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MOTH
Raw Newbie
Me vs wasp (don’t read if you love insects who have happy endings)
Quandary: How do I successfully capture wasp and return to natural habitat without being stung?
Wasp flies at my head. Morals deteriorate. I squeal and run for the nearest book, stalk wasp on windowsill, and smack until deceased.
Feel a sense of loss; then a sense of power; like BWAHAHA I have defended my rightful territory! Danger averted.
Next: I hear a buzzing. Crap, it’s another wasp!
The situation repeated itself.
I’m getting nervous that they’ve already infiltrated.
Those are the first lives I’ve purposely taken in many moons.
I feel pretty badly. Wondering if that karma is going to catch up with me. For future reference, how do you safely remove wasps back outside?
I do it for every other insect. I feel so bad. I haven’t attacked an insect in so long. I just freaked.
Comments
I catch them in glass jars with a sheet of paper, then release outside. They don’t want to sting you unless they feel threatened. So, remain calm. Tell them that you’d like them to live outside. Then, let them go. It’s easy
in my experience if you are kind to them they don’t attack. i have even had wasps and bees perch on my arm for a little while. they don’t WANT to sting you, like newbie said.
also, give yourself a break! =)
I don’t have any “wasp catching” advice for you except to maybe check out some of the eco sites and see if you can purchase something that will keep the wasps away. (if it gets bad you may be able to have them professionally and humanely removed – I know there are people who will come and humanely take your bees away!)
But don’t feel bad – when I worked at the zoo, I had to kill live mice with my bare hands (I will spare you how it is done). We are talking maybe 20 to 30 a week! (none of the mice went to waste though – they all were meals for the animals) so killing one wasp – ah, your karma isn’t that bad compared to mine!
I am sure I will be reincarnated as a mouse many many times!
Here is something to keep in mind too – that we kill lots of things we can’t see all the time – you probably run over ants and other bugs if you drive your car or walk on the sidewalk or the grass. There are also all sorts of the microscopic living things we kill all the time if you wash your hands etc. Some people believe that vegetables are living things with feeling sso if you are a rawies you are killing those by eating them, blending them up etc.
I hope I didn’t make you feel worse by saying that – I guess I mean to say that you can’t really avoid not killing ANYTHING. Some of it is part of the natural order.
Don’t feel so bad – you were afraid of getting stung is all! Waspies are painful stings!
Here is something else to keep in mind that might make you feel better – there are more insects in the world than there are people. And I don’t think wasps are endangered.
But you are a doing good compared to Queenfluff the mouse killer! (haha!)
I second the jar or cup on top and slip a sheet of paper underneath. My daughter is deathly afraid and has panic attacks when they’re in the house but wouldn’t dream of having them killed so we’ve devised this full-proof method. My morals go awry with mosquitos and ticks.
this isnt advice to help save them.. just a bit of advise about if you keep up the killing spree.. dont smash them!! sometimes they can release this scent thing that alerts the others to danger and you risk a swarming attack!! my husband killed one in our house and flushed it because he worried if he tossed it out the door there would be some angry siblings coming to avenge his death!!
Once I had a wasp in my hair, and I didn’t realize it. I went to take a shower, and felt a stabbing pain in my shoulder. OUCH!!!! Rude suprise!! In its defense, though, it probably felt attacked even though I wasn’t attacking it. We have a couple wasp’s nests on the side of our house right now. I’m not sure how we’re going to handle them.
Hey guys! Actually I felt kinda humorous about the situation. If I can save a bug, I will, but today…just didn’t feel like it! I felt like the wasp was in MY space and I got all territorial. ;-p
Queenfluff – you’re right – it’s the cycle of life.