Spring and summer time is right around the corner. There are many things to do to prepare for this new season. Better weather and blooming flowers will hopefully be in our future very soon. As much as it’s been such a cold winter, these changes will be welcomed. But with summer months also comes wasps. Wasps are an important part of our ecosystem, but also can be a nuisance and a danger to some people. It’s important to keep your home safe from these pests. 

KINDS OF WASPS

Wasps come in two different versions. There are social wasps, who work in more of a hive kind of way. There are also solitary wasps. These wasps work as individuals and do not work in large groups. The paper wasp is a good example of a social wasp. When the winter ends, females will come out of hibernation looking for food. They will find an early blossoming flower in and drink nectar from it. When these wasps come out of hibernation, they are starving. If they do not get food very quickly, they will die. It is often that in the winter time, when you turn your heat up, a wasp that is hibernating somewhere in your home, will feel that heat and come out inside of your home and then die. The reason is is because they cannot find food fast enough to survive. 

Once these insects find food they immediately will go to work starting a nest. Only the females will overwinter like this. They will begin to build a nest and create cells in which they will put eggs. These eggs will also be housed with an insect that the mother will go and hunt. Wasps are hunters by nature. The mother will use her stinger to catch a spider or some other insect and then put it inside the cell with the egg. Once the egg hatches it will eat the dead insect inside the cell, and then emerge as a wasp. 

The paper wasp will build most multiple cells in order to have many different offspring. After this happens the males and the females will fly away and then find mates. These other females will go off, mate and create their own nests, continuing the process until the fall. Then females will mate for the last time and then find a place to go and hibernate. They will dig deep inside a crack or crevice and stay there until the warmth comes back the following spring. The males will all die off. Because of this, often in the spring you will start to see wasp nest start a form under the eaves in different gaps and places on your home. It’s important that you take care of these quickly. Your Broken Arrow exterminator company will be able to help you with these things. 

HUNTING AND FOOD

Wasp stings can be very painful and, in some cases, can cause severe allergic reactions. They use their stinger predominately to hunt, but can also use it to protect themselves and their young. It’s important that a trained professional pest control technician take care of your wasp issues at your home. Wasps enjoy a plethora of food. The young need protein to develop into full grown wasps. It’s because of this that the mother will hunt other insects to feed to her young. Adult wasps, on the other hand, require more energy to produce and feed their young. Because of this, they will eat carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are almost always in plant nectar. Because of this, wasps are important pollinators for the plant world. This is why it is important that we do not eliminate all wasps everywhere. Plant life requires wasps in order to be able to reproduce. 

SOLITARY WASPS

Solitary wasps are also found around your home. The most common solitary wasp in Oklahoma is the mud dauber. There are many different kinds of solitary wasps. There’s the potter wasp, the organ pipe mud dauber, and the mud dauber. These wasps will use mud to create a nest of one cell, depositing one egg inside their respective cell with an insect that they hunted and then seal it off. The organ tube wasp will have multiple cells going vertical on a surface looking much like the tubes of a pipe organ.  The potter wasp create a cell that looks spherical in shape, with a single entry point. This makes the cell look like a clay piece of pottery. The mud dauber makes more of an oblong shaped cell. This cell can extend in any direction depending on the service on which it is attached. 

WASPS AND POLLINATION

These wasps are also pollinators and very important to the ecosystem. It’s important to only eliminate them if you must. The cases where they need to be exterminated is when they have become pests. If these wasps are on your home, your garage or barn, or in places near where children are playing they need to be dealt with and eliminated. 

CONTROL

There are a number of pesticides that are specific for wasps and wasp issues. Your Tulsa exterminator will know exactly which ones to use. Spraying the outside of the house with a repellent spray can be very effective at keeping wasps from creating nests on the side of your house. Repellent sprays can be smelled and sensed by insects. The spray smells are unpleasant to wasps.  Your Tulsa pest control technician will know which chemicals to use on your home. Because of this these pesticides tend to only last about 30 days. Therefore, it’s important to have an integrated pest management system in place to keep wasps off of your home. A monthly plan is best. 

ELIMINATING WASPS AROUND YOUR HOME

If you’re having problems with wasps or bees it’s time to call in a professional. Your Broken Arrow pest control company will know exactly what to do to get rid of the wasps on or near home. TermMax Pest Control is the best Broken Arrow pest control company in the state. We service the greater Tulsa area including Turley, Owasso, Claremore, Catoosa, Coweta, Broken Arrow, Sapulpa, Sand Springs, Prattville, Jenks, Bixby and much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!

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