WASPS

Moorf · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:32 am Post subject: WASPS

Ok, I have a terrible wasp phobia - are there loads in NZ? Or any other buzzy insect that I should be aware of??!

justin.g.s · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 8:54 am Post subject:

I dont know if it flies, but have you seen pictures of the weta bug. looks like a cricket on steroids. ALOT of steroids. although I understand it is harmless

Raeven · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:44 am Post subject:

LOL, justin, worse than our potato bugs here? I think those are the ugliest bugs on earth!!

http://www.happydranch.com/potatobug.html

I, too, am interested in the wasp question (call me Wuss with a capital W!!), and will eagerly await the answer to Moorf's post!!

Rae

justin.g.s · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:55 am Post subject:

yeh, we have potato bugs in my back yard, when ever I find one I throw them to my chickens who absolutely love them.

They fight over them, the winner runs to a corner and happily gobbles em up.

I wonder if N.Z chooks fight over wetas?

Moorf · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:40 am Post subject:

Here's a Weta Uhoh

http://www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=36471

URGH - UGLY - but at least it isn't a wasp!

So.. no wasps in NZ - or are they less "invasive" as they are here in UK where beer gardens and beaches are no go areas for me!

Nutcase

Lisa. · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 7:07 pm Post subject: Wasp's

Hello all,

I don't remember seeing a single wasp in NZ, i'm sure they have them but i should think no more than here. Confused

I also never saw a Weta bug other than in the museum, i think they live in caves, consequently i stayed out of them Uhoh

I too would be interested to know the answer, i mean are they seasonal, perhaps i just went in a good season as i visited in the spring? Confused

There must be someone out there who knows.
Lisa

Lisa. · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:58 pm Post subject: Wasp's

P.S..Just remembered about the sandfly's, we had to cross a stream so we all took our shoes and socks off, by the time we got to the other side most of us had trickles of blood running down our calves and shins, sandfly's are tiny and not in the least bit scary but they itch for ever and a day afterwards! Hmmm

Lisa

karltsmith · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 9:59 pm Post subject:

You don't have to worry about the wasps..the giant cockroaches have eaten them all..burp! Embarassed

Bilions of mozzies in the bush though. Mr. Green

If you liked I'm a celeb GMOOH you love the tucker! Nutcase

I found a slug on my work surface this morning! I've been hunting it for about two weeks now! I kept on seeing the tell tale trail on a rug near the kitchen and caught the b*****d this morning! No but really it's a lovelly rental...even if we are not the only tennants....just wish the other "guests" would pay there way thats all! Laughing

Look at it this way if you find a really nice juicy Katipo you can slap it on the barby and everyone gets a leg portion! Nice One

Squashed possum...or "road pizza" as it's affectionately known (road kill) is also a delicacy.

Our largest no human guest so far? A cockroach measuring about 3 inches (7.5cm) found in the bedroom behind my headboard...oh how we laughed Laughing

....screemed Eek

and jumped comfort

..........

Karl cool

Lisa. · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:02 pm Post subject: Lisa

I don't mean to be rude but if that's a good rental, i'd hate to get a bad one, can't stand cockies, especially ones 3.5 inches long Eek

Lisa.

karltsmith · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 10:08 pm Post subject:

Hi Lisa,

In Winter warm houses attract them! We usually find their favourite place is in the door jams on exterior doors where there insn't a good seal and its nice and dark. A bit of a suprise awaits you in the morning when they see the light of day and they scurry off as you open the door! SCARY.

In truth we've only found three in 3 months.

Karl

Lee&Nicky · I Like It Here Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 70

I absolutely detest cockroaches. I'm not overly keen on wasps either but they don't make my skin crawl the same way cockroaches do, ugh the thought of them makes me feel v. queasy!

My wife and I had a sandfly incident when we were last in NZ. South Island somewhere, can't remember where. Stopped to look at the fantastic view and wandered through the bush for 5 minutes. Returned to the car with several of the pesky little bloodsuckers on us. My wife squashed one on the car window and it left a bloody smear, our blood the cheeky s*ds! Can you get the insect repellant "Rid" in NZ? You used to be able to get it in Oz but believe it has long since been banned in UK and US. I heard that if you put some in a polystyrene cup before you went to bed, the cup will have dissolved or something by morning. True, or urban myth? Highly effective stuff though.

Anyway, if you believe all the doomsayers re global warming, the UK will soon either become subtropical and therefore horrible critters and ugly insects will soon become indigenous to Surrey or the whole place will be frozen and no doubt we will be hunted down and eaten by polar bears, or something like that anyway!

Lee

PS Most spiders I can live with. Are there earwigs in NZ? I really can't stand them either. Or scorpions, they give me nightmares.....

Moorf · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2004 11:25 pm Post subject:

Errrrr, there are some subjects that I wish I'd never started - I hadn't even THOUGHT of cockroaches and now I am expecting 3 foot (sorry INCH) long black bu**ers hovering round my bed!

Eek

Lee&Nicky · I Like It Here Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 70

I have been working in Switzerland for the last six months, come spring large winged cockroach type creatures take to the air (the one I saw, that landed on our balcony, was a 2 incher, don't know if that was a biggie or little' un, don't care it was revolting and was swiftly despatched!). My wife claimed to have seen one land on someone's back as they were walking in town. What in the name of all that is holy is that about? Nobody warned me of this horror and not something I expected in a place like Switzerland.

Even more gross, the cake shops here in CH seem to celebrate this "season" by selling chocolate effigies of these creatures. Can you imagine, biting into a chocolate replica of such a bug!

I should stop now, I've just had lunch and I don't feel too good........

Keep chanting the bug mantra "Squishy body good, crunchy body BAD!!!"

Moorf · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:16 am Post subject:

Please don't give anyone the idea of a chocolate weta bug! Rolling Eyes

Raeven · Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 12:31 am Post subject: Ok, it must be said...

Hi, Moorf,

Ok, I should have come clean the first time I posted.. but I really was hoping to hear from someone who lives in NZ (thanks, Karl!) and who has more in-depth experience with all this, and at the same time spare myself a bit of behind-the-hand sniggering!

I don't know about wasps, but when I was traveling around the South Island in April/May, there was one.. eeehhhrrrmmmm... rather embarassing incident... we'd stopped at Lake Rotoiti on our way to Westport from Blenheim to admire a view.. I got out of the car and was IMMEDIATELY the center of attention of a lot of bees. They were everywhere! I was trying to film the lake, my jacket up over my head, but it was impossible. They were aggressively trying to fly inside my jacket <shudder>. I was forced to beat a hasty retreat back to the car -- and then the buggers flung themselves against the glass, trying to get at me! Gave my sisters-in-law, with whom I was traveling, quite a laugh!

Now, in all fairness to the bees, it may have been my perfume, or it may have been my hair (red).. they didn't seem particularly interested in my sisters-in-law, and there was another couple actually enjoying a picnic just steps away from us. And at no other point during my trip did I suffer from any other such confrontations. But there are flying stinging things there, and sometimes in abundance! Oh -- also, when we were touring around the Marlborough Sounds and got out of the car to take in a view, there were lots of bees. These bees seemed far more interested in the surrounding foliage than in us, though, so it was a very different situation than at Lake Rotoiti.

Cockroaches. Lovely.

Yours in stinging insect cowardice, Rae