I wouldn't necessarily say that I have spheksophobia (better known as a persistent fear of wasps), but now that the sun is heralding the dawn of the warmer months, I'm doing my best to avoid them.
In short, if I hear a buzz in my apartment - or anywhere else - I will almost certainly jolt a little in fear.
Just last night, I had a nightmare that involved hundreds of wasps attacking my face - some were even crawling down my throat - and no matter what I did, I couldn't stop them. The situation was so bad that even though I knew it was a dream, I was asking other people to slap me to wake me up. It didn't work.
So, you can imagine the horror that I felt when I saw a clip of the removal of 5,000 wasps:That, my friends, is my nightmare come to life.
The incident involved up to 5,000 German Yellow Jackets, which are often mistaken for bees. They had set up a giant nest in the ceiling of a home and were removed by Bret Davis of Pennsylvania.
But sometimes, just the sight of an insect can terrify people. Case in point:Recounting the wasp incident, Davis said: "The infestation was a multi-season nest.
"This means that the colony of wasps were able to establish inside the walls and ceilings of the house and flourish through a couple of years.
"This allowed the wasps to build bigger and bigger nests and by the time the homeowners noticed Yellow Jackets flying in and out of their house, they were already huge."
Davis explained that while this might sound like multi-season nests are similar, every situation he encounters is unique and therefore requires a degree of problem-solving to tackle effectively.
Yikes!
