WASP supernest

Kurtr

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[h=1]Massive Wasp 'Super Nests' Are Appearing in Alabama, Leaving Pest Control Stumped[/h]

PETER DOCKRILL
1 JUL 2019



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The last time something like this happened was 2006. Most years, Alabama sees only one or two wasp 'super nests': giant wasp fortresses that sometimes even professional pest controllers won't touch.

In 2006, things were different. Nature kicked into overdrive that year, and Alabama turned out at least 90 of these dangerous super-formations. Now, it looks like it's happening again – and 2019 might even be worse.
According to entomologist Charles Ray, the 2006 super nest outbreak only began in June that year. This year, these 'perennial' super nests – which can survive the winter, unlike usual nests – started to show up in May.
017-super-nests-wasps-2.jpg
Super nest filling a car. (Charles Ray)​
"We have found them attached to home exteriors and other places you might not expect to find yellow jackets," Ray says.
"The most workers I have counted in a perennial nest is about 15,000 or about three to four times more than a normal nest. However, one nest in South Carolina was documented with more [than] 250,000 workers."
Ray, who works as a researcher at Alabama's Auburn University, has confirmed four super nests this year.
017-super-nests-wasps-3.jpg
Super nest on a house. (Charles Ray)​
That already makes 2019's super nest count double or quadruple an average year – but it's not the count that makes Ray concerned so much as the timing of their emergence.
"If we are seeing them a month sooner than we did in 2006, I am very concerned that there will be a large number of them in the state," Ray says.

"The nests I have seen this year already have more than 10,000 workers and are expanding rapidly."
An ordinary nest of yellow jackets might peak at around 4,000 to 5,000 workers, and usually doesn't get any larger than a volleyball in size.
Super nests can stretch up to several feet wide, encompassing huge numbers of wasps and sometimes multiple queens – which Ray says is the best way to identify if a nest is a perennial.
017-super-nests-wasps-4.jpg
Super nest in a discarded mattress (Charles Ray)​
In addition to the four super nests he's confirmed in person, Ray has identified several others in pictures sent to him.
Usually, wasp nests die out over winter, as the worker wasps can't generally survive the colder months, or run out of food sources.
In warmer years, though, those challenges aren't always as threatening, leading to circumstances in which perennial, persistent nests can emerge – especially if more wasps survive the cold spell until the next spring.
The most important thing – if you think you might have a super nest on or around your house – is not to try and deal with it yourself.

"First and foremost, do not disturb the nest," Ray says.
"While these giant nests often appear less aggressive than smaller colonies, it is important that people do not disturb the nests."
It's a point reiterated by one of Ray's fellow entomologists at the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Xing Ping Hu.
"Unlike other stinging insects, yellow jackets like to sting people," Hu says.
"Unlike honey bees, yellow jackets do not lose their stinger, so each insect can sting repeatedly and generally attack in large numbers. They are especially dangerous in the summer."
Those dangers only increase with numbers, which is why researchers say it's imperative that you get professional pest controllers to help you remove these giant super nests (although not even commercial operators are always equipped to deal with perennials).
One family who tried to do it themselves learnt the hard way how dangerous these wasp fortresses can be.
James Barron of southern Alabama tried to spray a super nest with the help of his adult son earlier this year. Before falling back in retreat from an immediately aroused horde, Barron was stung 11 separate times.
"They're worrying me, because a child wouldn't have a chance out there," Barron told The New York Times.
"I have many grandkids. A child couldn't run fast enough, and I'm worried about that."


this is like sharknado coming true but worse as wasp are the meanest cocksuckers on this planet

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Allen

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For the lack of a better term, a house down the street from me back when I lived in Grand Forks had something of a supernest built into it. It was found as they tore off the roofing to put on a new layer of shingles. The wasps were so problematic (up in the eves, attic, etc) that the house was left unprotected from the rain for about a week.

A week in which the area got 6 or 8 inches (???) of rain. Basically destroyed the house to the point it ended up getting torn down instead of a new roof.
 

jdinny

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your not bitching anymore about that cold winter eh kurtr??

haha:;:cheers

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i had 2 tiny ass little ones start on my eves last fall mid august maybe like the size of a quarter/egg sprayed the fkrs with a pressure washer. killed the queen on the one she dropped dead the other one she came at me knocked her ass down with a fly swatter dead never had anyther issue withthem last fall.....apparently my tatic was rare and unconventional and i should abandon that technique if i find another one.....
 

Captain Ahab

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I despise those assholes. I’ve killed some big nests with the good long range spray cans(one was bigger than a basketball on top). I hit them right after dark and emptied the can(or two) focusing on the opening right after the hit to drop them as they come rolling out. Fun yet terrifying at the same time.
 

espringers

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i've had two basketball sized ones the last couple of years too. the spray stuff worked on em both. wait til dark and then right in the hole!

the youtube video of the flea and tick stuff in a can of chicken works well too if you can't find the nest. at least that's what i assumed got rid of them that time.
 
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Kurtr

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I also have employed the spray and hope to hell it works but ready to run technique. My wife says i get way to much pleasure from when they hit the ground i curb stomp them little sons a bitches like american history X.
 

Skullet

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The first year I ever owned my own house those little bastards were so thick that my wife and I each got stung 3 times one week. It dawned on me that their nest must be close. The little shits were going into and out of a hole the size of a dime, located under the bay window and my living room. It was starting to get really cold by that time of year, so I waited until late one night and stuck a pry bar in the hole and luckily the whole bottom popped down at once, as I ran away like a little girl.

I didn't go outside until morning, but that nest was approaching 2 feet wide, 6 inches tall, and 18 inches deep.
 

KDM

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A midnight "Smash and Dash" is the way I deal with wasp nests. A good flat board propelled by anger and frustration works pretty good. (Grin)
 

jdinny

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apparently the technqiue i employed was a popular one. i actuaqlly on the bigger one (egg size ) told my wife to stand by the door if I start running let me in and shut the fkr behind me. hahah that's the one that came at me I swung just relentlessly with the fly swatter and somehow managed to connect with her. I then pranced around like a heavyweight champion of the world shotgunning a beer. pointing to the ground yelling explicits at the wasp.

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im actually gonna check the house tonight make sure those little bastards havent shown up again,
thanks for the reminder!!
 


MuskyManiac

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I've got some Tempo in powder form that works awesome and it doesn't piss them off like the wasp spray. Works great if the nest is behind something because all they have to do is walk through the stuff and bring it into the nest and they're all toast.
 

JayKay

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I despise those assholes. I’ve killed some big nests with the good long range spray cans(one was bigger than a basketball on top). I hit them right after dark and emptied the can(or two) focusing on the opening right after the hit to drop them as they come rolling out. Fun yet terrifying at the same time.

I've done this too, and you're not wrong - it's exciting. To the point where I stand on one leg, with war-paint all over my face, yipping like a coyote while doing it.
 

Kurtr

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I've got some Tempo in powder form that works awesome and it doesn't piss them off like the wasp spray. Works great if the nest is behind something because all they have to do is walk through the stuff and bring it into the nest and they're all toast.

That sounds like a way better idea but i want them to be pissed and hopefully die with a lot of pain and suffering till i crush there little brains. The best is when they fly about ten feet fall out of the sky and flop on the ground trying to sting it.

I had a wasp in my onesy when i was about 3 i cant say i remember it but my dad sure likes telling the story and i must have some kind of hatred burned into my subconscious. If i had 3 wished one would be all wasps are dead and extinct

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QtGOlqG.jpg
 


PrairieGhost

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I have pulled a large plastic leaf bag over the next after dark them tied it up and injected spray through a small hole. If your in the country nothing is more fun than a load of eight shot at 20 yards at night. A big weed burner is great if they are in reach. Not connected to your house that is. I save some wasp nest. It makes a great buffer between you powder and any greasy projectile in your muzzle loader. Unlike paper or cloth it will not come out burning and set the prairie on fire.
 

skywalker

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I have yellow jackets around it seems like all the damn time. After watching the you tube video, I'm going to try it and see how it works. If it kills all within a 1/4 mile for even a couple of weeks it is worth it. A few years back I took off my boat tarp 3 days after a fishing trip, to find the SOB's had started building a nest. I sprayed the nest and then put Avon skin so soft on the carpeted side rails on my boat. They never came back to the boat again. I also have found them to have nests in the ground, just a hole in the ground. Poured gas in it, and lit it 1/2 hour later, but I'm sure there are more.
 

Captain Ahab

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skywalker said:
I also have found them to have nests in the ground, just a hole in the ground. Poured gas in it, and lit it 1/2 hour later, but I'm sure there are more.


I stepped in one hunting youth duck season wood ducks. I bolted after I fell in a hole and heard buzzing. Had movie scenes of me as Macaulay Culkin dancing in my head hoping I didn’t die a virgin.
 

tikkalover

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Wife's grand parents were from Arkansas, the wasps we have are tame compared to these.

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Called a mud dauber. When they sting you its like someone shot you with a 22.

Google mud dauber stings to see what I'm talking about.
 


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