It already happenned once before at about the same time of year in 2011. I heard the wasp, after seeing it several times over the past few days traversing my small appartment. When it started to build a nest in the ceiling of my small kitchen, importing wet mud. It was only when the wasp started using it's body (emitting a very high-frequency vibration) to I think consolidate the construction, that I think I became aware. At the time, I chased her off using a window-cleaner spray bottle filled with fresh-water. It took several hours finally to ensure she gave up.

I don't know if in 2012, it is the same (giant-wasp). She measures today about 2 inches in body-length, so quite impressive. I noticed the wasp, seeing it several times over the past few days traversing my small appartment, obviously on a voyage of discovery. Monday morning when I was sitting down on the toilet for a number 2, I noticed my grey-kitten, obviously perturbed by the sounds of the giant-wasp. After 10 minutes on my throne, I discovered why. Madame (one presumes) giant-wasp had discovered an entry into the electrical fuse-box (a cover-plate for a CB being absent). I tapped a finger hard on the side of the fuse-box, resulting in the Mme. Wasp rapidly vacating her 'potential" nest. Having taped up the original entry, she nevertheless spent the next few hours trying to regain entry. Finally, I closed all the windows (not easy here, being summer). That appears to have sufficiently dissuaded her wish to make a home with airship.

Believe me though, when I tells ya, that I'd have been quite excited sharing my humble abode with a giant-wasp. I was even looking forward to it, wondering how (giant-wasps) might live in the winter months when the windows are all closed. What put me off were my pudicats. Knowing how they like chasing flies and moths etc. Nevertheless, as in 2011, in 2012, this giant-wasp basically understood that it was unwelcome (water-spray used in 2011, tea-towel in 2012).

I reckon though, that (if you didn't have pudicats or equivalent at home), allowing a giant-wasp to share your abode during the winter might be an interesting adventure...?!

It's just that I got the impression that the giant-wasp was somehow trying to say to me: "Fear not, I'm just looking for some shelter where I can raise my offspring in security".

Yeah, you guessed right?! The Americans are not about to stop drone attacks in Pakistan. If Bob Diamond, Barclay's CEO apparently willingly says goodbye to £30 million of bonuses or whatever on resigning, then it's time that Mme Giant-Wasp and myself have another conversation soon.

Mme Wasp, are you any good with managing honey-bees and colonies? I'd like to offer you a 10 year contract, based on 1% + current LIBOR (London International Bee or Rabid Dogs) rates. Please advise.

Does Mme Wasp look like this Airship? If so, then she is Mme Hornet.

http://s4.hubimg.com/u/1487651_f260.jpg

Hornets construct an amazing nest.

http://www.blackdog-studios.com/photos/photo_hornets_nest_2.jpg

No, DX Wombat, Mme. Wasp doesn't look like that small Hornet.

She looks like this one:
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_wasps/images/PWC_9458.jpg
2 inches (estimated) measured from head to tail. She ain't afraid of us human-beings (with or without tea-towels and water-sprays), I believe that unlike our NATO / permanent UN Security Council members though, she knows when to give up on one nesting site, having another less-defended available nearby without all the hoohaaa...?! :ok:

Edited for a smaller photo (the original one made reading the thread difficult) - but apparently this is an Australian variety - too orange, swap the orange for yellow and that's my Mme Giant Wasp...

Perhaps if you stroked her fur you could become friends and learn to co-exist on this planet, and in your home, honoring each others' cultural and physical requirements.

A pet wasp, extremely loyal, could be a great asset.

Sent me your wasp, giant or not.

I'll send you our trillions of insecticide-resistant ants. Worst year ever.

airship

I believe wasps die at the end of autumn, inside or out.

I just asked for advice about this at the local petshop.

The lady behind the counter said: "Sorry, I can't help; we don't sell wasps".

I said: "Well, there's one in the window...."

(Tommy Cooper, RIP).

http://www.adsora.com/files/media/2010/house-of-horrors.jpg

OFSO, I guess I'm lucky.

