DO YOU HAVE SPRINGTIME WASPS INSIDE?
By Chris Williams on April 4, 2018.
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug. Shutterstock
Now that warmer weather is finally approaching, customers are asking about various strange insects that have started appearing inside their homes. In most cases, these are plant-feeding pests that have chosen to spend the winter in the shelter of an attic or tucked away in a wall void. In spring, insects like lady beetles, western conifer seed bugs, stink bugs, and boxelder bugs that have been inside begin looking for a way back outside and sometimes end up in living spaces instead (see It’s Time for Insects Wintering in Your Home to Wake Up!)
PAPER WASPS MAY HAVE BEEN WINTER GUESTS
One of the more alarming overwintering insects to make its appearance indoors is the paper wasp. Paper wasps build those open-comb nests that you see in sites such as under porch overhangs, under eaves, or around window frames. In late summer, these nests produce next year’s queens and by fall the future queens have left the nest and found a place to spend the winter – that place could be in or on your home. If you had a lot of paper wasp nests on or around your home last summer, you may have placed host to quite a few queen wasps this past winter.
This isn’t as scary as it sounds though because paper wasps are not particularly aggressive away from the nest and when they wake up from their winter naps, they are pretty sluggish. They half-heartedly stumble or fly around and can easily be killed or placed outside (see Paper Wasps Inside in Spring?).
LET US HELP YOU KEEP PESTS OUT
If you’re being visited by any kind of overwintering insects that are now trying to get outside, it’s a pretty good hint that your home needs some pest-proofing. Your house no doubt has its share of cracks or openings, often around the roof line, or doors that need weather-proofing, maybe vents that need screening. As we say about pests, if you leave them an opening, they will find it.
At Colonial Pest, one of our specialties is finding and sealing up all of those openings that allow pests to get inside (see Keeping Fall Pests Out – Advice From the Pros). We also offer protective perimeter treatments that are scheduled during the times of the year when pests are on the move trying to get inside (see Our Package Plan Keeps Pests Away Year Round).