You may not realize you have a wasp problem until one chases you around the yard. Fortunately, most wasp nests are easy to find if you know where to look. Under the eaves, attached to soffits or on exterior walls – all are likely locations for a wasp nest. However, many wasps’ nests often go undetected for weeks or months, and these can quickly become more than a nuisance!

In the case of many common wasps, their nests are often not easily visible. They may be hidden within gaps in the exterior of your home, in shrubbery, or in the case of yellow jackets, they may be hiding underground! If you’ve been pestered by wasps, here’s how to track them back to their nest.

Areas to Check for Wasps’ Nests

Springtime is typically when wasps begin to re-emerge, but it takes until about mid-summer for most nests to fully establish themselves. By summer, you’ll definitely notice any wasps that are in the area.

Wasps commonly build nests in protected areas: along exterior walls, under wooden decks, on nearby trees and, occasionally, inside a home. Once a wasp nest becomes fully established, you’ll typically see a steady stream of wasps hovering around the nest entrance. So, if you know where to look, you can usually spot an active nest without much trouble. If you know you have wasps, take a look in these usual spots:

• Along your eaves
• Underneath windowsills
• Garden sheds or garages
• On or under playground equipment or lawn furniture
• Gaps in soffits, exterior fascia or wooden decks
• Around electrical equipment or wiring, such as your utility box or swimming pool equipment
• Check trees near your garden if you’re being pestered during the day. Scout wasps often alert the nest to sources of food commonly found in gardens.

If You Find a Nest, Should You Leave It Aline?

While it may make sense to remove a wasp nest near your front door, porch or garage, some wasp nests can be very beneficial, especially if you spend time gardening or are plagued by other pests. Even though wasps can be intimidating (and painful), they are also incredible predators of other pests. Unless the nest is actively bothering you or causing you to run away from your front door each morning, you may want to consider allowing the nest to remain – at a reasonable size – to help control other pests.

How to Remove a Nest

The adult female Lone Star Tick displays a white spot near the center of her back while the male has white streaks or spots along the margin on the top side of its body. They are found throughout most of Florida and the Southeastern United States with populations spreading to the Midwest and the Northeast.

A female Lone Star Tick can lay up to 5000 eggs all in one sitting. Imagine seeing thousands of tiny seed ticks emerging all at one time, but that’s what happens day after day. You can see right away how populations can get out of control and why they are spreading to new areas so rapidly.

Lone Star Ticks have three life stages (larva, nymph and adult) and must feed on a host before moving on to the next stage. Upon hatching, the six legged larvae will feed mainly on mammals and birds. They rarely, if ever, feed on small rodents. The nymphs will feed on birds, small rodents and other mammals. Adult Lone Star Ticks host on medium to large mammals, but will also feed on wild turkeys and rodents.

Lone Star Ticks are known to carry several pathogens including Rickettsiosis, Ehrlichiosis and Tularemia. They have also been said, by some scientists, to be carriers of Southern Tick Associated Rash Illness (STARI).

There have been many red meat allergies reported over the past several years that are said to be associated with Lone Star Tick bites. Symptoms are swelling, hives, problem with breathing, diarrhea, vomiting and a drop in blood pressure. Scientists say that Lone Star Ticks have a sugar in their system that humans don’t called alpha-gal. This same sugar is found in red meat. When the tick bites, it transmits this sugar which triggers a response from our immune system which in turn sends out antibodies to deal with it. Then later, when a person eats red meat, an allergic reaction could develop.

If you’re concerned that you may have Lone Star Ticks or any other tick species on your property, contact the Florida Pest Control office nearest to you. We’ll be glad to come out and perform an inspection.

How many times have you seen a crowd of people scatter for cover at the mere sight of a single buzzing bee? Perhaps you were even one of those people. After all, nobody likes a bee sting. And with good reason – they hurt. For some people, bee stings can even be deadly! But this is very rare. With so much variance, it’s important to understand bee stings and the associated risk factors.

What Causes Bees to Sting?

Bees aren’t winged terrorists maliciously searching for their next victims. In fact, they are generally quite passive. Bees only sting when they feel their hive or themselves are being threatened. So, getting too close to or disturbing a hive or trying to physically assault a bee are really the only things likely to trigger their defense mechanism. Left alone, bees go innocently about their business, collecting nectar and spreading pollen. They are actually very beneficial insects that account for the pollination of many of our food crops, as well as producing delicious honey and several by-products that are useful to people.

For as passive as these little pollinators are most of the time, they do have a barbed stinger and will sting you if they’re provoked. When bees sting, they inject a small amount of toxin while simultaneously releasing alarm pheromones. These pheromones tell other bees to come quick, there’s danger in the area. This is where things can get dicey, as there can be 50,000 or more bees in just one beehive.

How Dangerous Are Bee Stings?

A single bee sting won’t cause much more than minor pain, irritation, and itching for most people. Multiple stings, on the other hand, can spell trouble. According to the USDA, the average healthy person can receive 10 bee stings per pound of body weight and live to tell the tale. What this means, in theory, is that a 180-pound adult could be stung 1800 times and potentially walk away from it with their life.

Multiple bee sting incidents are thankfully rare, as are deaths due to bee stings. On average, 40 people die each year from bee stings. In most of these cases, the victim had a pre-existing allergy to bee venom. For these people, a single sting can lead to anaphylactic shock, requiring emergency treatment. Often, people with known bee allergies carry injectable epinephrine to counteract the effects of a possible bee sting. If you are stung by a bee and it elicits a severe allergic response, seek medical attention immediately!

How to Treat a Bee Sting

For most people, however, one bee sting is not life-threatening, and treating it is fairly simple. The first thing to do is to determine whether the stinger is still embedded in the skin (it most likely will be). You can scrape it out with your fingernail, the edge of a credit card, or something similar. Never pull it out by pinching it with your fingers or tweezers. Doing so will squeeze more venom into your body. Once you’ve removed the stinger, wash the area with mild soap and cool water. Then ice the affected area in order to control swelling. If the amount of pain is still uncomfortable for you, spray an anesthetic on the wound that contains benzocaine to help numb the area. You may also want to take over-the-counter pain medication, but the pain really shouldn’t last long. And if you know you’re vulnerable, talk to a bee control specialist ASAP!

So, the next time you see a bee, remain calm and give her some space. Odds are, if you don’t mess with her (or her hive), she won’t mess with you. If you have any questions about bees or other stinging insects on your property, give us a call.

With Florida’s mild temperatures and abundant rainfall, life is spawning everywhere, especially when it comes to plants and insects. For example, when conditions are favorable you may notice an invasion of small black insects in your lawn which are about 1/4 inch long with two red lines across their backs. These invaders are called Spittlebugs.

Generally, Spittlebugs do not pose a major threat to Florida lawns. However, during abundant spring and summer rainfall along with high humidity, their population may increase considerably. Another factor that may contribute to their increase is excessive turf thatch.

The nymphs are white to yellow in color with a brown head. For protection, they surround themselves with a mass of white frothy spittle, hence the name Spittlebug.

Although both nymphs and adults feed on the turf, damage is unlikely. Feeding may cause a purple or white stripe along the grass blades. Because adult Spittlebugs are strong fliers, some may fly in from neighboring lawns. However, this does not indicate an infestation.

Although there is nothing you can do to prevent abundant rainfall, you can minimize infestation by reducing your irrigation. Also, thatch can be greatly reduced through Florida Pest Control’s Turf Aeration Program.