When Sandra Bullock, in the 1995 movie “The Net,” played a computer nerd whose identity was stolen and replaced by a criminal’s identity, I developed a fear of losing my fingerprints. I considered taking my own fingerprints and putting them in a lockbox.
Shortly I realized it wouldn’t work because though I had my fingerprints I still couldn’t prove I was who I was. Fingerprint fear returned last week when I looked at my pointer finger and saw my fingerprint was gone.
While moving a rusty old milk can I inadvertently placed my finger directly on top of a wasp’s nest and received a nasty sting. The finger swelled ’til the finger pad was as slick as a balloon. A disabling fear crept up the back of my neck along with the painful sting. I calmed myself with the assurance I still had nine fingerprints.
August begins the peak season for wasps, where they become most numerous and most aggressive. There are about 30,000 species of wasps that are divided between social and solitary wasps. Solitary wasps are the most abundant and helpful to the ecosystem as they prey heavily on pest insects. They use their stinging powers to disable their food.
The name “social” is somewhat of a misnomer since social wasps are not very sociable at all, at least with humans. By the end of the summer a single colony may consist of 5,000 individuals. When the wasp feels threatened, as the one did from my finger, it emits a pheromone that causes other wasps to swarm into a stinging frenzy. Females are the only stingers. Wasp stings can be deadly dangerous if one is allergic. Also, ridding oneself of the nest while atop a ladder is equally as dangerous.
Here are a few alternative methods if you’d like to avoid chemical warfare.
In the spring you can hang fake nests that can be purchased or improvised from hanging brown paper bags around eaves and trees. Wasps are territorial and will move elsewhere.
A mixture of 1/4 cup dish soap and 1 liter of hot water applied over the nest several times will extinguish the wasps over time. Each wasp must be coated.
Spray adhesives work to clog the nest like the soap mixture. Once the queen is disposed of the other wasps will die because the workers can’t locate their nest.
Quickly surrounding the nest with a cloth bag and submerging the closed bag in water will drown the wasps overnight.
Where appropriate, not under the eaves of your house or porch, build a fire in a pit or grill and smoke them out.
This is one of my favorites: Stir up the soapy solution and fill a shop-vac. Suction the wasp into the container and cover the suction tube opening. Leave the wasps overnight.
As for the milk can, a quick shot of wasp spray did the trick. And thank goodness, after a dunking the finger in a box of baking soda the swelling diminished and my fingerprint returned.
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