Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

10-FOOT wasp nest found inside a camper van


seeder

Recommended Posts

Terrified driver discovers a 10-FOOT nest containing 350,000 wasps in his camper-van

The nest is one of the largest ever found in South Carolina

It contained 37 queen wasps which were removed by hand

Driver was forced to wait in the vehicle without moving for fear of disrupting the insects

A huge wasps nest measuring about 10 feet long has been found in a camper, in South Carolina.

Robert McDougal of Hurry Up Towing in the sleepy town of Moncks Corner, had no idea there was a nest in the fold-down camper in his storage yard until he lifted it with a forklift.

Incredibly he wasn't stung as he sat perfectly still for 20 minutes and waited for pest control to arrive.

The nest is believed to have been one of the largest ever cleared in South Carolina.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2825507/Terrified-driver-discovers-10-FOOT-nest-containing-350-000-wasps-camper-van.html#ixzz3IUu2RRo4

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Suppose the gotta set up digs somewhere, and where betterr than a disused camper van.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder how long it took the wasp ones to construct their metropolis. Master builders those winged critters be. Perhaps they are the equivalent of the Free Masons in their kingdom. Time to build another lodge. :w00t:

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had to use boric acid to kill a nest I had this year. I think it worked, but it has gotten cool and they typically stop moving around so much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only way you'd see me killing something like that would be to "Nuke it from orbit"......could probably reason better with an alien xenomorph than a wasp

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is the stuff of nightmares

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ew. I cringe when I saw the pictures. Nope.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now if we can find that many honey bees somewhere. They've all but disappeared around here. My wild flowers didn't bloom, but the lack of bees didn't hurt the weeds!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For much smaller yellow jacket nests I also have successfully used a vacuum, specifically a wet-vac. You put an inch of water in the bottom of the wet-vac, add some dishwashing detergent as a surfactant and very carefully bring the vacuum hose to the mouth of the nest, preferably at night when the wasps are not active. You can add a piece of PVC pipe if you need the extra length and duct tape it to the vacuum hose. I put the vacuum switch in the "on" position and left it unplugged until morning, then when the sun came up plugged it in. As wasps were entering and leaving the nest they were all sucked into the vac where the soapy water drowned them. No pesticide and no one got a single sting. It was a fairly large underground nest and several thousand wasps were in the vac when it was opened.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For much smaller yellow jacket nests I also have successfully used a vacuum, specifically a wet-vac. You put an inch of water in the bottom of the wet-vac, add some dishwashing detergent as a surfactant and very carefully bring the vacuum hose to the mouth of the nest, preferably at night when the wasps are not active. You can add a piece of PVC pipe if you need the extra length and duct tape it to the vacuum hose. I put the vacuum switch in the "on" position and left it unplugged until morning, then when the sun came up plugged it in. As wasps were entering and leaving the nest they were all sucked into the vac where the soapy water drowned them. No pesticide and no one got a single sting. It was a fairly large underground nest and several thousand wasps were in the vac when it was opened.

Is this real? lol

Like you actually did this ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What happened to the queens? These pollinators are needed and I hope they wern't destroyed. If the queens were removed the drones will follow harmlessly.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this real? lol

Like you actually did this ?

I can vouch that this works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And then Pest Controller "McCool" changed his name to "McAwesome!". I would.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That camper obviously had been there for a long time without being checked on for a nest to get that huge.

Ick. I am not a fan of flying, stinging insects and I am glad there are brave people than I to go in to battle these beasties.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this real? lol

Like you actually did this ?

Absolutely, I had a nest next to a path and near a deck, I could see the yellow jackets flying in and out all day crossing the path about head level. This seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, so rather than trying to poison them or pouring gasoline down the hole and contaminating the soil I set up the vacuum hose at night putting it about 1" from the nest entrance. I set the switch to on, added an extension cord to the vac and ran the cord up to the deck. In the morning I got up, the wasps were flying in and out of their hole so I plugged in the vac and watched the action. One after another were sucking into the vac; not a single one leaving got away. This took all day, and part of the next day until very few were leaving or returning to the nest. With the workers dead, the larva probably all starved contaminating the nest and within a few days no more yellow jackets were seen at all.

This is the second nest I have destroyed without chemical means (other than the soap, which breaks the surface tension of the water so they drown quickly).

Normally I leave wildlife alone, but this was a potentially dangerous situation, my wife's mom is allergic to insect venom, and I do not know how my wife would react to a sting, so better safe than sorry.

I am not recommending that anyone else do it, because there is a real possibility of getting stung if you don't do this carefully and safely, but it worked fine for me. It's also cheap; a bit of electricity and a teaspoon of dish washing detergent.

One last thing and VERY IMPORTANT, DO NOT an oil based spray insecticide into the vacuum hose to kill the insects, use the soapy water. This has been known to cause the vacuums to explode releasing a lot of very ticked off wasps.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What happened to the queens? These pollinators are needed and I hope they wern't destroyed. If the queens were removed the drones will follow harmlessly.

These are not honeybees, yellow jackets are carnivorous and usually kill other insects for food. Although they do like sweets, they are not major pollinations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What happened to the queens? These pollinators are needed and I hope they wern't destroyed. If the queens were removed the drones will follow harmlessly.

Considering that they spent sometime to removed them, I would like to believe they were relocated.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was stung on the eyelid by a yellow jacket when I was ten. My eyelid and surrounding tissue swelled up to the size of a hen's egg. The next day, my dad and papaw torched the nest. That's always been my attitude toward the little devils; Nuke'm.

Edited by Hammerclaw
Link to comment
Share on other sites

i tend to leave them where possible as wasps don't generally build nests in the same location for more than one season unless it's a really warm cosey area.

Had a big nest hanging from the eaves in our attic one year, i used household spray bleach (stuff you use to clean kitchen worktops - so mild) sprayed the nest and the bleach was strong enough to dissolve it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.