A previously untold story…
Only days after arriving with the fifth wheel trailer, a
smallish sort of bumblebee was noticed flying in and out of a hole under the
gooseneck. They were quite pretty actually. With so many things to think about
and do in getting settled, we didn’t pay much mind to their buzzing activity.
We should have.
Soon we knew the bees were building a nest inside the
walls of the trailer. One day before leaving for town, Tom stuffed a plastic
bag in the hole. Upon returning home there were no less than 12 bees inside the
trailer. Not my idea of a friendly homecoming. Fortunately, they were a very
docile type of bumblebee, even while being swatted at. We figured since they
couldn’t get back out the plugged hole, they had made their way along the
wiring or such. Wrong.
It wasn’t long before I could hear their buzzing while in
bed at night. Being that the bed is literally inches off the floor of the
gooseneck, this means the nest was technically very, very close to my head. Not
a thought that promotes restful sleep. With a nocturnally playful pet like my
cat Chanel, who enjoyed pouncing on the sound in the floor, the buzzing sound
would escalate by many decibels. There is nothing quite like being peacefully
asleep, in the pitch-dark quiet, to be awakened by angry buzzing only inches
from your head!
As the nest grew I began having more inside-bee
experiences. Kitty’s nightly playtime resulted in my putting a small cooler
over that area of the floor. And in my switching sides of the bed. I did sleep
a bit better. That is until we realized the bees were crawling inside through a
gap in the floor which was mostly blocked by the cooler. I was a nervous wreck,
I’d had enough.
We were forced to a lethal decision – use a poisonous
spray inside that hole. Even though we are against using chemical toxins we had
no other choice. This action made the otherwise docile bumblebees a tad angry.
Tom got stung in the neck by bees that actually guarded the hole! Soon the
buzzing sound wasn’t heard anymore. The hole was permanently blocked.
As were any other potentially attractive looking holes to
bees.
1 comment:
Oh my gosh, what an ordeal!
We too, were forced to a lethal decision here...with West Conifer Beetles (more commonly known as stink bugs). We tried everything to keep them out. Nothing worked. It wasn't uncommon for us to catch/kill around 75 stink bugs in a day and still, more kept coming in. One day, we found about 200 stink bugs in our house. That was when we had enough.
It didn't help that Apollo kept trying to help us by killing stink bugs with his paw (and making them release their stink).
Ever since spraying the windows and around the house with it, we haven't had any stink bugs.
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