to think all wasps should be exterminated

[Sluttybuttons]

They scare the living daylights out of me.
If we are out and i see one my mouth dries up and i feel physically sick and the day is ruined.
I am properly terrified of them and would happily just stay in all day if i thought there could be wasps outside

I have a very bad phobia too. I get shaky round them and if they won'tgo away I strat to cry. They, and bees, are the only things that scare me.

It's so bad that I almost ran in front of an 18 wheeler to get away from one.

I used to have a phobia of them until I was forced to sit still and let them land/crawl on me. It showed me that they are harmless unless you become agressive towards them and swipe them!

I don't have a phobia but I fucking hate them so YANBU

And I've known people to be stung by them even though they've just sat still

Extermination of wasps is impossible!

We had one in our bedroom one evening a couple of weeks ago..huge bloody thing it was!

Dh blasted it with fly and wasp killer spray and it fell on to the windowsill, legs twitching [but happy me as I knew it wasnt flying anywhere] I went to look at it after my shower that evening and it was still twitching so dh blasted it again.

He texted me at 10am the next day to tell me he had to kill it as it was still alive and twitching.... that bloody thing lived over 12 hours after being blasted twice ewwwwww!

You probably didnt want to know that!

Do they have any particular role in the great ecological scheme of things? Unless they do YANBU. Horrible creatures. Poor you- have you considered getting CBT or something to help you with your phobia? I really dislike them too, but not to the extent of it ruining a sunny day.

halfPastWine Everything you've said, I say to my daughter. i just wish i believed myself!

I've been thinking of how to control my reaction around them but all there is is fear. I hear that there are perfumes that can put them off coming to you and immitation hwasp-hives for your garden to keep them away.

I have thought about doing what you did. How did you arrange it?

Yuk. Hate them. Hate them with a vengeance. Nasty, vicious-looking, agressive insects that do sting for no bloody reason.

But they are good garden predators, there'd be twice as many caterpillars, aphids and the like without wasps. Sigh.

I have just recently given a presentation and done an assignment on the ecological importance of wasps
They are:
Pollinators and natural pest controllers. In this country the control the aphid population, in other countries they have been used to combat corn borers and mealy bugs. They pollinate flowers, most importantly figs, which sustain an array of species.
SO....they not all bad!

catapillars turn into butterflies so that would be a good thing ie butterflies dont sting. Actually i would be ok with pretty much anything rather than wasps

Puds but they are evil little fuckers that sting. They ruin my summer :(

Haha true, but i think they are just mad that they dont look as cute as bee's, and no one appreciates them
except maybe me but im a bit weird

Wasps are very, very important in the ecological scheme of things. YABVVU to want to exterminate an entire species just because you have a phobia. They are not aggressive at this time of year, but if you flap at them they get pissy. But then, if you flapped at me I would get pissy too.

And they ruin your summer? Rather dramatic don't you think?

Callisto The wasps don't ruin summer though the fear of them most certainly can.

They sting me when I am quietly sitting still demonstrating to dd how to be calm around wasps. They hate me and I don't know why :(
I've started swelling in a rather dramatic way when I get stung now.

I like them, too. Within reason. Wasps are quite valuable ecologically. We started tolerating nests in the garden a few years ago. Might be coincidence,, but no more problems with caterpillars eating veg since.

I'm very allergic to wasp stings so obviously I'm not keen. I've tried very hard to be calm and rational, but dh was stung by one a couple of summers ago (he was minding his own business) and dd now has a real phobia of wasps. She refuses to eat outside in the Summer I would gladly up the numbers of aphids/caterpillars etc etc

YANBU they are evillllll

I'm allergic to the little fuckers, so I would support a cull.

I love bees - they leave you alone (you're not a flower). Wasps however just love to gatecrash your lunch and bully you into going back indoors.

Try this

www.waspinator.co.uk/faq.html

I sat on a nest when I was a kid. Playing 'feet off ground'. It hurt. It left me with a phobia. They ruin my summer too, and no Callisto not dramatic, that's the way a phobia works.

dh once swiped a wasp in the kitchen. Its head came clean off and dh retrieved it and placed it onto some damp kitchen roll. He then proceeded to keep this wasp head and even feed it on jam [amateur scientist emoticon] It lived for several days until I proclaimed that it was probably cruel, so he killed it.

Wasps are the invention of the devil. How can a head live and even eat unless it's possessed?

YANBU kill them all!!

hidden aside from the obvious cruelty of that; they live without thier BODIES?! I;m really trying to be impressed but it just make them seem even more evil!

They are horrible and I am terrified of them too. I am hopeful that a lot of them will have come out of hibernation in this nice weather, as it is meant to turn cold again at the weekend and they can't survive the cold very well so I hope it kills the ones that have already woken up thinking it's summer.

I love bees and wasps: I'm planning on going on a bee keeping course next summer. I have been stung by a bee: it was much more painful and the sore spot stayed around for months and months. A year later I could still put my finger on the exact spot I was stung without looking at it.

Also stung by a wasp: The pain lasted minutes and was gone the next day.

But I love both of them whether they sting me or not! Wasps really are excellent pollinators too. Helped my giant pumpkins grow last year