european wasps again

["Barbara Preston" <>]

Hi All

Following Peter's email:

I contacted the folk responsible for permitting (or not) such products as fipronil (the ingredient in the first of Julian's options on 20 February) - the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).They directed me to the permit site - in fact to the actual permit that the ACT government has, which is informative reading - see http://permits.apvma.gov.au/PER11013.PDF . It's clear that use of fipronil  is very tightly controlled, so the best strategy regarding it would be to seek more funding so that those who do have the permit can have the resources for full and effective use.  

However, the active ingredient in the second option is not restricted, though its effectiveness is quite uncertain. Following is based on an email that I sent directly to Leslie a few days ago:

The trap I have made is based on method in the attachment to Julian's message (20 February). Note the cautions in Julian's message - the best thing is to try to find the nest.

After trying a one litre container and following directions as best I could, I saw no wasps get into the dust (from a sample of fewer than ten), and tried an alternative.  

I have made mine using an old 5 litre plastic ice cream bucket, with two wide (20 mm) strips cut out about 20mm from the base, leaving just enough to hold the top, which I have covered. The liver is suspended just above the bottom in the centre of the bucket, skewered through wire that goes through each 20mm gap in the sides.   The bottom of the bucket is evenly spread with permethrin-based  'ant & wasp dust'. The majority of wasps get covered in dust as they leave (before I covered the bucket and they left via the top only about one in four got into the dust).

I bring the contraption inside at night in case a possum or other creature investigates it. It's on the balcony outside my office where I can see the liver and any wasps on it from my desk (and be sure no birds come near it, which is not likely given its location). I have a dozen or so pieces of liver (20mm x 15 mm - could well be half that size) on a tray in my freezer and use a new piece every day. Also, I have a sharp blade beside the contraption so I can slice into the liver to expose fresh tissue as the surface of the liver hardens in the open air (though in the shade) and some wasps fly off (safely) without any if they cannot penetrate the surface. By the way, if the liver is fresh the wasps cut out a neat disc, a little smaller than 2mm in diameter and 1mm at its centre

There are not many wasps around here now because major local nests have been eradicated.  I'm still experimenting - I'm not sure what will work best. (The only other insects to be interested in the liver are a couple of blow flies, and they have avoided the dust - they are much less clumsy fliers than the wasps, which always fly at high speed.)

Of course I will never know if it really works - all the wasps that get covered in dust might well die before getting back to the nest and killing the developing wasps there.

 

There will be some official propsals for more active work by ACT government folk, so we do need to keep up the pressure on the government for adequate funding - including for nest searching and eradication in urban areas as well as the baiting in parks and reserves etc.

Peter's analogy with cane toads is fitting - the wasps appear to be inexorably moving north as the toads are moving west ...

 

Barbara 

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Barbara Preston Research
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O'Connor  ACT  2602
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