90% of my alerts every day come from bees wasps or hornets fly by crawling on sitting there doing all kinds of strange things. They apparently think the black dot in the middle of the camera face is some kind of a hole that they can enter and make a nest. Either that or the infrared attracts them, or it’s making some kind of a sound, emitting some kind of a wave that attracts all of these insects.
If we could figure out what it is we can make one of the best traps for pasty stinging insects that has ever been invented!
Anybody have any idea what this guy is trying to do?
I used to have this issue. There could be a number of reasons why wasps like smart cameras. They especially do this to cameras that mounted under an eave or little overhang of some kind.
I suspect they are mostly checking to see suitability for nesting, but there could be a ton of other explanations.
Recently I just spray some essential oils (Peppermint, lemongrass, clove) mixed in water around (not on) them and wasps don’t find it as enticing anymore.
That means there is an already established nest already really close.
Best option is to find the nest and exterminate it around sunset.
Second best option is to put wasp traps nearby.
If it’s a bait trap, put it at least 20 ft away from the nest to get the foragers (most don’t really forage for food really close to the nest).
If you use a sticky glue trap, you can just place it nearby anywhere you see frequently see them gathering. It may seem like it’s not working at first until you catch a few, then it attracts a bunch more. You can put some pieces of fruit or meat on it to draw their attention at first.
If you’re using bait, this time of year has sugary work best (adults feeding themselves now that there aren’t larvae to grow). spring and early summer has protein work better (so the larvae can grow).
I use all of the above. Finding the hive is best, then have no mercy. Second best is to capture all the foragers.
If the nest isn’t really close, then you can spray certain oils to convince them to go elsewhere. There are a few techniques that make it last longer or mix in the water better, but it only works if they don’t already have an established nest really close.
It looks like you’ve done a lot of the same research that I did! I have six traps around the house, and I have been looking for the nest for three years! I have exterminators they visit me four times a year, they also look for the nests. I live pretty close to a forest and I believe the nests are out there somewhere. This is why we can’t find them, this is why they won’t go away. Guess I’m just stuck with these little boogers as long as I live near those woods !
You should’ve seen the amount that had collected in the traps that I put out!
Especially early in the season. Four of them are bag traps, they climb into a hole at the top and can’t climb back out. The bag was half full of bodies!
Yep, I hate wasps. I am supportive of complete global extermination. Hopefully someone makes a robot or nanobot programmed to find and exterminate all wasps and let other pollinators fill in the gaps (I saw some research that found when wasp populations dwindle, other pollinators fill in the gaps, so they aren’t actually critical to the ecosystem)
I felt the same way! Then I read that they also have a tendency to hunt and destroy other insects and spiders that can be a nuisance.
I wonder how much of an increase of those other nuisance insects and spiders there would be if there were no wasps in the world?
More spiders and butterflies (caterpillars) is a consequence I’m willing to accept. Nearly any likely consequences from wasp extermination are probably worth it. Plus the spiders will take care of more insects and butterflies will increase and fill pollination gaps. Win-win
