Alex and I removed the most horrific bug nest from the Corvair

by "cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
Published 09/06/2017 at 12:12

Tags: #ReidusandCletus
STARS: 12

As you know, the Corvair was bought out of a field. It had been there a while and as field cars tend to do, it had accumulated a wide variety of creepy crawly things. I have always been semi squeamish with bugs but I have NEVER in my entire life had to deal with something like the horror-movie shit I found last night.

When we bought the car, there was the semi-concerning amount of dead wasps in it. A little odd and creepy but a shop vac cured that in a few minutes. I’ve been working on it now for a week and haven’t found anything worse than a few hairy spiders. But then I removed the rear wheel.

Little cylindrical nests of some sort made out of mud or something. And my whole passenger rear frame rail is covered with at least 12 of these things. So I do what I’ve been conditioned to do with bug nests: coat with WD40 and remove.

So I douse the whole works in WD40 and after nothing flies out at me, I assume I’m okay to get to work. I grab my loooongest flathead screwdriver (because bugs are icky) and get to work. I’m apprehensively tapping and chiselling away at this mess until I realize these things aren’t empty.

They are FILLED with dead, semi-dead, and decaying spiders, some with maggots and larvae growing out of their bodies in white puss-filled sacks. I drop my screw driver, suppress my urge to vomit and run out of the garage.

At this point poor Alex wanders over to see whats happening and sees about 4-6 spiders writhing on the ground with bodies the size of dimes. “Gimme a brick” he says with a 1,000 yard stare. With an audible gooey crunch, he crushes them as they keep falling out.

Alex has a stronger stomach than I do and he just keeps chiselling this mess off the Corvair and the horrors keep coming. Spiders, wasps, maggots, larvae, all dazed from the WD40 and squirming around. We filled a catch pan with them.

It turns out, we found a “Mud Dauber Wasp” nest. And the party trick of this lovely creature is that it stings massive spiders, paralyzes them, and then hauls the spider back to the nest where it lays eggs INSIDE THE GOD DAMN THING and then the young wasps eat the spider alive until they hatch properly. GAHHHHHHH

I still have flashbacks to that awful nests and I might never unsee it. But lucky for you, it’s all on video and you’ll see it likely on Episode 7.

Replies (42)

"random001" (random001)
09/06/2017 at 12:17, STARS: 8

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
09/06/2017 at 12:19, STARS: 3

Yep, mud daubers are some serious X-files shit. Worse, if it’s been in an area with mud daubers, there are likely all kind of little breather holes, carb holes, etc. etc. that have been filled with mud by those fuckers, all over the car.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 12:25, STARS: 0

Then you probably don’t want to do a YouTube search for mango worms.

"Berang" (berang)
09/06/2017 at 12:27, STARS: 4

One of my biggest fears is that a clumsy mud dauber will drop some sort of deadly spider on me from above while taking it back to its nest.

Also: spray with brake parts cleaner - that stuff will kill just about anything in an instant.

"Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
09/06/2017 at 12:30, STARS: 1

They’re nasty little things aren’t they.

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
09/06/2017 at 12:34, STARS: 0

THMATH THE THPIDERTH
KHUU KHUU KHUU
THMATH ’EM

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
09/06/2017 at 12:35, STARS: 2

WHAT THE FUCK

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
09/06/2017 at 12:35, STARS: 0

My reaction to a T

"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
09/06/2017 at 12:36, STARS: 3

user should be banned for this comment.

not really, but that’s just too fucking gross for me.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 1

Also, don’t search botfly on YouTube.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 12:38, STARS: 0

It’s funny: it’s like SO gross, but it’s hard to stop watching.

"random001" (random001)
09/06/2017 at 12:41, STARS: 2

I can’t even scroll up and watch that worm thing again. I can’t do it.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
09/06/2017 at 12:44, STARS: 1

Damn, I’m so glad we didn’t find that thing on Sunday. I’m guessing we would have both ran out of the garage.

"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
09/06/2017 at 12:47, STARS: 5

it’s like SO gross, but it’s hard to stop watching.

I was eating. I did manage to stop watching but I didn’t manage to continue eating.

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
09/06/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 2

I peed a bit

"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
09/06/2017 at 12:48, STARS: 1

Do realize you’re now on a continent where things like this happen. Are you scared yet? ARE YOU SCARED YET?

