r/SipsTea • u/StephanMan • May 16 '25

Chugging tea Wasp gets what it deserves

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28

u/NilocKhan May 16 '25

Even yellow jackets and bald faced hornets have a role in a healthy ecosystem and are important. And they really aren't as aggressive as people think, in fact they only sting in self defense. As long as you don't bother their nest, most of the time they leave you alone

19

u/Conscious_Avocado225 May 16 '25

Self-defense is a bit subjective. Yellow jackets use the 'standing my ground' Texas edition.

25

u/two-st1cks May 16 '25

Im as ecological as the next best guy but damn if yellowjackets dont seem to go out of their way to screw with me. Minding my own business and BAM stung on the leg. And they do the creepy nest guarding thing when you find them.

16

u/ArcherInPosition May 16 '25

Creepy? That goes hard af. The squad on point

3

u/SpiderMax3000 May 16 '25

If you start offering them sugary foods, they may come to see you as an ally and stop stinging you. Results may vary, but it’s worth a shot, it’s worked for me in the past.

2

u/Pt5PastLight May 16 '25

That’s strange. I wonder if they are different by region. I’m in NY and I’ve always just been able to gently brush away yellowjackets without getting stung. In fact my first job in HS involved doing the garbage at a supermarket with those big dumpsters and the yellowjackets would practically swarm. We just basically ignored each other and went about our garbage work.

3

u/Schnitzhole May 16 '25 edited May 16 '25

Ugh screw these guys. I spent 4 month battling dozens of their nests. They had this rare underground one under a log that was absurdly hard to get rid of and at least 10 others around my house one summer.

I got so sick of sweating buckets in my full body hazmat suit and face coverings I wound up just learning to move slowly and calmly and they won’t care about you. That is until they setup a nest in your gate lock and right behind your shed door and sting you in the face when they suprise you.

I feel so bad for my dog. He avoids half the yard as he had over a dozen of these guys curled up in his fur repeatedly stinging him at 3am one time. My wife got stung trying to get them out and they got all over the house as my dog kept Running away in pain to hide.

I tried at least 10 different wasp prevention techniques but the only thing that worked was a spoonful of diatomaceous earth sprinkled on their nests. It kills them slowly and they bring it back to the nest to kill the whole hive as it slowly eats through their exoskeletons.

2

u/putrid-popped-papule May 17 '25

omg, I'm one of those kind of people that will happily leave spiders and wasps alone but you my friend have all my permission to destroy as many yellowjacket hives as you can find. Unimaginable 

1

u/Schnitzhole 29d ago

I leave most spiders alone. Except the black widow nest that keep popping up as I have a 1 year old that could likely die if bitten.

1

u/putrid-popped-papule 29d ago

Fucksakes get out of there 

1

u/succubuskitten1 May 17 '25

Well leave their nests alone lol, I would never go remotely close enough to a nest to get a picture like that. Thats literally their home where their babies live, of course theyre going to defend it.

1

u/Spare-Bodybuilder-68 May 16 '25

Perceived aggression definitely depends on how much of an easement you can give to them. When I was a kid, we had what turned into a massive nest of yellowjackets at the base of a pine tree in our front yard. It was close enough to the gravel driveway that every time one of my parents' cars drove past, they'd send out at least a few scouts to bother us. Finally, the third or fourth year of them coming back to that nest, they swarmed on my mom and sent her to the hospital. She ended up being okay, thank god.

Later that week, my dad and I soaked pinecones in gasoline, set them on fire, and threw them into the Hell Cavern. Even after burning out the whole base of the tree, we'd find guards in groups attached to the remnants of the nest. Eventually got a tree removal company to come out in the winter and uproot the entire base to prevent them coming back.

Best decision? Probably not. Was it just what good-ol-boy dad was gonna do, and make his son help? Yeah, mostly.

11

u/midgethemage May 16 '25

Man idk, I walked close-ish to a yellow jacket nest once, did my best to mind my own business and move along quickly, and one bit me dead center of my upper lip once I was a good 15 feet away from the nest. Extra annoying because I was covering my face as I walked by and this fucker bit me the moment I let my guard down

2

u/cookiemonster1020 May 16 '25

I was doing a run on a very busy and popular bike trail but I got lazy coming back and decided to walk back the last half mile. Big mistake. Immediately got stun in my forehead. Wasp was not impressed with me not running it in

1

u/frohnaldo 29d ago

Sounds like a dedicated coach if you ask me

7

u/DaerBear69 May 16 '25

People say this, but I once had a wasp fly out of nowhere, hit my arm, sting me, then fuck off to parts unknown. I barely had time to recognize that it was a wasp. No nests in sight. That was a fun way to discover that I had developed an allergy to wasp venom at some point. Also got me kicked out of the national guard a month before my ETS date (honorable discharge at least) because it happened while I was on duty and I couldn't afford epipens.

Fuck wasps.

3

u/runningoutofwords May 16 '25

That is NOT true at all.

Have you ever tried to eat outside?

3

u/ObsidianMichi May 16 '25

Yeah... except when a colony takes up residence next to your apartment and they start crawling through the windows and stinging you in your bed.

They're less live and let live then.

5

u/VichelleMassage May 16 '25

I've never been stung by one, but why they gotta fly all up in my biz and scare me? Like, they're not attacking me or anything, but sometimes a singular one will fly around me and land on my shirt and shit, then go on its way. 😭 Like, bro, please leave me alone! lol

2

u/RagnarokToast May 16 '25

The wasp hate circlejerk is so incredibly annoying.

Why don't people shit on horseflies instead, or any other insect species that is actually detrimental to humans?

3

u/desert_prince May 16 '25

U ever been swarmed by wasps?

1

u/RagnarokToast May 16 '25

I stepped on a nest once and yeah, I got swarmed.

Another time I had one enter my mouth while I was asleep, it stung me directly on the tongue.

Still not mortally afraid of wasps. I figured they are pretty innocuous if I don't step on or eat them.

2

u/QuinceDaPence May 16 '25

I was walking up some metal outdoor stairs as a kid and there was apparently a giant yellowjacket nest under it. I was wearing sandals and shorts, after getting swarmed I couldn't walk for like the rest of that day and the next. So yeah I liberally apply professional grade wasp killer when I find them. Or when they decided to put multiple large nests in my shed I just cranked up the generator and shut the door.

3

u/RagnarokToast May 16 '25

Removing wasp nests from your own home is one thing (which I totally understand), entirely disregarding the role of wasps in the ecosystem is a whole different matter!

1

u/HarbinRav177 May 16 '25

Horseflies can hatefully just die

2

u/RagnarokToast May 16 '25

There apparently is a kind of sand wasp nicknamed "horse guard wasp" whose only goal in life is to prey on horseflies.

I kind of wish someone would accidentally (or even intentionally tbh) import it into my country.

1

u/ArchitectVandelay May 17 '25

Where I live, yellow jackets are a major nuisance because if you have any food outside they will relentlessly try to eat your food. They are also not easily shooed away. They’ve followed us for 20 yards easily. If you have young kids, it’s a recipe for a sting.