Wasps build their nests during the spring and summer months. The nests remain active till late fall.
Wasps build nests on the loft, roof eaves and shingles, high up on the trees, underneath sheds, and even in the wall cavities inside your house.
Wasps nests on your property and inside your home signify wasp infestation. The presence of the nests also increases the chances of wasp stings.
But many homeowners are scared to tamper with the wasp nests. And they don’t remove the wasp nests.
So, is that the right idea not to remove a wasp nest? What happens if you leave a wasp nest alone?
This post will answer these questions.
It’ll also cover why it’s always a good idea to hire a pest controller to eliminate wasp nests on your property.
And a lot more. Keep reading.
What Happens If You Leave A Wasp Nest Alone In The Loft?
Not removing an active wasp nest in places like the loft or elsewhere in your property during the spring and summer months will cause the nest to grow. And with that, the wasp infestation will also increase.
So, remove the wasp nest. But hire a pest controller to remove the wasp nest.
Do not use any DIY ways to remove an active wasp nest. It’s unsafe and highly risky, not only for you but also for the people around you.
But in the early stages, when the wasp nest is small, you can use a wasp killer foam to remove the wasp nest.
An active mature wasp nest contains larvae and eggs, which wasps fiercely defend. They’ll mercilessly sting multiple times anyone they can perceive as a threat.
Wasps can sting you for no reason, just because you get too close to the nest without knowing that you’re near a wasp nest.
Wasps also sting rodents and birds that come close to their nest.
If you see an abandoned wasp nest at the loft or elsewhere on your property, you can knock the wasp nest.
It’s always a wise and safe choice to hire a pest controller to remove an active wasp nest from the loft, wall cavities, or anywhere else on your property.
Pest controllers remove wasps during the night when the queen and worker wasps are inactive.
And removing the wasp nest is essential to get rid of the infestation.
What Happens If You Don’t Remove A Wasp Nest?
If you don’t remove a wasp nest, the nest grows. And so does the number of wasps on your property.
A fully-grown wasp nest can be home to tens of thousands of adult wasps equally likely to sting you.
But what if you don’t remove the wasps’ nests during the winter?
The wasps quit their nests in the late fall and winter. The nests remain where they were.
And wasps will not use the same nest again. Wasps always build new nests every season.
In the winter, the male wasps die. The fertilized female wasps look for a warm place to hibernate during the winter.
So, the female wasps sneak inside human homes to find wall voids, gaps, and cracks in places like an attic where they can hide to spend the winter months.
If there was a wasp nest in your house, you’d notice many lethargic half-dead wasps crawling on the floor starting from the late fall.
Those are the dying male wasps.
When spring arrives, the female wasps will emerge from their hibernating spots inside the home.
So, you notice a sudden appearance of lots of wasps inside the house despite closed doors and windows in the early spring.
Is It Safe To Remove A Wasp Nest During The Winter?
Wasps abandon their nests during the winter. So, it’s safe to remove a wasp nest during the winter.
However, there’s a catch.
There are pheromones that wasps leave near the nesting sites.
That helps the female wasps to spot the nesting site and start to build their nests at the same place.
But wasps don’t use their old nests.
How To Remove A Wasp Nest?
Always hire a pest controller to remove an active wasp nest for your safety. To make the wasps go away, you must remove the wasps nests.
The presence of wasps in your yard or garden from the spring till fall is a clear sign of a wasp nest nearby. So, hire a pest controller to inspect your property for wasp nests.
If the wasp nest is at the top of a tree, or somewhere that is not threatening to you, then the pest controller might advise you to leave the wasp nest alone.
But wasps can make their nests inside your home, like in the wall voids of your bathroom, attic, basement, garage, and even chimneys.
Wasp nests inside the house can make the wasps appear in bedrooms and kitchens. That increases the risk of wasp stings.
However, you can remove an old abandoned nest by yourself.
All you’ve to do is to knock it down with a stick or rod.
But ensure that you clean the nesting area after removing the wasp nest.
Because there are pheromones secretion near the nesting site, the female wasps will pick up to build their nests at the same place.
That makes the wasps return to the same place where they built their nests.
So, clean the nesting site with bleach or with a disinfectant.
It’ll remove the smell of pheromones and discourage the wasps from returning to the same nesting site.
Do not leave an abandoned wasp nest in your home or property. Those old nests can become hiding places for many bugs and pests.
How Many Wasps Are In A Nest?
There can be 10,000-13,000 wasps in a full-grown wasp nest by the peak of the summer.
But it all begins with a single female wasp that lays the foundation for the nest.
The female wasp will chew on the wood and mix it with her saliva to make paper pulp. That paper pulp becomes the building block for the wasp.
Hornets use the same technique to build their nests.
But there are significant differences between a hornet nest and a wasp nest.
The hornet nest has one entry point, and there are no more than 700 hornets inside a hornet nest.
Wasp nests look like an inverted umbrella with multiple cavities where the larvae and the eggs reside.
When both hornet and wasp nests mature completely, the infestation is at its peak.
So, you must take the help of a professional to remove their nests if you spot them at the early stages of development.
What Do Wasps Eat?
Wasps kill and eat garden pests like aphids, mealworms, caterpillars, and beetles. They help in keeping the pests in your yard or garden low.
Wasps also eat ripe fruits and vegetables and feed on the flower nectar.
So, if you smell fruity, then you can attract wasps when you’re outdoors. The smell of ripe fruits from your home can also draw the attention of wasps, causing them to sneak inside.
A wasp nest on your property will increase the likelihood of wasps getting inside your home. And with that, the increased risk of wasp stings.
The fruity smells from your car can also make wasps sneak inside the car.
But wasps are a critical part of the ecosystem because they’re pollinators.
What’s An Average Wasp Nest Removal Cost?
Wasp nest removal forms part of the overall wasp treatment. So, there’s no singular cost of wasp removal.
The pest controller will visit your home for an inspection. There’ll also be follow-up visits after the wasp control to ensure that wasps don’t come back.
The cost depends on several things.
Some of them are the number of wasp nests in your property, the size of the nest, the species of wasps, how hard it is to reach the wasp nest, and many more factors.
On average, a budget of $500 is enough. However, high-end pest controllers can charge up to a grand or more.
Plus, you might have to shell out $30-$75 per follow-up visit.
Many people negotiate a single price for the entire process, including follow-up visits.
Conclusion
Removing wasp nests from your property is necessary, no matter what time of the year.
Leaving a wasp nest alone in the wasp season (spring and summer) will cause the wasp nest to grow. It’ll lead to an increase in the number of wasps. And with that, there will be an increased risk of wasp stings.
Always hire a pest controller to remove an active wasp nest. Do not remove an active nest by yourself. It’s unsafe.
On the other hand, you must also remove a wasp nest in the winter months when wasps abandon their nests.
The presence of these abandoned wasp nests will draw the wasps in the spring to build their nests in the same area.
However, wasps don’t use the same nest again.
Nang Chen is an Entomologist and Arachnologist who is associated with Vienna’s museum of natural history. He’s also a consultant with real estate groups, insecticide conglomerates and law enforcement groups as a forensic entomologist. Nang Chen holds an M.S. from South China University and he’s a regular contributor to our site.