Wasp buster Eeon Ryan is already digging in for his annual war against his old enemy – and he needs your help.
The veteran Arrowtown exterminator says he doesn’t want a repeat of last season, when he had to obliterate 220 wasp nests in the space of three months.
Ryan, 80, urges people to act now – before the insects get breeding.
“Now is the time when the queens, which are half as big again as worker wasps, are out and about looking to find a place to continue the species,” he says.
“I have just put out my traps, lemonade bottles and drink cans. A mix of beer and coke is reasonably successful, about two or three mills and change it once a fortnight.”
He adds: “If seen inside, close all openings before trying to kill them because they know which opening they came in through.
“If seen in a shrub, a squirt of fly spray is very effective.”