Wasps around the pool

[Steve T]

I can't believe there doesn't seem to be any postings on this subject! We have a pool here in the Tarn et Garonne, and in this hot weather there are zillions of wasps in and out of the water, making swimming not the most pleasant experience at times. Does anyone know of anything we can do to repel the little beggars? We have just bought some "parfum" stuff which we have poured in, and it seems to have maybe reduced the number a bit. Help me, someone...... please! Surely there are other gite owners out there with the same problems!

[JulieR]

Urgh, yuk..........thankfully not yet as I hate wasps!  I hope someone replies with a solution as I could think of nothing worse and want to be ready in case it happens here.  Have only seen a few wasps so far and would like even less so any known deterants would be welcome.

Julie

[Alan]

We are also in the Tarn et Garonne and yes this year we also have the same problem, i think they are looking to drink. Its worst if the kids have splashed a lot and the water is all around.A friend in the states has said that there you can buy an aerosol spray for out doors, but i cant see that would help much to be honest. Not seen hany here that would do the trick.

 

[Steve T]

Thanks for the replies so far..... although I now longer think "it's just us and our pool" (thanks for putting my mind at rest on that one, Alan) there still doesn't seem to be any solution. With our season of gite rentals starting in nine days, we are fretting a bit. Obviously some common sense on the guests' part would help the situation a bit, i.e. "don't swim at 2pm when it's 35 degrees, you're asking for a lot more trouble than wasp stings." But if last year is anything to go by, they'll swim even if the pool fencing has started to melt.

By the way, if anyone else has this same problem like Alan and myself, don't waste your money on perfumed essential oils which supposedly repel wasps. Two bottles later and 40 Euros lighter, and no change - absolute garbage.

Any more ideas folks? It can't just be me and Alan with wasps.........

[Renaud]

One hot summer when we had tons of wasps, I remember my parents used to put a small ammount of diluted Ribena in jamjars and wasps used to crawl in and drown. Could this be a solution?

[chris pp]

As this is the great outdoors, maybe a little creative thinking is required, the wasps want to drink and are also attracted to sweet sugary food sources. As you can't possibly remove or deter all the wasps in your vicinity it may be worth making somewhere else in your garden more attractive to them. If you were to supply them with a water drinking station and a shallow dish next to it with cheap jam or honey in it as far from your house and pool as possible it may just help. It's worth a go, shouldn't cost too much if it doesn't work, and is just a case of remembering to keep them supplied. Bees will love it as well.

Chris.L

 

[Cerise]

You can buy commercial wasp traps in the local bricos - they are not that attractive, but they work.  Same principle as the Ribena in jam jar, upside down globe over a dish with holes in the globe (which removes for emptying).  Sweet liquid in the dish, wasps go in through holes and can't get out.  Situated a little way from the edge of the pool they take the little beasts away.

[Alcazar]

When my lads were little, and petrified of wasps, they used to make wasp-traps themselves by carefully cutting a plastic pop bottle in half, then upending the top into the bottom to make sort of funnel arrangement.

Some pop or sweetened water in the bottom, and they were ready. Placed at the edge of our emplacement on the site, we had fewer wasps than our neighbours.

Nowadays, they just ignore 'em like I do, remember, a wasp won't sting unless you provoke it, (sit on it, stand on it, wave your arms at it etc), and bees are even less likely to sting.

I even save them from drowning in the campsite pool. The French think I'm crackers when I'm carrying a very wet wasp carefully out of the pool area to alllow it to recover![:D] Haven't been stung yet............[blink]

Alcazar

[wedderburn]

Hi - first post for me!...

Have exactly the same problem over in the Vaucluse each summer. Zillions of the little beggars. One year by accident we added too much of the various cleaning products - anti-algues, chlor, etc... and had to ban use of the pool for 24 hours. But the mixture seemd to affect the surface tension of the water somehow. Literally thousands of them ended up committing suicide as a result! Drastic reduction in numbers from that point on.

The wasp repellant is a waste of money as you say.

One good idea above, and it definitely helps - wasp traps, plus large water containers strategically placed away from the pool to attract them elsewhere for a drink..

Another thing, if it's the same species as ours - a big proportion of our wasps have their nests under the roof tiles. It's a big job, but proved worth it in the end - equipped with mask, pro spraying equipment, and a couple of gallons of wasp killer from a local agricultural supplies shop (not the silly ultra expensive tiny containers you get from garden centres) we sprayed under virtually every tile over the whole roof. Killed millions of them, and what's more they didn't come back that year or the next to nest under the tiles.

Good luck!

[Kitty]

I'm severely allergic to wasps - one sting and I'm dead [:$]unless I can get medical help in time.  I've lived with this ever since anaphylactic shock in Brittany 5 years ago.  I am going through immunology treatment although with limited success.

What I have learned is that you should try never to be stung even once.  It is the first sting that sets up the problem for the next sting that kills you.  I didn't know this and was glib about wasps, never minding of they were around.  Now I keep all my children away from wasps if at all possible.

No one knows if they are allergic to wasps until they have been stung twice.  Blood tests are available but my consultant tells me that they are unreliable.  The only way to check is exposing someone to wasp venom but that is too hazardous.

By the way, the average person is stung once every 15 years (excluding farmers and others at risk).

[powerdesal]

Cathy,

I fully sympathise with the allergic reaction, having been hospitalised 3 times with anaphylactic shock, twice caused by ant bites !!!!, the last was due to a tiny spider. As a result I now have an epi-pen with me most of the time ( I forget to carry it sometimes - stupid but...). I got mine on prescription in UK (private unfortunately as I am non resident). Do you carry one?

