The summer is right around the corner. And with the summer, comes new challenges and obstacles. The birds will be out, the bees will be buzzing, and the trees and flowers will start to bloom. With all of these things come the normal pests of the summer. One of the biggest pests that we have to deal with during the summertime is the wasp. Wasps come in many different shapes and sizes. Keeping her your free from these insect invaders is very important. This article will deal with the ins and outs of wasps and how to manage them.
KINDS OF WASPS
Wasps include a wide variety of species. They basically break down into two separate groups. There are social wasps which are wasps that tend to be more in colonies, and then there are solitary wasps. Solitary wasps tend to be more singular in nature. It’s important to know which one you’re dealing with when looking at any kind of infestation in or around your home or business. All wasps have wings and fly. All wasps also sting. The wasps stinger does not have any barbs. This means that a wasp can sting you multiple times without dying. It is a common misnomer to believe that once a wasp stings it must die. Honeybees are the only ones to die once they sting. For more information, call your Broken Arrow pest control company.
The social wasps are wasps that find themselves in colonies. They’re not like ants or termites in that they have a caste system, but they do have many members. The paper wasp is a common example of a colony type of wasp. These insects will mate in the fall and then the females will find a place to hibernate over the winter. They will find a crack or crevice that they can crawl into just to stay warm and survive the winter. The males do not survive the winter. They die off in the fall. When the next spring season comes around, the females will emerge from their hiding place. They must immediately find food. If they don’t find some sort of nectar quickly, they will die of starvation.
DEAD WASPS IN THE WINTER
In some cases, wasps will hide in a building. They’ll find a crack crevice inside the siding or roofing of the building. When they do this, sometimes they can feel the heat coming from inside the home, and come out of hibernation too early. They make their way towards the heat, which is inside the home. Once they get inside they can’t find any food. There’s no nectar and no flower to feed off of. Because of this they will die very quickly. Often in the winter time you will see dead wasps suddenly appear on the floor of your living room or some other part of your house. This is why. Your Tulsa pest control company can help you with wasps.
SPRING FEVER
Once the female emerges from her winter sleep, and finds food, she will get to work immediately starting to build a nest. She will find a low hanging branch or the eve underneath the building to start building her paper wasp nest. She will find plant matter to chew up and make it into the paper that is used for these nests. As she does this, she builds more cells onto it and then needs to go hunting. She will hunt for spiders or small insects that she can paralyzed with her sting. WShe’ll bring that paralyzed insect back to her nest and put that insect inside one of the cells. Once there’s an insect is in there, she will lay an egg on the top of the insect and then seal the cell. Soon the egg will hatch and consume the prey that she has found.
Young wasps need protein in order to build the structures within their body to become adults. On the other hand, adults require more carbohydrates in the form of nectar. They’ll need this because they need the energy to build nests and continue the process of mating and reproducing. Once the female has continued to create many cells, and the larvas will hatch as adults. These adults will be either male or female, and will fly off to create their own offspring. The males will find females to mate with. The females will start their own nests. Once the season comes winding down in the fall again, the insects will mate for the last time and the females, freshly impregnated, will seek shelter to overwinter yet again.
SOLITARY WASPS
Solitary wasps are a little different. A common example of a solitary wasp is the mud dauber. There are mud daubers, organ pipe wasps and potters wasps. These are all common in Oklahoma. These insects will go out and gather a bunch of mud, and create a cell on the side of a building or tree. Using this mud, they will create a cell. They also will go and hunt using their stinger to find a spider or other prey in order to paralyze it. These insects will carry their prey back and put it in the cell, then lay an egg and close off the cell. Again once that insect hatches the larva will consume the prey, and then come out of the cell as an adult. And the process continues. Call your Tulsa exterminator for help.
Organ pipe wasps get their name because they create their cells in a vertical pattern looking much like the pipes of a pipe organ. Potter wasps get their name because they create their cells in the in the shape of a pot. It’s a spherical shape with a round door with the front sealed off. Mud daubers cells are more horizontal and oval in shape. All of these wasps are fearful of humans and attempt to stay away from us at all costs. They will defend themselves if you get too close to a nest, but in most cases they will choose to flee. They are important pollinators and hunters of spiders and other insects.
ELIMINATING WASPS FROM YOUR HOME
If you’re having trouble with any pest including bees or wasps, it’s time to call in a professional. Here at TermMax Pest Control, we are the best in the business when it comes to dealing with wasps. We service the greater Tulsa area including Owosso, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Coweta, Catoosa, Claremore, Turley, Jenks, Bixby, Broken Arrow, Pratville and much more. Call today for a free estimate from a Broken Arrow Exterminator. We’re here to help!