Paper Wasps Around Your Boston Home? Here's What You Should Know.
Summer is the perfect time for outdoor activities, but if you have a paper wasp infestation on your Boston property, even the thought of leaving the safety of your home will send shivers down your spine. Paper wasps are aggressive outdoor pests, which means they're dangerous to have around your house, even if you aren't allergic to stinging insects. You shouldn't be afraid to enjoy a backyard barbecue or spend time in your garden, so it's time to learn how to keep paper wasps away from your property this year.
What Paper Wasps Look Like
There are many types of paper wasps in the United States. These species are easily identified by their open-comb aerial paper nests, though each one has its unique characteristics:
- Common paper wasp – 3/4 of an inch long with yellow, brown, red, and black markings.
- European paper wasp – 3/4 of an inch long with black and yellow markings.
- Northern paper wasp – between 1/2 and 7/8 of an inch long with yellow, black, and red markings.
- Red paper wasp – roughly an inch long with reddish-orange bodies and smoky black wings.
- Ringed paper wasp – around 3/4 to one inch long with a dark red thorax and head, black abdomen, and yellow ring around the abdomen.
Other stinging insects such as bald-faced hornets and European hornets also build aerial nests, so it can be challenging to determine which species is terrorizing your property. Always depend on your local Boston pest control company to identify and remove stinging insects from your lawn.
Why Paper Wasps Are Attracted To Your Home
Paper wasps are attracted to environments with food, water, and adequate shelter. Of course, preferences differ between pests, so here's what paper wasps find desirable for nesting purposes:
- Food sources – sugary foods, sweet drinks, cooked meat, garden pests, fruits, and nectar.
- Water – poor draining soil, birdbaths, fish ponds, leaky pipes, and unintentional standing water sources.
- Shelter – trees, shrubs, porch awnings, and sheds.
In addition to promoting biodiversity by eliminating plant-eating pests, paper wasps are pollinators, but since their bodies are hairless it's not their strongest quality. Stinging insects are great for the environment, but they're still dangerous pests around your Boston home. To make your property less appealing to paper wasps, install tight-fitting lids on your trash bins, keep your lawn picked up of any trash and debris, aerate your soil, and dump out any standing water. Trim back trees and shrubs, and consider adding a fake wasp nest to the exterior of your home as well.
Why Paper Wasps Are Aggressive
Paper wasps are social insects, which means they live in colonies that contain a queen. They're fiercely loyal, territorial, and will defend their hive at all costs – including death. Paper wasps will attack individuals without provocation; getting too close to their nest is enough to warrant a call to action. This overly-aggressive predisposition to protect their queens makes them such dangerous pests to have around your Boston home.
How To Properly Deal With Paper Wasps
Stinging insects such as paper wasps are harmful to your health and safety, so they should never feel comfortable around your home. Attempting to get rid of a nest on your own could lead to injury as well, though, which makes an infestation difficult to handle. The best way to get rid of paper wasps on your Boston property is with professional pest control from our pest technicians at Urbanex. We use pet and family-friendly pest control products in our treatments, so you don't have to worry about harmful chemicals around your loved ones. We're dedicated to customer satisfaction, so if your stinging insect problem returns after we treat your property, we come right back and re-treat at no additional cost. Don't let stinging insects keep you from enjoying your summer. Get in contact with us today to schedule your free inspection.
Request Your Free Inspection
Complete the form below to schedule your no obligation inspection.