I disagree with the sting assessment. Mosquito bites do nothing to me. A bee sting gives me a bump like most people get with mosquito bite.
Got stung by the cicada wasp and it gave me a welt 3 inches in diameter. It was not good.
So the .38 with shot shells gets used for them now. Have seen them swim through wasp spray foam and fly away. Have lots of them here in Michigan, see a dozen or more every year.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
They're back digging their tunnels in our lawn.

They took over my backyard one year, probably 6 or so years ago. I mean the k9 unit and I walk outside to get her business done and we can barely get through the door. Fuckers are extremely fast so when there is a whole flock of them it's hard to even get through there.

Took my pest control 2 trips to get rid of them. They only had some generic wasp type stuff on hand. He sprayed the area where they were burrowing, and that only lasted 24 hours. I get a call from the owner (family owned busines) and he states they had to order a specific product for them. That took a few days for them to get in. Then like a mouth breather I watched him go to work from the back window and it was this thick blue spray he laid down. I don't know what that product was called but those fuckers were dead and the problem was over within 12 hours.

The velvet ants and cicada killers vary widely in color. I have seen velvet ants here in VA that are bright blue, and cicada killers that are black with bright red banding.

I have been zapped by a velvet ant. It is painful and it lasted months. Assasins bugs I think are actually worse, for me anyways.

Every cicada killer I have run across has been inquisitive, but not aggressive. I move out of their way and let them go about their business.

We have European hornets here that are often mistaken for cicada killers, they are nearly as big.
https://extension.psu.edu/european-hornet
You can usually tell the difference even while they are inflight. Cicada killers are inquisitive. These European Hornets are fucking aggressive, assholes, and general all around dicks.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:



These European Hornets are fucking aggressive, assholes, and general all around dicks.

Well, after all, they are European. What would you expect?

Look scary but chance of getting stung is minimal. I have walked through clouds of them and not been stung. Might be the only wasp I haven't been stung by. Best thing to get rid of them is a badminton racquet, lol. You can treat the holes but new ones can dig in at any time. They are usually in your yard because there is a food source nearby.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:


Well, after all, they are European. What would you expect?

And that's a wrap. I'll be here all week.

My dog has an infatuation with eating insects. This includes digging wasp nests out of the ground.

I keep several bottles of Benadryl on hand.