2 or 3 times a year on average, I open my apartment door on the 1st floor, to be confronted by a sickly-sweet smell "out of the ordinary". Making my way down to the ground floor and entrance to my small apartment building, I immediately see why. There are literally dozens of lifeless cockroaches lirering the floor. Mme. R has once again used a deadly-spray (against my own advice). Like the pigeons, doves etc. before, hard to know what upsets her really, apart from the rent being paid 2 weeks later than it should sometimes.

Presumably, the street (and our ground floor, 6 inches higher than street level) are infested with cockroaches and other undesirables at a certain time of night. However, I've never had any cockroaches in my 1st floor apartment (grace of my pudicats?), and I wonder if therefore, they automatically make their way upto the 2nd floor where the owner of the building Mme. R lives (because she has no pudicats, no empathy for pigeons or doves and little empathy for anything else which moves apparently).

What's the point of using lethal poisons or whatever to appetise the cockroaches - 'they're all based on poison-laced foods?". As opposed to leaving them in peace. For sure, they'd come in, but finding nothing to eat, would rapidly go back out into the street?! But if you're going to lay-down poisonned "food-stuffs" that they're going to want to eat, then it shoudn't be a surprise to find dozens of dead cockroaches in the morning when in fact, if one had done nothing at all, the cockroaches would have have simply come and gone during the night, leaving no bodies or traces of their nocturnal visits.

Do you, like me, sometimes wonder why this amazing planet on which we exist for such a short time has become the preserve of a limited, often irresponsible and generally unworthy class of human-beings?

You wanna protect stray cats, endangered animals, like the Bengal tiger, the Himalayan snow-leopard etc. Problem is that those "in power" don't have your empathy. One day, you'll realise like I've done, that these people don't budge and are incapable of any empathy beyond their own private interests. They'll eventually have to be terminated, together with their benefactors. My eyesight's failing (together with other body-parts).

Once upon a time though, I could see so far, so clearly that when John Denver first sang Eagles and Horses, I felt I had to warn the eagle of an impending collision between real and/or imagined detractors and fans (no ACAS back then)...

God Bless America, God Bless John Denver. God Bless the cockroach.

OFSO wrote:

Sent me your wasp, giant or not.

I'll send you our trillions of insecticide-resistant ants. Worst year ever.

The trick, OFSO, to getting rid of those insecticide-resistant ants is to couple the insecticide can with a cigarette lighter. (Not a match. A lighter.)
Aim the can at the insects and hold the lighter slightly next to the spray.
Engage lighter. Presto. Instant flame-thrower and instant insect BBQ.

Also brings new meaning to crispy critters.

And it works if done properly.

http://www.instructables.com/image/FJ0ZUWGGUYMFX8I/Awesome-single-handed-portable-flame-thrower.jpg

I've never had any cockroaches in my 1st floor apartment


buttons in the elevator too high ?

it works if done properly.
And if it doesn't you could end up very seriously injured. :eek:

If a three inch long wasp ever appears in the Towers I shall be needing a new home:uhoh:

rgb, no it doesn't. There are zillions of them living on this mountain. Think unlimited numbers. Close off one procession, another starts up. It's the little tiny buggers that are everywhere. We also have large ones about one inch long, which amble about and are solitary. Those I don't mind, but the tiny ones: ugh ! Needless to say they love cat food and any bowl put down for my little stray feral is black and writhing within minutes.

Needless to say they love cat food and any bowl put down for my little stray feral is black and writhing within minutes.

put the cat food bowl into a flatter slightly larger bowl and fill the outer bowl with water.

put the cat food bowl into a flatter slightly larger bowl and fill the outer bowl with water.
That's mean - but clever!

I wonder if ants do gymnastics - where they stand on each other's shoulders to form a bridge over any obstruction?

Interesting. I think you've just slashed the value of your house.

.....put the cat food bowl into a flatter slightly larger bowl and fill the outer bowl with water.

It works. I do it with my gang. Make sure the food bowl is heavier so it rests on the bottom of the outer bowl and doesn't float. Save's it from tipping over.

Lesson learned the hard way.

By the way airship, about how may strays are you caring for now a days? I know yours are "loose" as it were, but just curious how many.

With greatest admiration of course.

If you care for stray animals, cats or dogs, you're a good man. All else is forgiven.

Interesting. I think you've just slashed the value of your house.

