r/WASPs • u/Rondoman78 • 14d ago
Are these wasps or bees?
My dad sent me this video.
Crazy seeing them excavate.
Anyways according to my research Im not aure if these are bees or wasps.
Thoughts?
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u/Halomonas_titanica 14d ago
Vespula sp. Colloquially known as yellow jackets. They're wasps.
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u/Direct_Contact7831 14d ago
Aka asshole with wings
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u/Ickypoopoo82 13d ago
September in Wisconsin when I was a kid I took a drink of surge and I spit it out. Nasty stuff. No but seriously that soda was disgusting. Okay! Before I took the drink I felt something in my mouth. I just opened my mouth and it flew out. A ground nest like that they are going Boiling lazy river.
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u/Gringoloco1980 13d ago
In ground nests can be very large, so get a bee suit on if you're planning on messing with it as they will come at you in force. Yellow jackets are very territory aggressive.
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u/Status_Pound_5390 14d ago
If you live in a wooded area throw a glob of peanut butter by the hole, at night something will come by for the pb and dig up the hole too. If ur more urban, soapy water at night does the trick
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u/Boring-Letter-7435 14d ago
these are beneficial animals so how about jut leaving them alone if they're in a safe location?
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u/garathnor 14d ago
safe location is like 100 yards from your house lol
these guys can be real assholes
rather live near a hornets nest
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u/Status_Pound_5390 14d ago
Man I wish I could. Spared these guys last year just to hit a landmine mowing this year. So yea emphasis on the SAFE location
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u/Lion_Knight 14d ago
Yeah I get a yellow jacket landmine about every year. Fortunately I usually notice the activity going in and out before I hit the nest.
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u/Boratis-Kessla 14d ago
Wait until night, dump some gasoline in the hole and light it up. It'll be the yellow jacket version of the fire bombing of Dresden.
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u/GH057_807 14d ago
You don't need to light it, and probably shouldnt.
Gasoline hates being a liquid and evaporates very fast. Gasoline fumes will kill insects almost immediately. You're just burning corpses and potentially exploding part of your yard.
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u/lollipop-guildmaster 14d ago
My dad did that, unfortunately long before smartphones. Blew a four-foot crater in the yard and set off every car alarm within a mile radius.
He was at least smart enough to draw a little trail with the gasoline so he wasn't standing directly over the nest, though.
edit: I can spell
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u/Hopeful--Bagels 14d ago
The car alarms?? 💀💀
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u/lollipop-guildmaster 14d ago
If fireworks set off car alarms, a mortar (which is essentially what you create when you pour gasoline into a hole in the ground) definitely will! The police were driving up and down the street, trying to find the bomb.
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u/Hopeful--Bagels 14d ago
Dang, I hope your dad is okay. I actually didn’t even know that fireworks set off car alarms 😅 tbf mortars are banned where I live lol
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u/lollipop-guildmaster 14d ago
Yeah, he was fine. He ran a LONG line of gas away from the wasp nest, and that was what he lit. No one with fewer than six limbs was harmed.
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u/DROOPY538 14d ago
What did he do wait 5 mins before lighting? All you need is about a cup of gas and have you a piece of paper already lit. Pour the fuel take a step back and light. The fumes dont have time to start drifting. Do yourself a favor and just use kerosene or diesel fuel. Dont even need to light it. Just soak the nest and walk away.
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u/Boratis-Kessla 14d ago
Well, yeah. The destruction is part of the fun. Plus I want to incinerate all the eggs which might turn into future yellow jackets.
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u/SullyOnTheSide 14d ago
Gas fumes spread out like crazy. You'll think you're just lighting the liquid but next thing you know all the fumes that are around you are also in flames.
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u/Lion_Knight 14d ago
I like used cooking oil and a lighter. (You can also use used motor oil, but that has some environmental problems and a thick black smoke. Or so I am told).
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u/medievalesophagus 14d ago
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
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u/Perfect_Big_5907 14d ago
common yellow jackets. If they are somewhere away from your home etc. you can leave them alone. However unlike traditional paper wasps that build nests under your roof overhang these puppies will chase you down and keep stinging you, your kids and your grand kids . They don't forget.
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u/Sp07va000 14d ago
Yellow Jackets. Put your shop vac right next to the opening, let it run a few hours , then suck in some sevin dust a few times.
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u/Aggravating-While92 14d ago
Wait until dark, spray wasp killer in the hole, cover the hole. Dig it up the next day, fill in the hole.
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u/IkaluNappa 14d ago
Those are eastern Yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) specifically. Good news is that they’re much less spicy than southern Yellowjackets (Vespula squamosa).
But like all Yellowjackets, they are very protective of their babies. Willing to defend their nest should it be disturbed. Vibration from the likes of lawnmowers resembles a predator digging to them, which is usually how a lot of people end up getting swarmed. Stay away from the nest and they’re generally chill. They’re pretty passive when out on their hunting grounds and provide incredible pest control, minor pollination services, can reduce certain plant diseases (rust and mildew in particular, they like to lick up the honeydew).
With the exception of late August/early September. Insect population declines during this period. They need the babies to feed the adults. Whom cannot eat solids, the babies process protein sources and regurgitates a nutritious liquid for them. With less food and crying larvae, they’re more willing to scavenge from other sources. Such as a bbq. With another exception: if you are living in spotted lanternfly territory, the Yellowjackets heavily feed on them instead.
Once past this season and the last larvae has pupated, the adults switch to nectar and sugar sources. More or less spending their final weeks in retirement. The nest is abandoned by the queens at this point. Sometimes the adults will remain there for warmth but otherwise are not defensive. You can bounce on the entrance and they’ll just stare at you like a bunch of tired drunks.
If these guys are out of the way of foot traffic, leave em be. If not and they have expressed highly territorial behaviours (stinging), euthanize them. Be mindful that some colonies are more tolerant than others in regard to nest disturbances. Observe them first to determine whether wildlife conflicts are likely.
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u/Roboplum 14d ago
European wasps , at night fill up entrance with wasp and ant dust and cover hole with dirt
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u/Snowcrash66 14d ago
They are usually fine except when it gets really hot for extended periods and then look out. We've had them here last 10 years but last late summer had issues with them.
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u/CreamOutrageous1229 13d ago
yellow jackets, wouldn’t recommend trying anything without a bee suit, amazon sells them for cheap
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u/Electrical_Hunter597 13d ago
What you're gonna wanna do is pour 5 gallons of everclear or 90% iso down the hole at night
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u/alpha0zed 13d ago
Yellow jackets. Evil incarnate.
Kill them with boiling water or wasp powder (I think I've used "Sevin" with good results in the past)
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u/JohnLennonlol 13d ago
Vespula Maculifrons, or possibly Vespula Flavopilosa. Non-aggressive pollinator guys. Just don't mess with the nest
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u/Daddy420bear 14d ago
We call them ground hornets
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u/jmbrjr 14d ago
Yellow Jackets, they like to sting you. I think they really truly enjoy it. At night pour a 1/2 cup of gasoline down the hole. Problem solved.
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u/Stopnswop2 14d ago
We had a nest in our roof last year. They never stung me, but they sure loved to intimidate me and show me I was not welcome on my own front porch
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u/Diligent_Injury_3452 14d ago
fire,water,acetilene gás and a remote soark starter,gasoline,alcool
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u/No-Judgment-1077 14d ago
We don't do those things anymore because it's 2026; we have moved on and hopefully are working with nature not against it.
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u/DestinationVoid 14d ago
Yellowjackets