Regards

[Kitty]

Steve

I have UK Epipens (with adrenalin) everywhere e,g, two in my handbag, two in the house etc...  During the plum season when the wasp population rises expedentially, I have adapted a wallet to carry around my neck.  The children know where the Epipens are as well. 

However, I question how effective they are. The dose is so small.  As you can accidentally not inject yourself properly, I carry two.

The French supply a real injection which, although a bit scary, is a bigger dose.  I have that in the fridge (as it has to be kept at low temperatures).  It would be worth asking about it.

You must not overdose on the adrenalin as it can cause a stroke and you must not inject it into a blood vessel.

It's a horrid feeling seeing a wasp and knowing that it carries a death sentence.  However, I remain calm and, if there is no one around, take it out of the house myself (a-sweating and heart a-racing of course).  I cannot kill them out of superstition but do allow others to kill them for me, hypocrite that I am...

[powerdesal]

Cathy,

What dose size are yours? mine are 0.3 mg, the reason I ask is that originally the Doc prescibed what turned out to be a childs dose as that was the only one that came up on his computer. Luckily the Pharmacist questioned it and I got the adult dose.

I'm not sure I can handle a 'real' self injection, I hate needles. The epipen is the equivalent of the military 'naps' (?) self injector which I was (reasonably) comfortable with ( at least in theory).

Keeping a real injection in the fridge is not really an option if you are out 'in the field (or desert in our case)'

I treat the epipen as a 'time machine' to allow more time to get to a hospital, not as a cure.

Are epipens actually available in France?

Regards

[Kitty]

Steve

As soon as I read your posting, I dashed to look at my dose - it is 0.3 mg as well, thank goodness.  Thanks for your help.  That is what is so good about this forum.

Yes, I realise that the Epipen is a way of buying some time but I don't know how much.  Recently, the Daily Mail reported a story of someone who died despite using an Epipen but who didn't get help in time.

I don't know if Epipens are available in France.  As we have hijacked this thread (!), perhaps you could post a new thread headed Epipens to find out?  I would do it myself but I am going to be offline for a few days.

However, I want to repeat for the benefit of others reading this thread that you cannot afford to be complacent about wasps.

A useful information link is:

http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/information/allergy_insect_stings.html

[hastobe]

I was really interested reading your post.  Here in the UK we have a house with a large garden that has lots of dry stone walling - a haven for wasps nests.  MOH tried to get rid of one such nest a year or so back and was stung maybe thirty times?  He seemed to have quite a severe reaction - his skin went quite red (all over) and seemed quite swollen - he was in a lot of pain which was only relieved (a little) by standing in a cold shower.  I was quite concerned by the reaction he had and wanted to get medical advice - but he refused (typical male!)  I am still concerned that he may have developed a sensitivity to wasp venom.  Is this anything like the reaction that you had - should I be concerned..

I have a penicillin allergy.  However, when I experienced anaphylactic shock, although I had a rash the main problem was breathing difficulties as my throat swelled and started to close.  As I recall MOH didn't have any breathing problems.  Nevertheless, I worry when I see lots of wasps towards the end of the year...

Kathie

[Kitty]

Kathie

My first sting (on my left breast of all places) resulted in my left arm aching so much that I could not drive.  That was my only reaction from memory.  It was in 1983 and for 20 years, I was unknowingly living with a death sentence (a bit dramatic, I know).

My second sting - the one that oh so nearly killed me - was luckily on the leg so the anaphylaxis took 10-15 mins to set in.  From memory (it was very painful and so I can't recall it all), it was a sense of doom, a rash developing rapidly everywhere, a swelling tongue, an extremely painful throbbing head (as if it was going to explode) and then collapse.  A concerned neighbour had run the doctor who arrived promptly and administered adrenalin.  I kept going in and out of consciousness and feeling great pain all over.  Not a nice way to die (if there is such a thing) ...

Mutliple stings would be expected to cause a reaction in anyone.  However, I would try to persuade your partner to seek advice when you are next in France.  It is difficult to get to see an immunologist in the UK, even privately.  In France, they are in every middle sized town upwards.  It would be worth the 21 euros.  They could order a blood test, I believe, but the results are far from conclusive.

At the very least, he should try to avoid wasps, if at all possible.  I know that it is very difficult - you are rarely stung by wasps that you can see.  It is the hidden ones that cause the problem.

Clearing a nest is not advisable (not directed at your partner but at anyone else reading this thread)... [:$]

[powerdesal]

Kathie,

I believe that your husband should be quite careful in the future, from

my personal experience the allergic reaction is cumulative, after my

first 'incident' I drove myself to the hospital, after the second I

collapsed unconscious at casualty reception, the third instance

resulted in unconsciousness in the car within 5 mins of leaving home.

Hence the need for the extra time given (hopefully) by an epipen.

Regards

[hastobe]

Thanks for the replies - I have shown him this thread and suggested that he should try and get a second opinion - hopefully he'll take heed!

Kathie

[Anna]

Hi

We have had bother with wasps around our pool too. I would suggest, if you can, to try and see where they are to-ing and fro-ing from! We watched and discovered a few different places they had nests, eg in holes/cracks in a nearby wall, in a small drainage pipe and under the eaves of the pool house. It was then easy to spray these places, killing off most of the wasps. By the way, we discovered that early morning was the best time to kill the blighters as they were sleeping in their nests en mass! Since we did this, we now appear to have only an odd rogue wasp or two occasionally visit our pool, thank goodness!