A little desperate. So many wasps, so many... (Frederick: house, fencing)

[jaykf014]

Location: Frederick area.


So I'm getting pretty desperate here.


Last year we had a good number of paper wasps around the house. It wasn't extremely noticeable at first. Over late spring/summer finally found a number of small nests around the house and destroyed them. A cluster of them lingered by the basketball hoop (and got more agitated) over fall before they all disappeared.


A couple of weeks ago I went around and tried to shore up any obvious holes in walls or fencing or anything. I also setup a couple traps.


But this year, holy crap, there are probably dozens of them, and they are just lingering all over the house. Pretty sure it is all paper wasps again. They are in and out of the shutters, playing in the gutters, checking out the walls and windows and eaves. They are scattered all over but I cannot tell where there may be a nest. No idea where they are coming from and where they are going at night.


So, has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything I can do to wipe these bastards out early on? At the moment I cannot go outside on the patio or get in the front door without being surrounded by them.


The traps caught two so far, and I've noticed by and large the wasps ignore the traps. I've thought of just spraying them one at a time as they land on the eaves of the house, but I'd end up going through probably 8 cans of Raid and spend an entire day standing outside.


I know I could call pest control perhaps, but I'm not sure which company is best, and I highly doubted they could help if there is no obvious nest.


Anyone have ideas?

[HoCoMom]

Have you checked your attic? Years ago I walked into our bedroom and saw at least 100 wasps and a couple of small holes in my ceiling. Went into attic - huge nest.

[jaykf014]

Over winter I did head up into the attic and inspected it. Did not find anything unusual! Is that pointless though considering it was ... over Winter?

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by jaykf014

Over winter I did head up into the attic and inspected it. Did not find anything unusual! Is that pointless though considering it was ... over Winter?

Yes.

You are going to probably have to call a good exterminator. I would say try to kill them yourself with a long distance spray that you can get at a big box home/garden center. But if you do that, and are not wearing the proper protection with the amount of them you state you are dealing with you may kill a lot of them, and **** a lot of them off, and of course since they are wasps the same ones can repeatedly sting you.
Of course overnight is the time to kill them if you are going to attempt this yourself. I still would call somebody.

[HoCoMom]

I agree with Digger- call the professional. We did not do that but will if it happens again. My husband geared up like a bee keeper and sprayed at night - twice. Still had to run down the attic steps rather quickly.

[MidValleyDad]

We didn't have a cold winter this year so there were probably more survivors than in a normal winter. But yea calling a proffesional is probably the best choice

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by MidValleyDad

We didn't have a cold winter this year so there were probably more survivors than in a normal winter. But yea calling a proffesional is probably the best choice

Bees, Wasps, and Yellow Jackets can build nests quickly. Don't be fooled by the Winter wasn't that Cold.
I have dealt with small amounts of them before.
Also some weird kind of dark insect that will not sting you. It looks like a a dark brown long bodied type bee, wasp. I just knock there small nests down, and usually they get the message.
I just kill yellow jackets. Had them nest under the deck last year. Night time, and a long distance spray did the trick. I was outside working on one of my bikes, and all the sudden I felt something trying to sting me. Little bastards! They got it! Zapp!

[NYC refugee]

I have wasps every year and this year I saw them sneaking into the soffits. I've also found small nests here and there, but I want to know two things: can I call a pest control person in winter to remove any nests inside the soffits and how do I stop them just coming and re-building in spring since they seem to like it here?