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
09/06/2017 at 12:50, STARS: 0

Wait, I thought it was Australia that was constantly trying to kill everyone. But North America seems scary too. So yes, count me as sort of scared.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
09/06/2017 at 12:55, STARS: 1

Should have peed on the insects, that would have definitely helped (or would have annoyed them even more ;-) )

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/06/2017 at 12:55, STARS: 0

That is horrifying!

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/06/2017 at 12:56, STARS: 1

Nope!

"415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)" (415s30)
09/06/2017 at 13:05, STARS: 2

I wish I had more time and space, I see decent Corvairs for good deals sometimes. I’d build a Carrera Panamericana car. And put something small on it referencing Porsche.

"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
09/06/2017 at 13:11, STARS: 0

Is that a doggo?

"CB" (jrcb)
09/06/2017 at 13:13, STARS: 1

Oh come on, North American wildlife isn’t that bad. At least, in Toronto it isn’t.

"1967ers - lover of dead auto marques" (1967ers)
09/06/2017 at 13:23, STARS: 0

Blech - I just had a set of heater ducts full of some poor squirrel’s entire winter stash of acorns.

"BvdV - The Dutch Engineer" (dutchengineer)
09/06/2017 at 13:26, STARS: 0

Sure, it isn’t that bad. Just rolling with duurtlang’s joke

"DutchieDC2R" (dutchiedc2r)
09/06/2017 at 13:33, STARS: 0

Its actually very easy to stop watching. Especially when the food you just swallowed starts crawling back up your throat. Very easy...

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
09/06/2017 at 13:59, STARS: 1

Those are mud dauber nests. If you don’t like spiders, these are your best friends. Each tube gets one egg, then is filled with paralyzed spiders. The larva hatches and dines on the prey. Since they aren’t social wasps, mud daubers aren’t aggressive and don’t defend their nests. I’ve never heard of anyone being stung by one.

This photo is a great example of a nest. The older ones on the right have finished eating their meals and are in the process of transforming into adult wasps. It looks like the larvae haven’t hatched in the two left cells.

I prefer to leave them alone so they can keep the local spider population in check. Without them, we would have spiders under all the eaves of our house.

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44)
09/06/2017 at 14:01, STARS: 3

They’re fine to do that. They are not okay to do that in my car.

"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
09/06/2017 at 14:04, STARS: 1

"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
09/06/2017 at 14:04, STARS: 0

Mango worm infestation in a dog, in other words, NOPE.

"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
09/06/2017 at 14:06, STARS: 1

Yum, excuse me while I puke into the compost bin!

"Master Cylinder" (mastercylinder28)
09/06/2017 at 14:19, STARS: 1

Gross. Last weekend I discovered a mostly-but-not-completely decomposed bird when I took the bumper off my 944.

I’m not too proud to admit that I also had one of those drop-the-tool-and-try-not-to-ralph moments. My sympathies to you and your Corvair.

"Corkscrew'd" (corkscrewd)
09/06/2017 at 14:20, STARS: 0

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
09/06/2017 at 14:21, STARS: 0

It could be worse .

The bastards that built this in my truck actively hunt you down for disturbing their nest. I’ve had to clear nests from my old truck, the outside electrical box, the bushes in front of and behind my house, and several spots in the privacy fence. They’ve caught me twice, but stung me three times the first time it happened and twice the second time. Mean little bastards, they are.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 15:04, STARS: 0

Yup.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 15:05, STARS: 0

I hear you. Many are compelled by it.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 15:06, STARS: 0

Gambia. A vet there deals with it frequently and posts his videos of it.

"404 - User No Longer Available" (toni-cipriani)
09/06/2017 at 17:03, STARS: 0

Awww.... Is he dieded?

"user314" (user314)
09/06/2017 at 18:09, STARS: 0

Birgenair Flight 301 from the DR to Frankfurt crashed into the Atlantic after mud dauber nests blocked the pitot tubes.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura)
09/06/2017 at 18:49, STARS: 0

Nope. Made whole again by this vet’r’nery.

"MM54" (mm54mk2)
09/06/2017 at 22:11, STARS: 0

Agreed. I use chlorinated brakleen for just about everything, including pesticide in the garage/basement. You don’t even have to hit bees with it when they’re coming at you, just get it close and they drop.

"for Michigan" (formichigan)
09/07/2017 at 20:56, STARS: 1

I hate those things so much.