO CATCH WASPS (and other bugs) IN THE HOUSE

How to catch Wasps, Hornets, Mud daubers, Huge Spiders, Moths, Bugs of all kinds inside your house:


BUG VACUUM:
Bug vacuums will catch Wasps. The Bug Wand is the one I have and it works good for wasps.
I have used it many times to catch Wasps. I had to mail order it, but since many local stores sell
 the "As Seen On TV" merchandise, maybe you could call around and find someone who has it. The Bug
 Wand. It's about 14 bucks. I've used it on Spiders too.  Sometimes I catch a big spider, usually
 one of the hunting spiders that runs fast.  They can live inside the catch tube forever.  Then I
 turn it on, which makes the spider stay down by the fan intake, and catch a wasp, then I put the
 plug in and watch thru the clear plastic tube.  They are natural enemies, the spiders are food for
 the wasps.  Usually the wasp wins, but sometimes both die.  My brother says I'm supposed to take
 them outside and "release" them.  What?  I don't want them back in the house.  He says take them
 far away.  ?  In the middle of the night?  No, I'd rather be a monster.

Ad Copy:
"The bug buddy insect catcher known as the Bug Wand is the perfect solution for capturing and
 disposing of household pests. This bug vacuum is the newest member of your pest management that
 will help in picking up pantry pests and insect pests in a jiffy. It's the clean, quick and safe
 way to be rid of bugs. The next time some creepy-crawly is discovered in your home or business,
 don't spray them, don't whack them, bug vac them with the Bug Wand! No more messy splatter on the
 walls or ceilings. If you want to be able to pick up and dispose of insect pests and maintain pest
 control, try out this insect vacuum today!
 The bug vac one-of-a-kind spider vacuum device works by sucking up the household pests into a tube.
 You don't ever have to touch pantry pests again! 9 volt battery not included."  It's about 15
 bucks.  If you can't find it, target sells a kids toy Bug Safari vacuum for 29.  Amazon sells a
 similar wand but much smaller for 14.  


MOUSE GLUE TRAP FLAT RECTANGULAR SHEET:
I have had great success with Mouse Glue Sheet traps. Take a glue sheet, and use it like a ping
 pong paddle against the Wasp, don't let it touch anything else tho! If wasp lites, gently touch the
 glue to the wasp wings, and it's history. Or swing the glue sheet thru the air to contact the Wasp
 while it's flying around. Cheap and throw it in trash. Just don't stick glue to hair or walls or
 lamps.  First time I tried it first I got my own hair, had to cut it off, then I made the rookie
 mistake of smacking the sheet to my bedroom wall where the wasp had lighted. Oh, I got the wasp,
 and when I pulled the glue sheet free from the wall it took paint and the whole layer of paper
 covering one side of the drywall, left about a six by six inch excavated patch.  So don't touch it
 to anything but Bug.

DUCT TAPE and Broom Handle:
For cheap solution, wrap a ball of duct tape, sticky side outward, around the end of a broom
 handle.  It doesn't have to look great or last long.  When Wasp lights, slowly maneuver the sticky
 tape wad near the Wasp, then smack it to it quickly the last couple inches away.  If you are lucky
 you stick to it's wings. Quickly then pull the tape off the broom, squish the ball and into the
 trash.

HALOGEN LAMP:
If you have one of the now banned halogen floor torch lamps, that uses the rod shaped halogen
 bulbs in 300w or 500w, when lamp is cool remove the protective glass sheet above the bulb that
 keeps dust and junk off it. (because even a finger print on the halogen bulb can make it burst
when it heats up, keep it clean) Then light the lamp in room with Wasp.  It will fly toward super
 bright light. Oh yeah, don't YOU ever look at the lit bulb, will burn your retinas.  And don't
 EVER touch bulb unless fully cooled, will give third degree burns.  One of two things will happen.
 Either the wasp will come to the light, land nearby and the heat and light will make it sit there
 in a stupor until it dies and slowly burns into a crispy critter.  The smoke will rise from the
 lamp and stink, that's how you know it's done!  Keep lamp away from flammables like curtains.  If
 you are less lucky, wasp will only go close enough to blind itself, then it will fly crazily and
 unpredictably around the room while blind. Oh joy.  At least it can't see if it lights. So get out
 the sticky stuff.  

Where do they hide?:
Lamps, light fixtures, ceiling, top of picture frames, between curtains and window.  Even inside food boxes. Your shoes, your clothes, in closets, in a book, under the toaster, even inside the frig guts attracted to the evaporator pan.  They have to drink eventually.  Toilet, dripping faucet, evap pans, air conditioner runoff, water sitting in drain traps. 

Why do they keep appearing in house?
Probably built a nest inside one of your storm windows, then found tiny hole in window sash and
coming inside to explore lured by temperature difference.  Wolf spiders and other running hunter spiders follow bugs in under door bottoms if you don't have a tight seal or sweeper.  Gnats arrive on bananas, or fly in thru open door or window.  Flies follow in thru open windows or doors.  They also hibernate in windows and "reactivate" at odd times, waking up and weakly flying around.  You might even have a dead mouse somewhere in a wall, under a sofa, perhaps it got into the house and died of starvation or whatever, and then the insects blossom in it's body.  My wasps come in thru fireplace chimney.

Why have I developed so many ways to catch Wasps in the house?:
I needed a better method than standing across the room squealing in my underwear while spraying a 20 foot stream of wasp knock down poison and rendering the house unlivable for days. So I tried lots of different ways.  I also had to find ways that worked good when I was super groggy and barefoot, since I usually had been asleep when called upon to save the day.

If you have gnats and or flies bugging you, the safest way to get rid of them is those curly cue strips of sticky
fly trap paper you buy in packs of three or four that look like fat firecrackers.  You pull the strip out of one end, and hang it up near the problem area.  Do several.  After the first few gnats and or flies stick to the strip, they will start all landing there, until most of them are caught.  First day or so you may not think it's going to work, but it will.  Moths will NOT land on sticky strips for some reason.  You have to get special moth lure boxy sticky traps for them.  And big spiders and wasps are strong enough to pull free from all but the heaviest glue traps.  I've watched a wolf spider pull loose from a glue mouse trap.  They can even lose legs because they'll grow them back.  But they do get slowed down, so you could squish them or throw them out if they get caught. 

Ways you should NOT use inside the house:
Wasp and Hornet Poison Spray that shoots an aerosol stream of poison twenty feet.  Sure, you can
douse the Wasp and half the room, but then it's like Chernobyl. That stuff is oily and last for
 weeks, the smell is toxic and can kill you too.  Don't spray it in the house.

No Pest Strips: bad idea.  They are not meant to be hung in a closed air environment like air
 conditioned or heated room, especially not with humans present.  Will damage humans from the get
 go.  Only to be used in well ventilated areas where people don't hang out.  If you are not going
 to be in a house for weeks, you can hang them in every room while gone, then air out house for
 hours after returning and seal open strips up airtight for storage.  But be warned, the poison
 that they ooze into the air will penetrate foodstuffs, wrappers, boxes, inside refrigerators, will
 coat plates and drinking vessels and silverware and pots pans etc.  It's like coating everything
 in house with Dichlorvous Vapona R.  Not good.  You have to discard all that stuff, or wash it
 thoroughly including all linens. Elderly are especially susceptible to breathing  distress and bad
 effects from pest strips.  Keep Away!  But they will kill everything if left in a space for a few
 weeks.  Also don't use Bug Fogger's for same reasons. 

Bug Zappers, big NO NO inside the house, just forget it.   


Copyright 2011 VROUK - all but ad copy/photo

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