Seen them on a crippled waxeye which they demolished. You know what they do to a carcass hung up in the bush. Seem to become demonised when they are eating meat.

Good news about Vespex becoming widely available now to individuals who complete their online test

Im thinking the forum could start a campaign to supply hunters with a few baits to be laid during the roar... we cant wait for DOC...

yeah birds but what about geckos? wetas? bats? , um

good luck,

The wasp numbers in Lewis Pass were really few when I was there recently, I was pleasantly surprised. Not sure if the cold has knocked them back already?

Everything in Nature has a purpose. Wasps, bees and ants produce forms of formic acid, as does stinging nettle.( ever noticed that stinging nettle feels the same as a wasp or bee sting, well it's the same chemical). All life needs formic acid and all things that take have to give. So while it seems wasps do a lot of taking, they actually give back an essential element to all life.
Why are wasps abundant in the back country?
As far as I know the only source of formic acid in native flora and fauna is the nettle which may not be a very efficient way of dispensing it.( Romans grew stinging nettle to alleviate muscle pain after long marches, try it some time).. Honey bees cannot survive in the high country because the summer's are too short and nectar sources limited. They have to store a lot of honey to survive the winters.Wasps on the other hand die off over winter so don't have the food storage problem. In Autumn wasp nests produce queens that hibernate over the winter months and start a new nest in spring.
Scientists in NZ are working on all sorts of nasty things to get rid of wasps, but they don't understand the role that wasps have. More poisons, more genetic engineering.
Another aspect of wasps is that they have the potential to control wood boring insect outbreaks. These insects sometimes get to high numbers that cause tree mortality. With wasps needing protein for larvae( adult wasps are actually vegetarians), they could act as a limiting factor by harvesting the beetles at certain critical times.
Rather than seeing wasps as a nuisance, I see them as guardians of the forest. Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change.

Wasps are vegetarians, shit some of them obviously didnt get the e-mail on that.

Either that or my hind quarters were raped by a herd of the young f**kers on the piss

wasps are a super efficient insect, a very effective hunter gatherer, interesting wahooman

The little buggers don't quite die off in Winter for sure. Been dozing out rotten log piles and every now and then I get a wee flurry of activity Nothing like late summer though when you have to be wearing bee gear to stay safe.

Biggest surprise was the number of mice dashing for cover They don't dash quite quick enough for third gear

Heard that is how dinosaurs became extinct

when DOC used to post permits I suggested they put a quantity of insecticide with permit for hunter to apply to doorstep of nest. I've sat the Vertex test & paid the $$ & yes it is an expensive item & not easily shipped up to the north Island for health & safety transporting reasons! But I voluntered to DOC my time & expense if they supplied me with bait  id do both sides of the Waipakihi river & other places in that vicinity, but I was kind fobbed off! Perhaps I could get donations from the forum...? About now wasps will be flying off from their nest, these will be pregnant queens, (if you spot a large solitary wasp in your wood heap etc they sting! but do your interpretation of Irish dancing on said head!!) That queen is possibly 1 of a possable 1000 queens leaving a single nest - do your arithmetic on that one!that's why nov to about now wasps are aggressive but once the queens leave they tone it down a tad... Quote vertex!!

wahooman wrote on Oct 13^th, 2016 at 5:34pm:

Saw on YouTube bloke using WD40 on wasps claiming significant success.

