The reasons for trapping wasps should be obvious. Anyone who has spend time outdoors in summer with sugary food will instantly understand *. It seems irrational to be banished from your own garden by a creature about 1/1000th of your size but all too often it happens. A simple solution is readily available - the home made wasp trap *.

To make a wasp trap, you will need:

• An old plastic drink bottle (2 litre size is best).
• A knife or sharp implement.
• As bait: something sugary and attractive to wasps.*

Start by cutting the top off the bottle at the point where it becomes as wide as the body of the bottle. The bottom part of the bottle should now look a bit like a jar with a lumpy base. Put the bait into the bottom of the bottle. Put the top of the bottle back upside down so it forms a funnel leading down into the bottle. Seal the edges if there is not a good contact all the way round, using tape, gum, leaves, or whatever is handy.

The wasps smell the sugary food and fly down the funnel into the bottle. Having eaten they try and leave but here they encounter a problem. Wasp logic dictates that when escaping from inside something you fly to the highest point. The wasps buzz round and round the top, but very rarely notice the exit further down.

The wasps in the trap attract other wasps with their frantic activity, so the effectiveness of the trap is almost exponential. However, sooner or later the bait will attract too many and the trap will not work so well. This raises ethical considerations about disposing of the trap. Selfishly killing wasps puts you in a morally grey area. The reader alone is responsible for feelings of guilt and reprehension, not to mention possible unfavourable judgement in the afterlife as a result of following these instructions.

Disposal

The number of ways to dispose of the wasps is only limited by your imagination and psychological stability. Allegedly the most painless way is to put the trap in a freezer until the wasps freeze to death. Filling the trap with water works too but is quite nasty. The advantage of these methods is that they allow the trap to be reused quickly. Some, however, prefer to simply leave the trap alone and let nature take its course.

Releasing the wasps is the most karmically sound approach, but could have unpleasant consequences, so careful thought is advised. I f you decide to go ahead, fill the bottle with smoke – this will stupefy the creatures. Open the trap and run! When the smoke clears they will wake up and fly away. Alternatively, tie string around the lid, retreat to a safe distance and pull the string. The lid will come off and the wasps will scatter.

Alternative Victims

This trap can also work well with fruit flies (and probably many other insects). Also, by filling them with water, putting bread in them and placing the traps on their side in a stream, they can be used to catch minnow. However, as most people are not bothered by minnow, they don’t often see any need to try this out.