Each fall most old queen and worker wasps die off as cold weather sets in.  However, new queens, or foundress queens, that have found harborage over the winter will survive and emerge in Spring to begin a new colony.  These new queens will have been fertilized in the fall and found a safe haven in and around your property…often the worst is when you find them in the attic, or playhouse!

Luckily, when new queens emerge in the Spring, they’re typically a bit sluggish and not as aggressive.  They set out to start a new colony and will not reuse the old paper nests, instead opting to build one anew.  A treatment of the eaves, balconies, and other overhangs of your home in the Spring will discourage any new nest building.  We also always make sure to scrape down any old unsightly paper wasp and dirt daubber nests as a regular part of our services.

If you find a wasp indoors, it’s not always the end of the world.  Sometimes it will have emerged from the attic or in through a doorway and is not typically aggressive and can be swatted or caught fairly easily.  It is always best to perform wasp control in the Spring to prevent their numbers from increasing rapidly and becoming more of a nuisance and potential health threat around your home.  We can also control ground nesting species like yellow jackets and cicada killer wasps if necessary.

If you’ve never seen a cicada killer in action, those are cool and you can see one in this video below dragging it’s prey back to its nest!

Watch out for new wasp activity this Spring and call Venus Pest Company when you need help.