WARNING!
If you don't like insects and flying critters, don't scroll down!
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Okay, I warned you!
Not yet two hours into Autumn, and I managed to harass a yellowjacket nest while pulling backyard weeds.
Just like a cartoon character, I went running while swatting and yelling!
Thankfully, I didn't have an allergic reaction, and The Hubby kindly dabbed hydrocortisone cream on the bites that I cannot reach between my shoulder blades.
A few moments before, I'd gingerly working around a huge spider's web to avoid damaging it, but forgot to look out for flying insects coming out of the ground.
15 to 20 bites.
Will investigate how to either relocate the underground nest, or kill it without damaging chemicals that will harm other wildlife.
Here's hoping that this means I've already hit my quota of surprising and icky events for Autumn!
🐝
Wikipedia says:
Yellowjacket or yellow jacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula.
Yellowjacket or yellow jacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula.
Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries.
I am glad you didn't have a reaction to the wasps. Ivor has found three nests all within 50 yards in the hedge in our top field. He was strimming the excess growth where it was touching the electric fence. He is always very careful to check for any flying around ever since he strimmed across a nest several years ago. He got 40+ stings but also was lucky not to have an allergic reaction. He came flat out back down on his tractor pulling his clothes off, and I remember picking a lot of dead and dying wasps out of his clothes where he had been swatting at them. Not an experience you want to repeat!
ReplyDeletePoor Ivor! Yes, lucky neither of us had an allergic reaction, although the bites are itching ferociously right now.
DeleteIt's been a few years since I got attacked by ground hornets. They came after me and got all over my face that I'm not allergic thank goodness I just looked really bad for a week. A skunk came and dug up the nest about 2 weeks later. Took care of the whole problem in one dig. So glad you didn't have an allergic reaction.
ReplyDeleteOh no! Most of my bites are on my back...where I cannot reach, which is good because I really don't want to scratch. I read that skunks will eat ground bees, but the nest is pretty much done with anyhow, because of the cooler weather. The queen will leave soon, and the nest will die off.
DeleteDearest Vicky,
ReplyDeleteYou sure got very lucky as those stings can be so very nasty. Pieter once took an outdoor shutter off the wall, while being on the ladder, and there they were and attacked right away. Once more beneath the huge Indian Hawthorn that had to be removed next to the driveway.
We all run into nasty surprises when having a home and garden...
Hugs,
Mariette + Kitties
And I thought I was scared of spiders...yellowjackets are now at the top of my list.
DeleteThankful you were not allergic, that might have been a far worse event! And thankful you will try to relocate their nest ... tho they can represent a danger to some/many, we do need our "insect" friends as most perform a valuable service for us. Take care in your garden.
ReplyDeleteIt was a surprise, that's for sure! Thanks.
DeleteDang, I sure am glad you are okay and that there wasn't an allergic reaction. YIKES!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it's not something I want repeated.
DeleteHoley moley, such a nest sounds horrible. Glad you're allight! We have French wasps who live here for years. They have never stung anyone...Thank Cat🙏Double healing Pawkisses especially for you🐾😽💞
ReplyDeleteThank you; I'll definitely be more cautious in the future.
DeleteI hate being stung. I'm glad you didn't have an adverse reaction.
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day and week. Scritches to the kitties. ♥
Sure was a surprise!
DeleteThat sounds painful. I hope you are okay now. When I was a teenager, I was stung in the chest by two wasps simultaneously while climbing a ladder. I didn't know their nest was under the roof's overhang, exactly where I put the ladder. It shocked me so much that I fell off the ladder.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Today is being very itchy; hope it will fade quickly.
DeleteGlad you are OK. This is one of the many reasons I am a big fan of indoors. XO
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was a bit too 'Mother Naturey' for me!
DeleteThose ground nests are so evil!
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago MJF got into a nest, they got him around his tail. poor dude, but he was OK, thankfully.
Another time the neighbor's JRT got into a nest too, and stung her all around her face and even in her mouth. So scary. I went there and gave Apis Mellifica a homeopathic remedy for stings, and after several doses and ice along with a hefty dose of benadryl, she started to improve. That was scary, because we thought she was going to asphyxiate from the oral swelling. n(our nearest emergency vet it about 30 miles away...she would have not made it that far.) I always keep several bottles of that remedy here...even had to give it to our son who was standing by a tree, waved his arms and got stung on his hand, just hours before his piano recital! He did fine, and there was no swelling. We had NO idea there was a nest of paper wasps in that tree. UGH! (its a sublingual medicine, but I also make a paste with some of the little pellets and put it right on the sting area.Works best if given ASAP...and every 10 - 15 minuters until the symptoms subside then every hour for a few more doses...followed by as needed.)
Wow, that's the holistic nurse coming out of me!!
Glad you are OK!! If you need to itch yourself, ,use a door jamb, I have done that, LOL!!! YOu can put benadryl gel on those stings, too. Or try eucalyptus oil, its a tropical remedy for insect bites, helps with the itch.
Maybe put citronella oil into the nest(s) to make it inhospitable for those living in it...on the other hand they may relocate and then you won't know where it is, LOL!
OH MY! What stories! Am now 48 hours from the original 'event', and managed to sleep through the night due to the new tube of Benadryl cream, plus an Aleve which makes the itch lessen. Hoping everything will fade, and am lucky that the temps are cooler, because being overheated would make this a right devil of a time! I think a paste of something to draw out the venom would have helped, but online I only read about baking soda and chamomile tea bags. Cannot imagine how I'd react if my pet was attacked!
DeleteI missed this, of course. I'm sorry to read that you had such an adventure with wasps. Fifteen to twenty! Wow. They are unforgiving little monsters.
ReplyDelete