Dealing with wasps can be tough, but not for your Broken Arrow exterminator. Wasps can be a year round insect that can make itself into a pest. While we see most of them in the spring and summer months, the fall and winter can have certain limited activity by these insects. Because they’re a stinging insect, they could be very dangerous to certain people with allergic reactions. So it’s important that you understand wasps and their idiosyncrasies. So let’s take a good hard look at wasps, their life cycle and what you and your Broken Arrow exterminator can do to protect your loved ones from wasps.
OVERWINTERING, WASPS AND BROKEN ARROW EXTERMINATOR
In the Fall, at the end of their lifecycle, males and females will meet up one last time in order to mate. Once they’ve done this, the cold weather will hit, and the males will die off. But before the cold weather hits, the females will find a place to lie dormant to make their way through the winter. Usually, this is a hole in the ground, a crack in a tree, or a gap in the shingles of your house. Somewhere they can find to protect themselves from the winter cold. Here they will lie dormant, not moving in order to save their energy and survive the entirety of the winter.
If one of these female wasps have found a spot in your home to over winter, then, in the dead of winter, they may get fooled into waking up. These insects will wait to feel the heat of the spring in order to wake back up and leave their overwintering place. Once they do this, they will search for a flower to drink the nectar from. Because they have gone so long without food, they must eat immediately, or they will die with a matter of minutes.
But unfortunately, the heat from your house in the middle of winter can fool them into thinking that spring is here a little early. If they are able to make their way into your home, you could have a real problem. This pest will fly around for a few minutes looking for that nectar. Of course, there are no flowers in the winter months, so these wasps will die in about 30 minutes or less. While we can say that they pose no threat to us, they can startle many homeowners. Contact you are Broken Arrow exterminator for help.
SPRING AND SUMMER WASPS AND YOUR BROKEN ARROW EXTERMINATOR
If a female wasp finds her way into a flower in the spring months, then the lifecycle begins again. Because she mated in the fall, she is ready to lay her eggs. The wasp will search out construction material for her nest based on the type of species that she is. For example, the paper wasp will find plant material that it can chew up and mix with saliva in order to create the paper that it will use to create its nest. Mud daubers will dig up the mud from the ground and create a nest out of that.
In order for the young larva to grow, the female must provide food for her young. These young wasps will be developing and trying to create the physical structures of their adult bodies, so they will need a lot of protein. To do this, they will search out small insects, such as spiders and grubs and hunt them with their stinger. The female wasp will inject her prey with a cocktail of neurotoxins that will paralyze the small insects. Then she will carry them back to the nest and place them in the bottom of one of the cells. After this, the female will lay her eggs on top of the paralyzed insect and cap the cell off. Nature can be brutal. Contact your Broken Arrow exterminator for more information.
WASP LIFE CYCLE AND BROKEN ARROW EXTERMINATOR
Once this has happened, the egg will eventually come to life. It will break open and a larva will escape. This worm like status of the wasp will immediately find the paralyzed insects and begin to feed upon the half dead spiders and grubs. As it does, it will begin to grow. Once it gets to the full extent that it needs to grow as a larva, it will begin to go into the pupa stage.
In many other insects, the pupa stage is the created by the larva form, creating a cocoon around itself, in order to develop its structures and become an adult insect. The wasp has the luxury of already having the cell walls around it. So it doesn’t need to create a cocoon in order to grow into the full grown adult. The pupated larva will develop these wings and legs and body parts that it will need as an adult.
After the pupa form is finished, and the adult is fully formed, it will break through the cap of the cell. Emerging as a full grown adult, it will begin to walk around the top of the nest and attempt to dry off. It will flap its wings and eventually start to fly around the nest drying itself off further. It’s important that you stay away from these insects when they’re in this stage. Wasps around the nest are usually very aggressive. They will sting you if you pose a threat to their nest. In addition, wasps have the ability to sting multiple times because they don’t have any barb’s on their stingers. So it’s very important that you contact your Broken Arrow exterminator for help with wasp nests.
ELIMINATING WASPS, AND YOUR EXTERMINATOR
If you’re having issues with wasps or any other pests then its time to contact a Broken Arrow exterminator that can help. Here at TermMax pest control, we are the best in the business when it comes to wasps, bees, or any other insects. We service the greater Tulsa area, including Owasso, Turley, Jenks, Bixby, Sand Springs, Sapulpa, Prattville, Broken Arrow, Coweta, Claremore, Catoosa, and so much more. Call today for a free estimate. We’re here to help!