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I have wasps in the summer and caught them going in and out of the soffit. We did check inside in the attic and found no sign of any. I read on another thread they're supposed to die off in the cold. So my question is, can I get a pest control company to come in winter and remove hives that I think are inside the soffits? And is there anything they can do off season, to prevent them making themselves at home again come spring?
I'm not sure about all types, but many types of wasps don't reuse their nests the next spring. When queens come out of hibernation they build new nests. You could safely remove the nests yourself or just leave them in place. They aren't likely to cause any harm either way. I think you'd be wasting your money to call pest control out for this in the winter.
I have wasps in the summer and caught them going in and out of the soffit. We did check inside in the attic and found no sign of any. I read on another thread they're supposed to die off in the cold. So my question is, can I get a pest control company to come in winter and remove hives that I think are inside the soffits? And is there anything they can do off season, to prevent them making themselves at home again come spring?
I think if you want the wasps removed, you should do that while they're still active. You can either spray them at the opening to kill them, or a venom collection guy can come and will vacuum them out and collect them. They make antivenom out of them. See if there are such people in your area who do that.
But I don't think either will work when they're not active. You'd have to take the house apart and physically remove the nest.... doing a lot of damage.
Thanks for the answers. It's just that they seem to like it here and I have the spray, but have tangled with them in the past, in the dark, and I'd rather not have to do it every year. Especially if I spray on one side and they just move to the other.
So is there anything I can do to make it less attractive to wasps here? Is there something in particular that might be attracting them? They're the black ones.
I have wasps in the summer and caught them going in and out of the soffit. We did check inside in the attic and found no sign of any. I read on another thread they're supposed to die off in the cold. So my question is, can I get a pest control company to come in winter and remove hives that I think are inside the soffits? And is there anything they can do off season, to prevent them making themselves at home again come spring?
We had an invasion of wasps as the weather turned cooler. I was stung thru 3 layers of clothing. Those suckers hurt. I had put my pest control contract on hold due to my son moving back in with me temporarily and moved a mess in with him. Couldn't get them back out fast enough. At one point I had two wasps trapped in the main level bath and one in the lower level bath, with half a dozen spread between the first two levels. The 3rd level with the bedrooms has been apparently wasp-free. We could not fiigure out how and where they were getting in.
So, pest guy comes and figures it out - they are nesting in our chimneys. I have two fireplaces and he said judging by the number of dead wasps, I had a few nests. Time for a chimney sweep and a cap on the fireplace. I don't use the fireplaces, so I am hoping he can find a reversable way to seal it off.
Any idea should I ask for? I dont want to be sold some super hardware. Simple and reversable. Maybe just a piece of sheet metal?
As a temporary fix, you could take a trash bag, stuff it partway with newspaper, and then push it into the flu above the fireplace. The friction would hold it in place. A cap on the top has to hold up to wind pressure and rain as well as having a good seal. There are plenty of options, but a bit of metal flashing cut to size, screwed in, and sealed with metallic tape would be my choice on a triple wall or metalbestos chimney. With a tile liner, I'd probably make a weighted plug with a lip that rested on the top edge. The lip would need something like weatherstripping or some such to make a seal against insects that wouldn't damage the clay.
Last year I had a serious problem with yellow jackets on my balcony and the awnings over my apartment windows next to the balcony. Management had a pest control guy come out and spray their nests and the awnings, and I had zero problems with them this year.
I can only guess that there was a residual smell from the pesticides or dead yellow jackets from the previous year.
And it's not because there weren't any yellow jackets around this year. They just weren't a problem at my house for whatever reason - I'll have to guess it was because of the pest treatment.
So, yes, if they're a problem, I also suggest hiring a pro. I really didn't want to use bait traps, because those encourage them to come and I didn't want to deal with even more of them coming because of the bait.
I have a dog that uses the balcony, and she never got sick from any of the pesticides they used on the nests inside the awnings over the windows and balcony.
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