No, they are all the same ! My lovely cleaning lady Kerry tells me there's not a single house she cleans that isn't infested. Ones with owners who show a modicum of common sense don't have so much trouble but the rented places.....with food and drink left around....you can guess !

put the cat food bowl into a flatter slightly larger bowl and fill the outer bowl with water.

Did it, cat drank water. Next suggestion please !

Interesting. I think you've just slashed the value of your house.

Its OK, in the Socialist Utopia Airship is hoping for ownership of property will be a banned anyway.

The kind of WASP you want around the house...

As for the insects my dog loves eating them. She is often stung but takes delight in the fight... welts and all.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/AVEN071.jpg

Caco

11Fan, you must be referring to all those cats by the chantier navale in Antibes, I once helped to care for a few years ago, I think.

To be frank, I had to stop feeding them on any regular basis in late 2008, after a violent episode involving one "Momo" - he who back in the late '70s / early '80s apparently originally introduced a few cats there with the purpose of controlling the rat population. Whilst Momo acknowledged that there was no longer a problem with rats the last time I spoke with him, the cat population had exploded in the decades which followed. The cats for at least the past 10 years were mainly looked after by a Franco-German couple whose business premises were based in a container in the port. The 20+ cats had a special compartment in their container, accessable from outside where they could find refuge during bad weather etc. The cats were adequately fed with croquettes (dried cat food) and received veterinary attention when required, all paid for by this couple. All I ever did was in effect, to supplement the cats' diets with fresh chicken and other morsels etc. and play with those who felt like it. Back in those days, these cats formed several sub-groups with important relationships between the cats. So you couldn't just adopt 1 cat (if you're brave enough to even consider adopting semi-wild cats at all with all the heartache that sometimes involves), you'd have to adopt all 3 or more etc. Which is why I never did / could.

In the interim period arrived a wild, bearded Italian and his camping-van who set up in the port in late 2008. He's since found a steady job as a street-sweeper with the local municipality. But his speciality is collecting all the "good food" which would otherwise be thrown out directly into the bins by the superyachts here. Over the years, he's developed a veritable network. The superyacht chefs keep the foodstuffs in their fridges until he comes round, usually once a day with his "granny-style" trolley. Sometimes what he brings back looks like a real banquet, but far too rich for feeding to cats IMHO. He once said to me when I suggested that some of the food might not be very healthy for the cats "Hey airship, these cats, like me, we're living free...?!" Similarly to Momo, but for different reasons, he thinks that the cats should not be removed (ie. adopted) or domesticated, but should instead be free to live out their lives in-situ.

Momo suffered a heart-attack sometime back in early 2011 and could not be resuscitated. You might think that I'd have been over-joyed to hear this news in light of our previous differences. But what immediately came into my mind was the thought that the cats had lost a real protector (he lived aboard a small 7-8m boat berthed there) so was always there for them in that sense. And that there only remained the wild-Italian (and the original Franco-German couple) now...

Whatever, in the interim period 2009-2010, my activities concerning stray cats involved mainly "grey kitten" and "mommy-cat". Both of whom I eventually trapped / caught and adopted to cut a long story short (though "grey kitten" is still not completely domesticated after almost 3 years together and "mommy-cat" is in fact now a neutered tom-cat, who only comes down to eat and play with "grey kitten" after midnight until dawn breaks and remains almost completely wild. There was also Moustique...

I do still pass by the chantier navale occasionally 2 or 3 times a year when making my way to the graves of my other pudicats buried at the outer walls of Fort Carré. It's never a very happy occasion. The last time was perhaps 3 months ago. I decided to be brave and go down and see the cats in the chantier navale one late Saturday afternoon after not having visited for over 6 months. :sad:

Many cats have disappeared I'm afraid. All 3 of the "Oscar, boss-cat and blackie-cat" trio (who were inseparable and therefore almost unadoptable)were absent. Goldie-cat however was there. She immediately came up to me for a cuddle, and clearly remembered me after multiple long absences (try explaining that one, any of you who believe that pets have short memories etc.). There was a new younger "ginger-tom" (intact) to protect the place from marauders. Perhaps a dozen or so remain today. Cats grow old and presumably find a quiet place for their last moments, which might also explain some unanswered questions as to "whatever happened to...?".

Sorry for going on and on and on...

