Getting rid of Red Wasps

[Anonymous Poster]

Ever since I bought my acreage in East Texas, we have had a problem with red wasps. I'm not talking about yellow jackets or hornets but about wasps 1 1/2 to 2 inches long that are very aggressive! We have a hummingbird feeder that they have become fond of and I've seen the birds avoid the feeder when they say a red wasp feeding! I've tried traps, they avoid them. They can be stunned momentarily by a shot of Real Kill Wasp and Hornet spray but I have to step on them to make sure they're dead. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[8NTX]

DILIGENCE! I too, have a problem with red wasps at MY East Texas place in the woods (near Athens). The only thing that has worked fairly well for me is to find their nests, wait until dark or very early early in the morning, and then soak the nest with wasp spray. Do this, and you will have LESS problems with them. I have determined that nothing will completely rid my place of them unless I were to hire a full-time swat team of wasp killers. I did manage to finally control the carpenter bees in the barn, however./w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif. Now, if I could only rid the place of scorpions, we will be able to sleep well at night again.

 

[Boondox]

Not sure about the big suckers like yours, but the comment about the hummingbird feeder rang a bell with me. I have one of those old fashioned glass wasp traps from Lee Valley Tools. Fill it with the sweet red stuff and set it AWAY from the house. Attracts em like crazy and they drown inside.

Pete

 

[SimS]

Dang!! Do you have anything that doesn't Bite, Sting or Chew down there in Texas?? Trying to sleep with scorpions around would absolutely creep me out. Good luck and get some Kevlar pajamas.

SimS

 

[8NTX]

I hear ya about the stingin' and bitin' critters everywhere. We were gonna leave the place real wooded and natural until we built our permanent home (temp. mobile now), but it looks like we are gonna have to clear out about 2 acres of woods in order to sleep at night. A real shame, but necessary I guess. We killed a scorpion in our bed last Sat. night and 2 in the kitchen the weekend before/w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif. Wife got stung last year and I thought that by putting about 20 pounds of DE under there it would slow 'em down. It did for a while but now they're back so I guess it's time to pull out the stops.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Speaking of scorpions-My exterminator tells me that he has a spray that is successful so he is going to demonstrate in the next couple of weeks. We don't have a bad infestation but one is too many as far as my wife and I are concerned! I'll report back to you with the name of the product he uses. Regards from Quitman

 

[RidgeRunner]

Well folks of the Republic, you don't have a monopoly on over grown red wasps.

Here in the "original great T," Tennessee [near Athens as well], we have the same critters in our hummingbird feeders. Drives Mom nuts. I'm still trying to find their nest.

 

[Richard]

Hi Ridgerunner,

I'm located in Greenback!!!
used to live on Clark Street, near the college

Richard

 

[Anonymous Poster]

8NTX, I talked with the exterminator yesterday about the scorpion problem. He said to be sure to cover drain pipes into the house if it was not occupied 100% of the time. Apparently the scorpions travel up into the house through the plumbing from the septic system. Good luck

 

[TedLynn]

Do you think the Texas Red Wasp might have caught a ride west with Sam Houston or Davie in the big rush to save Texas? Over here in Loudon, we have two predominant varities of wasps. The large Red ones (they are mean) and the smaller Yellow stripped ones (these are not yellow jackets and they are normally not mean).

A lesson from my Dad many years ago was "Don't lill out the yellow stripped ones. They are enemies of the Reds and do a pretty good job of keeping their number under control."

I don't know whether you have the yellow ones in Texas or not, but from my experience living there several years ago, it seems every bug imaginable lives there! (West Texas)

I have trouble convincing the wife that the yellow wasps are good, but they are. Ted