We live on an older home. Our house is nearly 100 years old. The exterior is what they call pregnant block. I love the "antique" look of our older home but it does have it's drawbacks, namely the critters that have access to an older home. When we first bought our home 8 years ago we went through a few months of bats paying up visits in the middle of the night. Not a fun thing! I think it happened 3 times. But luckily we have not seem any bats for years! We'll I spoke too soon.
Although, the bats have not been a problem we have had a problem with bees/wasps getting in the house since last summer. Wasps were turning up in our bedroom on a weekly basis. Twice Craig even got stung in the middle of the night last summer. We noticed an area outside the house were we could see wasps entering and exiting on the second floor. We knew this would have to be addressed when winter came around. Well, now that winter is here and the bees have died down it didn't seem to be a priority. Until last week.... Craig put his shirt on one morning and promptly got stung by a wasp twice. He had to rip his shirt off to get the wasp off of him. OK... now the wasps are a priority again!
As a result of the wasp incident Craig decided to empty out a storage area in our bedroom where we had a suspicion the wasps had taken up residence.
In the process of emptying out the storage area Craig found not one but TWO bats. They were alive but sluggish from hibernation. I don't know why Craig has such a big smile on his face. Maybe he's happy with himself for catching the critters and getting rid of them.
This photo just freaks me out! I DO NOT LIKE BATS! Especially in my house!
Anyway, back to the wasps... After emptying out the storage area Craig removed a board that covered up a space over the downstairs bathroom. LOOK WHAT HE FOUND!!!! This thing is as big as a basketball! You can't tell from the photo but the wasp nest is about 6 feet into the rafter area and there is no way to stand or walk into that area. We have no idea how to get rid of this thing. All I know is it HAS to go. I can't live in this house knowing that is in the wall of my bedroom.
I'm checking into calling an exterminator but if you have any bright ideas I'll love to hear them.
4 comments:
Older houses are always exciting. we've had bees and bats too over the years. There is definitely something unsettling about dealing with a bat!
First I'd call the Holiday Inn......
OMG the look on that bats face..oh I am itching all over.... let's see 1 800 holiday---I can't dial fast enough eeeekkkkks.
How fresh does a bat stay in one of those containers? Just kidding...
There's a nest about that size in my dad's attic in his old house. But thankfully it's inactive.
Good luck getting rid of your varmints!
Ewww - that bat - wow! At first I thought those were eyes reflecting light, but when I enlarged it, it was TEETH!!! That would be tough!
We also live in a house that is over 125 years old, and one (or was it two) time we had wasps getting into the house. I found out about a way to get rid of them by mixing vaseline (as the base, or holder, or whatever it is called!) and lots of black pepper! We smeared it over the place they were getting into the house (and it was very active - but we did this at night) and I guess they detest black pepper! And it worked! And now that I remember, we did do this twice - and it worked both times! At least it is easy enough to try. Good luck with that!
Diane
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