Careful airship...

I think they have your coordinates.

http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/cm4fe28189.jpg

Matari, please don't give me an excuse to start off on mosquitoes...?!

I put my sad little feral's food down on the rubber doormat tonight and she ate it there, but the ants didn't. Maybe they don't like rubber doormats.

Still only normal wasps here. Tiger mosquitos reported but none seen yet. One hears they bite 24hrs, not just dawn 'n dusk.

Aedes albopictus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes_albopictus)

A year or so back (in the UK) one of these scared the bejesus out of me when I took some logs off my log pile - about 40mm long but it's a harmless wood wasp.

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l543/CharlieOneSix/woodwasp.jpg

airship,

Sorry for going on and on and on...

Not at all, thank you. May you be rewarded in whatever next life there is for your kindness. From our kitties to you, many thanks for taking care of our cousins.

http://assets0.ordienetworks.com/images/user_photos/1155948/qJekB_rectangle_xlarge.jpg

Thumbs up.

I just had another (more closer look) at Matari's photo. What looks like an innocent Tiger moquito is in fact a robotic version. Hmmm...

Flies, wasps etc. have freedom chez airship, nooone gets swatted. Except sometimes mosquitoes (I warned you not to get me started on them?!). I use the over-priced Johnson "RAID" gizmo that you plug into an AC outlet. Over-priced and obviously they don't last anywhere near the 30/45/60 nights as their advertising claims.

Perhaps a week or 10 days ago, when I was having a lie-in on a Saturday morning, I was woken up by bites at about 07H30 (ie. 2 hours after daylight here). In spite of the Johnson Raid device, I believe that the culprit was one of those rare tiger mosquitoes. Probably half-drunk on Scotch (having drained 1/2 my blood) which allowed me the time to fold my Economist magazine in half and squash her flat where she was on the wall. I believe it was a "she" because apparantly it's only the female mosquitoes that need to drink blood, in order to lay their eggs or whatever. In general, and knowing all this, I don't usually mind if they do think we're at some ficticious blood donation centre. Partake and go rapidly is what I say (so that by the time I eventually wake up to find myself scratching the bumps left), live and let live, but begone unless you want to get squished. And never again come here again, you misbegotten dracula hybrids (who don't fear the day).

PS. Thanks for the "thumbs-up" from your kitty. Is he/she really developing an opposable thumb though...?! God save us all. :uhoh:

PPS. I'm (we're) so often petrified by tiny creatures because we don't understand them or their motives. I should know better, I grew up in SE Asia, where it would not have been unusual to be confronted by a truly lethal Russel's viper or equivalent from time to time. Your average Ozzie propbably confronts similarly lethal creatures too on a regular basis. I guess I've just got "over-used" to living in Europe, where despite all the King's (or at least the French government's repeated efforts), best efforts to reintroduce wild bears to the Pyrénée region have always failed, the bears being shot probably by those with farming / livestock interests. But at least here in Europe, blind rabbits and feral cats are not considered pests...?! ;)

airship,

PS. Thanks for the "thumbs-up" from your kitty. Is he/she really developing an opposable thumb though...?! God save us all.

Picture nicked from the net, although I do have a six toed cat.

Someone has already tried the Flame-Thrower approach. Maybe he's a PPruner?:
A Californian man who used a blowtorch to get rid of spider webs in his backyard now faces $25,000 worth of damages after his home went up in flames.
Eiliya Maida, from Chico in California, was clearing the spider webs when dry plants ignited and started an attic fire, the Chico Enterprise Record (http://www.chicoer.com/ci_21031067/man-sets-house-ablaze-while-killing-spiders-blowtorch?source=rss_viewed) reports.
When Mr Maida moved into the front yard, his brother-in-law George Basbous noticed the rising smoke on top of the house.
"And that's when I went crazy," Mr Basbous said.

Man sets house on fire after torching spiders (http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8497945)

What a stupid ass. Obviously doesn't know how to use a flame thrower. He should have stuck with fragmentation hand grenades instead. Teach those little pesky buggers!!!

CharlieOneSix, harmless today maybe...but wait 20yrs or so...;)

Wasn't the sting on a wasp (& bee of course) once the ovipositor? :eek: