YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES

Global Search
Saturday May 26, 2012

Change Location

Enter Zip Code

Use this as my default zip.
« Sage advice for what do to with sage?
Honey comb’s big..yeah, yeah, yeah »

Visitors with stings attached

Posted on August 21st, 2008 – 3:22 AM
By Connie Nelson

Guest blogger Holly Collier posts this query: 

Anyone ever dealt with yellow jackets in their homes? I started noticing the dead and dying waspy things a few weeks ago, and now I see them regularly. On the windows. In spider webs. In the basement. Usually they are dead or sluggish and not terribly aggressive, but sometimes they definitely have a buzz of anger about them.

A pro came out and couldn’t find the nest, but after some due diligence, I saw the nasty little buggers in the eaves of my house, entering just under the shingles. For what it’s worth, the eaves are cedar. The house is light-colored stucco, and the yellow jackets seem to like the sunniest spot, facing south.

The kind-hearted pro came back and dusted the nest. He plans to return, and he guarantees his work. Anyone have any yellow jacket horror stories? Or better yet, stories of conquering them? I’m not allergic to stings, and I’m not particularly scared by insects, but the thought of stepping on an invader that has found its way into my dining room is not exactly a comforting one.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 3:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

12 Responses to "Visitors with stings attached"

Darcie says:

August 21st, 2008 at 12:28 pm

While staying with my mother in law last weekend I was stung by one of these little buggers in the middle of the night inside her house…I happened to “graze” across the stinger just right while searching the mattress for my son’s pacifier at 4 am…All I can say is I’m glad it was me not my little boy! It hurt like nothing else…I got the stinger out (yeah, somehow it got stuck in my finger) and then it proceeded to burn like mad and swell up like a baseball mitt - The swelling moving from my finger to my entire hand!
We’re five days out and the swelling is ALMOST gone - thanks to some good old benadryl. Thankfully I’m not allergic but it was still a nasty distraction.

Robyn Dochterman says:

August 21st, 2008 at 1:13 pm

Yellowjackets — eegh! I know they are a necessary part of the biosystem and they tend not to bother you if you don’t bother them. That’s all well and good until you get stung (especially inside!). I’d rather smash my finger with a granite block than get stung by a yellowjacket. The pain is about as intense as I can imagine pain getting.

Jennifer Twin Mom says:

August 21st, 2008 at 1:34 pm

My dog and I just got attacked by a swarm of them last week at Minnehaha Creek. He was splashing in the creek and stepped on nest on the bank as he came out. It was pretty awful. I don’t know how many stings he got, but in my efforts to brush the bees off of him I got stung 6 times.

They also followed us home! We ran three blocks and thought we’d be clear of them, but then a couple more caught up to us. Those things are vindictive.

Fortunately neither me or the pup are allergic.

Kathy says:

August 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Holly, you have my sympathies. We had a big problem with them getting into our house last year - a tiny crack in the spot where one of our basement windows meets the foundation. We (really the BF) sprayed wasp killer into the whole repeatedly, put up wasp traps and eventually he sealed up every crack in the foundation with expandable foam. I’m allergic, so while I’m not normally afraid of bugs that fly if they’re yellow and black and equipped with a stinger I give them a lot of space!

Oh and I’m with Robyn, I’d say almost anything is preferable to being stung by a yellowjacket.

Holly says:

August 21st, 2008 at 2:15 pm

Thanks, all. No stings yet. Though the memory of a sting last year outdoors still makes me cringe. Ouch.

I am keeping my shoes on in the house until all traces of them are gone, because right now I’m finding them every day. I haven’t counted, but they definitely outnumber me, by at least 100 to one by now.

I’m told that they could get worse as the weather cools.

That’s not a happy thought. I’ll keep you posted.

Connie Nelson says:

August 21st, 2008 at 2:19 pm

What an awful story, Jennifer!

I generally have a live-and-let-live attitude about bees and other bugs. But after getting stung — and chased down the block — by wasps, I decided no more Mrs. Nice Gal.

In the dark of night, I sprayed wasp killer on the nest they had made at the base of our arborvitae. And I only felt a little bad about it . . .

Holly says:

August 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm

Hi Connie:

I usually don’t kill anything outside the house. And spiders have free reign indoors, especially right now, because they seem to be brave enough to kill yellow jackets. (Or maybe it’s because Charlotte’s Web is one of my favorite books. So squashing spiders is not a practice of mine.)

But with anything that stings me or my friends (some of whom have allergies), my no-kill rule gets overruled. (Same thing for any critters that might cause structural damage, but we won’t go there.)

I can’t really have 100 stinging guests at a dinner party now, can I?

Kathy says:

August 21st, 2008 at 8:43 pm

Jennifer - I found out about my allergy after stepping on a ground hornet nest in my raspberry patch. The doctor told me that stinging insects release a pheromone that attracts other stinging bugs. A sorta insect “charge!” call. Good news, eh?

Robyn Dochterman says:

August 21st, 2008 at 9:45 pm

Kathy, that’s certainly true for honeybees. Of course, from their perspective, they put out the call that they are under attack and need help. I think they need to post little signs so us humans don’t accidentally trespass.

DGB says:

August 26th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

Shop Vac works well!

Claire says:

September 2nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm

There are stinging spiders too. I’m finding them all the time in my basement these days. I bought a bunch of those green hedge balls and scattered them about but I’m afraid if these biting spiders don’t disperse I’m going to have to bomb.

Subscribe to Greengirls

Learn more about RSS

Categories