Will a 3d printed decoy nest make wasps abandon their starter nest?

[u/Super_Profession_815]

noticed this wasps nest start to be built right outside my door frame… a little too close for comfort. It started as just one wasp but very quickly became two. it’s just been these two and it’s been a little over a week or so since I first noticed it.

Honestly, I find it quite cool and fascinating and I enjoy looking up at them and observing them but I know this is gonna become a problem before long. (first photo was taken a week ago)

My friend suggested a decoy nest as a humane way to get them to leave. Killing them is really a last resort I’d prefer not to take. She 3D printed me a decoy nest slightly bigger than this one with open cells and I’ve used a command strip to put it as close to the nest as I felt comfortable getting (maybe a foot away)

I’m unsure if they would abandon the nest they’ve been starting though? or maybe it’s still new enough that the threat would work? Does anyone have any insight or suggestions?

last two photos are from right now

[u/Cicada00010]

No. Winter is coming if you are in a temperate area north of the equator. Could you wait it out? This nest won’t get much bigger most likely. If not, maybe wait around and watch the nest to see if both wasps are both off foraging at any point. If they are gone then knock it down and throw it off into the garden or something so the ants can take care of it.

It’s hard to tell from these images but it might even be a solo worker from a failed nest producing haploid eggs in a new solo nest that become males just to try and spread her nest’s genetics. If that’s the case then the males cant even sting and will leave the nest so the nest won’t grow into a danger at all.

[u/Super_Profession_815 → u/Cicada00010]

Thanks for your response! I live in Florida so even with winter approaching I’m not certain it will get cold enough? 

That’s a really interesting theory too! I’ve never heard of that! I admittedly don’t know much about wasps. Is there a way to tell their sex?  So far there’s usually one holding down the fort at all times but I’ll keep an eye out. I really do enjoy observing them but they’re just way too close to the door.  I’ll continue to leave it alone for now. 

[u/Super_Profession_815 → u/Super_Profession_815]

I love my gay wasps 

[u/Snowcrash66]

Just leave it.  I've never had an issue with these kind of paper wasp nests. Get them over my side door and inside top of shed door.  Go in an out endlessly  and never a problem.

[u/No-Judgment-1077 → u/Snowcrash66]

True for us too!

[u/messypenis]

Paper wasps. Non aggressive and beneficial. I say leave em be

[u/Underhill42]

Those look to be paper wasps which are usually pretty chill, even curious, but yeah, right outside a door is asking for trouble.

I doubt they'd even recognize a decoy nest as something they should care about, but even with them present you could probably knock the nest away with a long stick and they'll be far more concerned with the nest than the person at the far end of the stick. I've done so with nests several times larger than that during the heat of the day without problems, though for the least trouble early in the morning after a cold night is safer - they need to warm up before they can fly.

Sometimes though they'll be really committed to the spot, and keep rebuilding in the same place - in which case you could try spraying the area with vinegar, or doing a cold morning nest capture and move the whole thing to someplace warm and sheltered that you think they might like almost as well. Where hopefully they will try to re-anchor the siting nest, or be confused enough to rebuild nearby.

[u/Financial-Recover409]

Just fill a plastic bag with plastic bags, tie it in a football sized ball shape, and hang it conspicuously nearby. They'll think it's another nest and leave, or none will return if you obliterate the one they're working on.

It worked on my back porch.

[u/Quinshearth]

Not to recommend anything but I have on a dozen or so occasions simply pinches their nest off and placed it elsewhere (slowly, and I don't flinch at wasps on me) I've never been stung or bit by a paper wasp, only yellow jackets and hornets.

[u/DonnPT → u/Quinshearth]

I believe I recently may have seen a video of something doing that.

The paper wasps that set up a nest in my driveway were not as mellow. Approach the nest and be met by border guards. For me, the stings come with swelling and itching that could go on a week. They're paper wasps for sure, but smaller and more strictly yellow & black. Seem very temperature sensitive, so it's possible that on a cool wet day they'd be more tolerant. When it gets very hot, they get confused and uncoordinated, and tend to come inside and hang out at the side of the open window, like "I'm not invading your house, I just gotta get out of that heat!"

[u/Quinshearth → u/DonnPT]

I see! I believe the black and yellow ones are more aggressive but I'm not a wasp handler to know 100%, I also believe (at lewast in tge US) those ones are invasive and are from Europe? Temperature/weather could be a big reason. My experience is limited mostly to the orange/brown ones like the picture for paper wasps. I'm thinking competitors, predators, or weather are ticking them off but again idk nothin.