•      German wasp (Vespula germanica) arrived about 1940
•      Common wasp (Vespula vulgaris) discovered 1983
•      Common wasps almost completely replaced German wasps by 1990
[Bandits of the Beech Forest, Wild South Documentary]


•      Wasps have been observed to kill newborn birds.
[Moller, H. (1990). Wasps kill nestling birds. Notornis 37: 76-77]


•      Worker wasps have very few enzymes in their guts, so they cannot digest much of the food they gather. They bring the raw food into the nest and pass it to other workers who feed the hungry larvae. In return, the larvae release a creamy blob of predigested "soup" that contains all the sustenance the worker needs. This type of food exchange is called "trophollaxic feeding", and is a key part of the social contact between workers and the developing young.
•      Queens produce a pheromone (insect-produced chemical substances that release certain specific behaviour patterns) that regulates worker behaviour and inhibits the development of their sexual organs. Wasps also produce an "alarm pheromone" that stimulates a general state of alarm in the colony and releases aggressive behaviour towards an intruder. Rapid wing beats also function as an alarm signal stimulating other wasps to defend the nest.
[http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biocons/invertebrates/Wasps/faq.asp]


•      Workers will also hunt arthropods, including flies, mosquitoes and caterpillars to feed their wasp larvae which require a protein rich diet
[http://www.padil.gov.au/viewPest.aspx?id=795]


•      At the peak of the wasp season we predict caterpillars would have virtually no chance (probability of 10^-78 to 10^-40) of surviving to adults. Wasp abundance must be reduced by at least 88% to conserve the more vulnerable species of free-living caterpillars at wasp densities similar to those observed in our study sites.
•      Our models show that most Lepidoptera with spring caterpillars will be able to persist, but species with caterpillars occurring in the peak wasp season will be eliminated.
[Beggs, J.R. and Rees, J.S. (1999). Restructuring of Lepidoptera communities by introduced Vespula wasps in New Zealand beech forest. Oecologia 119: 565-571.]

Fish cat food 

yeh, PLEASE! don't use any sort of sugar base for your poison.
concerned beekeeper.

bufferzone wrote on Apr 11^th, 2018 at 3:10am:

yes I can see problem if you are setting baits out in open etc but lobbing a package into of very very near a nest should eliminate risk to bees.... those hot bummed little german sewing machines will vacume up anything in no time and take it into nest,even if it had immediate 100% kill of wasps there would be stuff all left to put bees at risk....if they would even go near a dead nest site.

A while back someone on this forum mentioned a particular poison mixed with a coupla sardines - if every hunter laid a couple of these baits surely there must be a decline in nests? Or as mentioned why doesn't DOC supply this poison to every hunter/tramper  thats willing to place them ...? cost them zilch!

Info about the new wasp bait and stations at this link:

https://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/pests-and-threats/methods-of-control/wasp-control...

Could easily be done by trapping contractors while they go about their business of trapping.

Of course, DOC will have to start employing trappers before they can control wasps over large areas. Unfortunately, aerial 1080 isn't very effective at controlling wasps.

gonehuntin wrote on Jul 16^th, 2018 at 3:59am:


Yes, wasps will feed on possum carcasses. Wasps will feed on any protein rich food when they need protein for the development of the young wasps.

When wasps reach their highest densities they are considered to be the N0.1 predator as they not only feed on other insects they also kill bird chicks on the nest. The raiding of the honey dew is only a part of the wasp diet.

I heard a DOC scientist, interviewed on RNZ, and he said that wasps can reach a bio-mass of more than the total bio-mass of all the introduced animals in the native bush. Individual wasps may be small, however, their combined weight, bio-mass and predator status can place them well above all the possums, rats, stoats, cats, ferrets, hedgehogs, etc as far as damage to native species go.

As for the idea of adding wasp poison to possum carcasses, this would, not only, poison the wasps, but, also everything else that would feed on the carcasses.

There was an experimental programme where 1080 was added to canned sardines, with the initial results looking good for controlling wasps. I never heard why this 1080 option was shelved.

This new wasp deal seems to be ideal, as the bait is only presented when wasps are feeding on protein, is presented in a way that targets wasps and is only available for the few days it takes to control the wasps.

gonehuntin wrote on Jul 16^th, 2018 at 11:15pm:


One of the positives for employing trappers is that they are already working in the bush and have established permanent trap-lines. After the trap-lines have been set up the trappers are carrying very little into the bush and could easily set up wasp bait stations at very little additional cost.