Wasps outside the house

August 27, 2006 11:09 AM

How could we remove a number of wasps?

My wife just noticed that there are a reasonable number of wasps "hanging" around the eaves of our house.

Over the past 3 weeks we had noticed an increase in the number of wasps that had appeared around the house but not noticed their "base".

They seem to creep in under the actual roof (although at present they don't seem to come into the house except when the windows are open).

Is there a spray we should use (for the symptoms) or do wasps have something more "source" like, equivalent to bees (ie nest/hive), that we would need to remove first?

posted by pettins to home & garden (13 comments total)

Do it at night!
posted by k8t at 11:27 AM on August 27, 2006

Reasonable, as in a small number? You could ignore them, then, as they are beneficial in small numbers.

It's difficult to tell from your post whether the nest is accessible... "under the actual roof" could mean that they've built under the shingles or in the attic. That would be important in figuring out what your options are.
posted by rolypolyman at 11:38 AM on August 27, 2006

We have a wasp's in our backyard this year. I am not sure about how to find the source, but here is something that has been really effective.

One of these traps in our backyard caught 40+ of these bastards within a half of a week. Just make sure that the bottle is filled with something that the wasps like and that the water level is well below the opening.
posted by utsutsu at 11:44 AM on August 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

I have a wasps nest in the low eaves of my porch -- it's visible -- but I don't want to kill them, since they are beneficial. If anyone posting wants to suggest how to actually move the nest (pry it off, let it drop into a bag, shake out the bag in the far corner of the yard and RUN??) I'd appreciate it.

To pettins, though, I'd say -- you might consider leaving it. They've been living on my back porch without bothering me for two years. (I'm only moving it since I found out my friend's little daughter is allergic. I don't want them to have to worry. I'm moving it for their peace of mind, not because I think any actual risk exists.)
posted by beatrice at 11:53 AM on August 27, 2006

rolypolyman: I would say there are about 10-15 of them at present and they seem to creep into a half centimeter gap between the stucko on the wall and the wooden fascia that links into the roof.

This on the extension (single storey) so we can "reach" it, but can't actually access the area under the wooden fascia except through this 0.5cm gap.

Interested also in the comments around wasps being beneficial - In what way?
posted by pettins at 12:08 PM on August 27, 2006

In my own experience, I elected to get pest control in to remove the nest (which had been built within the flat-roofed extension which formed my bedroom) once I realised what was going on with the heavy wasp traffic filing past my window.

I did this purely because they had started to create holes in the ceiling and they made one heck of a noise; both of which made me very uncomfortable, but - as ever - YMMV.
posted by highrise at 12:20 PM on August 27, 2006

Eat them.
posted by hermitosis at 2:18 PM on August 27, 2006

Pest control professionals can remove a nest; my family had this done once or twice during my childhood. I've never been stung by any sort of bee or wasp, but that's the exception to the rule. Yellowjackets are aggressive, and some wasps are just plain big and scary. Neither type of insect leaves their stinger behind, so you can be attacked/swarmed maliciously and painfully, possibly fatally. Do a news search for "bees" and you'll find out about two men in the Southwest who accidentally disturbed a rooftop nest and were swarmed by Africanized bees, who killed one of the men.

If the nest is in a very low traffic area and is not attached to any structure you consider of real value (e.g. on the back of a tool shed at the far end of the yard), I could possibly consider avoiding the expense and leaving the bees to be. But that's only for bumblebees or less threatening species in any scenario where they don't travel near humans. 90% of the time I would opt for professional removal. Nests cannot be effectively moved by barehanded individuals (you might get killed!) and any benefit that bees or wasps present for plantlife is negated by the threat of having a hostile insect nest in an area used by human beings.

You'd remove a poisonous spiders' or mosquitos' nest similarly, due to the public and personal threat. This is not the time to be an insect sympathist. These aren't ladybugs or small spiders.

Plus, I know that the neighbors' kids shouldn't be running on your property, but you should consider that they occasionally do, and it would be a horror if one of them were swarmed or stung and then suffered a fatal allergic reaction. I can't imagine how bad it would feel if you knew that you had the option to remove the nest earlier.
posted by brianvan at 3:40 PM on August 27, 2006

unless they're being aggressive towards you, i'm not sure i'd bother, unless you live in a place where winter isn't going to kill them off

what you could do is get a can of raid ... go up a ladder at night and spray the hell out of the 1/2 cm opening for a minute or until they come out after you ... but the ones close enough to come after you will probably be too incapacitated to

don't do it during the day ... they're almost all outside and if they see you messing with their home, they're going to get you
posted by pyramid termite at 4:47 PM on August 27, 2006

unuseful anecdote: I looked into this a few years ago and what I got was "Skunks eat wasps."

Pick up a few skunks- you'll be golden.

I did not follow this advice.
posted by small_ruminant at 6:36 PM on August 27, 2006

If you cannot see the nest, there is a chance that you could have a wasps nest the size of a volkswagon. I would spray the opening with some kind of persistant wasp-killing agent late some night. If they don't go away, call in a pro. Either way, have the hole repaired. All kinds of critters could be getting into your house that way.

As far as wasps being beneficial, who cares? I'm sure sharks are somehow beneficial, but I don't want any on my porch.

Previously on AskMe.
posted by popechunk at 7:37 PM on August 27, 2006 [1 favorite]

water with dishsoap (or laundry detergent, or shampoo)kills bees and wasps, and it's safer than a standard pesticide. Spray at night.
posted by bolognius maximus at 7:47 PM on August 27, 2006

I had this happen to me two years ago. I thought winter killed them off, but last year was a horrid mess. My kids were stung, they were in the house a couple of times a day. I sprayed with five different products, right into the crevice between the fascia and the siding. Still they were everywhere. I tried entering the crawl space, but there were too many of them.

Finally I called a pest control service. They came, dressed in a white head-to-toe jump suit and climbed the ladder. Within 15 minutes he came down with five gallons worth of wasp nest.

Since then, I have filled the voids with expanding foam, done regular examinations, netted off the area, got pet skunks, performmed annual prescribed burns, and placed some U-238 up there (just in case).
posted by kc0dxh at 10:37 AM on August 28, 2006