This summer our property has been a local wasp meeting place. There are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of the little buggers. With the dry heat, and limited rain it has been perfect “wasp” conditions, and boy have they thrived!
Within minutes of having food or drink outside you are surrounded, and as the summer starts to wind down they are getting more and more aggressive (perhaps they know their time to rule is coming to an end?)
So, to remind myself that wasps aren’t put on this planet just to annoying and sting, I have a list of 11 interesting things about wasps, what they do for us, and perhaps a few things that might make you relate to them in ways you never imagined.
- Unlike bees, wasps do not produce honey, but some local species do help in the pollination of plants! So… “yay” wasps!
- Every winter a wasp colony dies off with only the young fertilized queen surviving to restart. If anything, this should make you feel bad for all those doomed wasps!
- Social wasps live with 5,000 to 10,000 other friends and neighbours! (You think YOUR town is busy, try being a wasp)
- Wasps are feminists! Male wasps don’t have stingers, only the females, so it is up to the girl wasps to DEFEND and PROTECT!
- In late August to October the wasps are starting to get hungry as their food supply dies off. You know what it is like to be HANGRY right? These poor guys just want a snack, thats why they are so angry!
- Wasps LOVE to eat caterpillars and other bugs that can cause destruction of plants and trees! Oh, and some of them even eat spiders! Go WASPS!
- Wasps need their beauty sleep and while being very active during the day, do need to return to their nest at night to rest up. I too like to get my zzzz’s.
- The wasp venom actually has a purpose. It is used to paralyze it’s prey so that the wasp can lay its eggs inside, kind of like a parasite! (I bet you wouldn’t mind having wasp eggs growing in you, would you?)
- Wasps are attracted to humans, because we have food, which attracts other bugs (which in turn become the wasps prey which they paralyze and bring back to their nest to entomb alive so their young can feed on it later)
- Wasps basically created the Paleo diet! They are ALL about the protein! Give em a bit of steak, or a small spider, and they will move along happily!
- The most important reason to love wasps though is that they provide one of the best forms of pest control! Now, we just need to figure out if being surrounded by wasps while trying to have a picnic is worth having one less spider in the house!
If you haven’t started appreciating these little buggers now, there isn’t anything else I can do!
Whatever your final decision on these busy insects, be sure to keep your cupboards stocked with some homeopathic Bites and Stings cream from Orange Naturals! If, by chance, you do get into a tumble with a wasp, at least this will take the OUCH out! You can pick it up online, or at stores near you! And remember, while wasps DON’T swarm, there is a pheromone in their sting that attracts the other wasps (and that is why the others will seem to “attack” if you get stung near a nest)
And for other great homeopathic tips and tricks, and products that can change your life, subscribe to the Orange Naturals Newsletter and facebook page today!