What's bugging you?

[YamadudeXS650C]

I go after those with a badminton racket and the traps. I still get dozens of new holes every season. Then the woodpeckers come for the larvae. They'll destroy my siding for a juicy worm. I should have bought a metal house. My Mrs wanted this one.

I keep a tennis racket on the deck just for that purpose.
Last year I took such a swing at one that I almost took out the picture window.

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

Coincidentally, yesterday seemed to have been Bee Day here at my house.
Had to knock down a big paper wasp nest, then run like hell.
Found 10 or so mudwasp nests in the workshed. They were all flying around my head as I used 5 big cans of foam spray on'em
I imagined them all having little tiny Barbara Stanwyck heads.
They lost the battle in 85 degree heat.
A long shower left me feeling refreshed, took the '76 out for my favorite ride thru the hills and twisties, .................
.....................................and caught a yellow jacket in a crease in the blue jeans. He stung me twice.
You can't win with insects.
Scientists say that they will ultimately inherit the earth.
They are more resilient than us.

 

[MaxPete]

...and meaner - especially those nasty little Barbara Stanwyck-headed buggers.

 

[queenslegs]

Bees rock! Bees pollinate 1/3 of the food we eat. And I'm with Bob, Honey Bee honey is to die for. My buddy Vlad and I put out swarm catchers in my back 40 to catch swarms with which to start new colonies. Here we are pulling a honey loaded hive out of a dormer in my house. We went slow and successfully captured the queen. I like bees.

Swarm catcher...

 

[YamadudeXS650C]

First off , I'll tell you , we keep a tidy property. Yards always neat, no big piles of crap. My garage is clean and un cluttered. So why is it I feel like I'm living in some 1960's Twilight Zone episode?
View attachment 103047
I have lived in my house for 28 years and up until two years ago we had never seen a scorpion on our property, then overnight it was like someone opened up the gates of hell and we were inundated with them.
They were in the house, in the garage, everywhere. These are bark scorpions, the only variety in the US that are poisonous. I had to pay a company called Seal Out Scorpions a crazy amount of money to send a team of guys to our house and spend two days here sealing and caulking every tiny crack and opening on our house, inside and out, they screened anything that needs to remain open and we re worked all of our landscaping to make our yard less attractive to them. I also routinely spray Texas Red Cedar oil ,which is insanely expensive, because it is a natural repellent to them.
This weekend I killed 5 of them FIVE!!! On the house, in the garage. Jeeze Louise!
View attachment 103048 View attachment 103049
Not only that, I've got Black Widows that have taken up residence in my backyard grill and patio flower pots,
And oh yeah, I just discovered we have termites, TERMITES!!!
What the heck is going on here? Where is Rod Sterling?

So, hows it going with the scorpions and the Black Widows, Mailman?

In trying to find a solution to all my mud wasps, I learned today that they LOVE to eat Black Widows. Maybe I could ship some to you.

 

[Mailman]

So, hows it going with the scorpions and the Black Widows, Mailman?

In trying to find a solution to all my mud wasps, I learned today that they LOVE to eat Black Widows. Maybe I could ship some to you.

Haha thanks for the generous offer! Somehow I have a feeling they would love it here and we would just have one more pest! Plus I'd have to take down my hummingbird feeder and replace it with one of those wasp catchers!
But if you have too many crickets at your place, scorpions love crickets....would you like a few?

 

[queenslegs]

Wasp catchers are nasty...... don't do it MM!
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/trapstik-pulled-canada-united-states-1.4214756

 

[Mailman]

Oooh yeah those trap sticks are terrible!