Wasp Nest Battle

Well, battle is a strong word. But it definitely sounds better than “spraying them at a distance, then running away in my flipflops.”

Last night, I decided it was time to finally do something about the small wasp nest outside our back door. For the most part, these guys kept to themselves. From what we saw in our research online, they were paper wasps – and not too much of a nuisance.

The most that’s happened was finding a dying wasp on our kitchen floor. Beyond that, they’ve kept to themselves and never bothered us, despite our going in and out of the back multiple times each evening.

I know that wasps can get more aggressive, at certain times of the year. I’ve also seen lots of folks online who argue for immediate extermination – people who tried waiting things out, got stung, and said ‘never again.’

While we tried to let things go, the nest has been slowly growing in size over the past few weeks. It was still fairly small, but yesterday I spotted at least three wasps working away (where previously, I had only ever seen one).

So last night, after grilling, I got a can of Raid and let loose. I had my iPhone in my other hand, with the flashlight on (a bad idea I know, but it was pretty dark). And, as mentioned earlier, the scaredy-cat running away thing.

Come the morning, I went out back to check. The nest itself looked pretty wet still, and I saw several dead wasps on the ground (more than I expected).

I’m not a big fan of killing things, even insects. In fact when I can, I’ll try to relocate bugs outside if I can help it. But I guess this was ultimately a kind of territory dispute… and I’d rather take care of this potential problem now, for fear of getting attacked in the future.

And I’m just now realizing I sounds like an overly aggressive, militarized country explaining away an unprovoked border incursion. Ugh.

Related:
Bathroom Thunderdome: Felix vs. Wasp (and Moths)
House Centipedes: Mr. Scampers and the Scutigera Coleoptrata Family
Weird, Mysterious Worm: What Is It?