The males are harmless, the females will sting is provoked but they feed on tarantulas. I'd leave them alone.
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the Meanest you will ever have to hunt and kill........
- Thread starter KatoKevin454
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@KatoKevin454 I don’t have to hunt and kill much. Hands down the meanest animals I’ve hunted are raccoons.
Indoors try using a fly swatter for single red wasps. Always good to have a can of wasp spray to shoot at the nest from about 25 feet away when spotted outside. In a pinch, gasoline works, but many folks aren’t too keen on dousing them with it when the nest is on their home, vehicle, or wooden structure. I know some folks that have claimed to have taken a tin container of gas and places it beneath a nest and the wasps purportedly fall off into the fuel just from the fumes. I have thrown gas on them and it works, but I generally won’t play with them. I’ve been swarmed and stung a couple times.
Pay attention to their behavior. They’re not hard to live with. You’ll see probably see them every year in many parts of Texas. I’m to the point where I just turn off the lights, open the door, and when they fly towards the sunlight, open the screen, and let them go outside when they come in the house. Same goes for black wasps, dirt daubers, most spiders (except grass spiders), and scorpions. A lot of insects just want to get back outside anyhow. Occasionally I’ll trap them in a jar and throw them out or swat them if I don’t have time to catch them or if one is being particularly difficult.
Indoors try using a fly swatter for single red wasps. Always good to have a can of wasp spray to shoot at the nest from about 25 feet away when spotted outside. In a pinch, gasoline works, but many folks aren’t too keen on dousing them with it when the nest is on their home, vehicle, or wooden structure. I know some folks that have claimed to have taken a tin container of gas and places it beneath a nest and the wasps purportedly fall off into the fuel just from the fumes. I have thrown gas on them and it works, but I generally won’t play with them. I’ve been swarmed and stung a couple times.
Pay attention to their behavior. They’re not hard to live with. You’ll see probably see them every year in many parts of Texas. I’m to the point where I just turn off the lights, open the door, and when they fly towards the sunlight, open the screen, and let them go outside when they come in the house. Same goes for black wasps, dirt daubers, most spiders (except grass spiders), and scorpions. A lot of insects just want to get back outside anyhow. Occasionally I’ll trap them in a jar and throw them out or swat them if I don’t have time to catch them or if one is being particularly difficult.
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all my widows were painted shut by a stupid handyman the previous owner hired, haven't gotten around to cutting the paint loose, too much strain on my heart, my friend will do it when he comes in the fall, not going to risk the fly swatter, airgun air blast works great.
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@KatoKevin454 That’s a new one on me. The things we learn on AGN. Now I know of another option. And I didn’t mean that the spiders and the scorpions will go outside on their own if they see sunlight. I meant that I throw them out as well. Gotta catch ‘em or kill em. Sorry to hear about your windows. Hope you’ve settled in well.
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I don’t know about your red wasps, but for single yellow jackets, a portable battery-charged vacuum cleaner works well. The kind with see-through container lets you confirm the thing got trapped in there. It will try to get out, but the fine dust inside will clog its breathing apparatus.
The tarantula hawks I’ve seen here must’ve been hit by cars. All outdoors, smashed on the ground. I happen to like tarantulas, but we see fewer of them each year. Prolonged drought with a whopping snowy winter every few years probably kills them without the wasps being around.
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well I finally sealed up the area in the water heater closet they were coming in, big open hole in the ceiling, combustion air vent, electric water heater doesn't need combustion air, so I closed it up, that'll keep them out, my friend is going to put some bug screen mesh over the gable vents to keep them out, I don't think they will last long in the heat of the attic, it's about 140° up there at midday.
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" A red wasp ? you mean the ones you have to step on twice and hope to kill " A quote from KY locals
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That would be the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch? Better brush up reading the holy book of armaments, remember, five is right out.I may need the Holy Hand Grenade if they get through the block I installed.....
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If you have cool nights, just spray a wasp nest with water at night, they'll use up all of their energy trying to warm up and boom all dead. Works great.
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Squirt bottle with WARM water and some liquid soap .... drowns them instantly as they breath along side there bodies and the soap breaks the surface tension.
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No, I'm not giving wasps a nice warm shower and soap, that's just a bit oo far, next it'll be body wash.
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The things I have used include Bee Bopper, son in law told me they use it at his linemen job sites, really fast knockdown. The other that leaves no trace is brake cleaner. They drop instantly.
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