Super Wasp Nests in Alabama

originally posted by: zeta55
a reply to: zeta55

I researched Japanese Hornets, to find out how to avoid them, and where they build their nests.

What I found out, is, Japanese Hornets don't exist in the United States. What we have are European hornets. They look very similar.

I have been under the impression, for all my life, these large yellow hornets, were Japanese Hornets, and to do whatever possible, to eradicate them.

From my research, European hornets have been protected since 1987, in Germany. They are beneficial predators of many harmful insects.

I feel bad I was misinformed, and needlessly killed a beneficial hornet, out of my unfounded fear.

Yellow Jackets are also beneficial. I realize we can't have them near our homes, or where we would disturb their nest, but should be left alone when they pose no danger to us, or our animals.

I just wanted to make that clarification. It may help someone else to have less fear, as I now do.

Believe me, you'd know a giant Asian hornet if you saw one.... those mofos are like the size of your finger. They are not to be played with... some straight up sci-fi monster sh*t.

This guy get stung by practically every thing... He ranked the Asian hornet #2 (Executioner wasp in Costa Rica is #1 according to him). The famed bullet ant is #3.

Nope.

Nopenopenopenopenope.

No.

Uh-uh.

Nein.

No way, Jose'.

Wow , thats amazing . Are yellowjackets the same as wasps ?

We have them here too and they can get just as big, The wasps here not only have a powerful sting but they will also chase you down the street with a bunch of their cronies and get you like a scene from The Warriors .

I wonder how fast they can build , I had a Mud Wasps nest appear on my shower head one day, over night .

Such awesome creatures, just dangerous .
They feel like fire lol

originally posted by: Omega85
Wow , thats amazing . Are yellowjackets the same as wasps ?

We have them here too and they can get just as big, The wasps here not only have a powerful sting but they will also chase you down the street with a bunch of their cronies and get you like a scene from The Warriors .

I wonder how fast they can build , I had a Mud Wasps nest appear on my shower head one day, over night .

Such awesome creatures, just dangerous .
They feel like fire lol

Bees: Think honey bees. They can only sting you once as their stinger is barbed and disembowels them when they sting you.

Hornets: Similar to wasps but they have a fatter abdomens and heads. Stings aren't barbed, so they can sting you multiple times. Think the hanging football nests of the bald faced hornets.

Wasps: Have narrow waists/abdomen. Yellow jackets. Red Wasps. Mud daubers. Stings aren't barbed and can sting multiple times.

We have a European Wasp problem here in Oz and they look very much like the 'yellow jacket', with the typical nest being in the ground but very large nests have been found in ceilings as well like over a metre in size. Most of the nests here can be classed as 'super' because they survive the milder winters in most of the country here so the colonies just keep growing. They hatch new queens in autumn which seem to seek a sheltered place in timber to hibernate over winter before establishing a new colony in spring.

I can find as many as a dozen of them in my firewood pile every year and need to inspect every piece for queens before bringing it into the house where the warmer conditions will wake them up prematurely. In their native Europe the winter snow cover and freezing wipes out the colonies leaving the hibernating queens to start new ones in spring/summer but natural control like that doesn't happen here.

This is one of my favorite IQ tests. Whether someone calls a wasp a bee or a yellow jacket a wasp.

That has to be in South Alabama... we got nothing like that around here.

Here we got red wasps mostly, with a few dirt-daubers mixed in. The red wasps sting like fire; the dirt-daubers don't. I originally thought "That's a huge dirt-dauber nest!" but the critters apparently sting. Also, our dirt-daubers don't have any yellow on them... they're solid black.

Definitely not red wasps... this is a red wasp nest:


We do have a few yellow jackets, like a poster earlier posted pics of, that live in the ground. Aggravating little buggers when you step on their nest.

I have seen one hornet's nest when I lived for a while in Decatur. It hung from a big tree in my front yard. That far up, I let it be.

Anyway, it is easily possible for that nest to go from almost unnoticeable to monster size in a couple months. If these things are related to our dirt-daubers, they can build faster than you can imagine. Small nests are hard to spot unless you're looking for them, as they tend to just fill in the sharp corners of wherever they build and they're dull grey.

The best way to defend yourself against these little buggers is a can of spray WD-40. They fall from the sky on contact, immediately, then twitch in agony on the ground while they die (which is usually under a minute). And if someone wanted to get really dangerous, you can turn that can into a flamethrower... not suggested unless you are familiar with doing that... it is possible for the can to explode in your hand if you're not careful. The spray feature is what really makes it better than gasoline (and it kills faster than gasoline too).

For the smokehouse? Grab a couple foggers, set them up as close as you're willing to get, and wait around outside with the can of WD-40 for the escape artists. I wouldn't take that one on head-first; it's just too damn big!

For the pic in the OP: Grab a long (emphasis on long) pole and knock it down... then take cover until they stop swarming. Once they stop swarming and are back on the now-fallen nest, move in with the WD-40 and a match... soak and ignite!

TheRedneck

originally posted by: Prene
This is one of my favorite IQ tests. Whether someone calls a wasp a bee or a yellow jacket a wasp.

I don't think thats how IQ tests work really.

a reply to: Lysergic

Maybe they should... there's a world of difference.


Wasps:

Dirt-dauber:


Red wasp:


Yellow Jacket:



Bees:

Bumblebee (aka Beeblebum):


Honeybee:


Sweat bee:



That's a lot of difference!

TheRedneck

This is the European wasp we have at this end of the globe
They've claimed almost as many lives as jack-jumper ants here and I have both on my lot (at least no wasp nests so far)

i266.photobucket.com...

Finally a working picture of the infamous vespula germanica (european wasp)