Sure giant stinging insects that can fly are scary, but they’re not always so bright, and here’s how to outsmart them.

Despite spring being in full swing and the return of warm weather, life is on hold for a lot of us as we shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic. But wasps don’t care about contagious human diseases, and so it’s time for them to get busy building nests wherever they please and stinging anyone who gets in their way.

For several years, Japanese Twitter user @sakikob_w could expect wasps to build a hive in the rafters of her home’s balcony, despite her attempts to discourage them with pesticides and even peppermint. Then she switched tactics, and she hasn’t had to deal with a wasp’s nest since. All she had to do was trick the bugs into thinking the veranda had already been claimed by another wasp colony.

https://twitter.com/sakikob_w/status/984346604927778816

Grabbing a few sheets of newspaper, @sakikob_w wadded them up into a gourd-like shape and tied it up on her balcony. “Doing this tricks the wasps into thinking this territory has already been claimed,” tweeted @sakikob_w, “It keeps them away from my balcony every year.”

Not only is the method simple and effective, it’s decidedly humane, since it doesn’t involve any chemicals or bug-squashing. It’s also a set-it-and-forget-it solution, since as long as your fake nest doesn’t get destroyed by the elements, there’s no need to reapply any repellents.

@sakikob_w shared her strategy back in 2018, and at that time said it had been keeping her balcony wasp-free for eight years. The bugs don’t seem to have caught on in the time since, either, and at a time when Asian giant “murder hornet” (hornets simply being a kind of wasp) are spreading to the U.S., hopefully this idea could also be used to keep the feared creatures from moving into your living space.

Source: Twitter/@sakikob_w via IT Media
Top image: Wikipedia/Cropbot
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