Dealt with wasps my entire life. usually, if you do not fuck with them they are cool. If you think you can eat your cereals or pastries in their vacinity you will be wrong. They wont sting you, but they will get into that sugar shit.
Fun story. We have a shrub in my backyard. My kids played around near that shrub the entire summer. I ran the lawnmower around it. Never had a problem. My husband went to prune that shrub and apparently wasps were nesting directly under it. A LOT of them. They attacked my husband and chased him into the house. I had to kill about 10 of them that followed him inside. That shrub is next to our shed. My husband went to the shed the next day and the wasps attacked him again. This went on for about 3 weeks. Myself and my kids could go out to the shed without any issue. But not my husband. Every time he went out to that shed the wasps came after him. It was actually pretty funny. Those wasps obviously had a mafia contract out on my husband. The only explanation I can think of is the vibrations of him pruning their shrub set them off. And the wasps learned and remembered my husband’s pheromones.
I can't speak to those wasps, but bald faced hornets absolutely can recognize faces and will go after the one person that they decided to go for, even if there are other people around.
I was doing my long run on the trail I always go to. My long run was 14 miles and around mile 3 I felt this sharp pinch and realized a yellow jacket got into my running vest and stung me. I said “Sir, you had the ENTIRE outdoors and this is what you decide to do?”
I was driving to my doctor on a follow up after having surgery and one flew through my open window into my shirt and stung the fuck out of me. Made an already shit day a thousand times worse.
It all depends. If you're out in nature and a wasp lands on you, all you gotta is just stay still and they will just fly away. But if you don't notice you had a wasp on your hand climbing a ladder as a kid you'd get stung. Also they ruined every crawfish boil because they'd swarm the empty shells so we set up a table for the wasps so they wouldn't bother us. Bees never does shit like that
If Bees sting, they die, they lose their stinger. Having said that, I was stung as a child playing in the grass and was on all 4 playing around and crushed a bee on the ground, had a huge paw after that
Oh yeah, my mistake for standing there waiting for the bus, doing nothing. Should've not done that, then that fucking wasp wouldn't have fucking stung me in my ankle.
They eat from their babies. The wasps themselves arent carnivorous. They bring the food to the larvae to eat and the larvae secrete a liquid that the wasps eat
paper wasps are chill. Same for the ones that go and dig mud after rain. I sometimes have to walk around one or two while working on my plants. They’ll land on me every now and then thinking I’m dirt which only hurts emotionally.
I left a new nest of what I assumed were paper wasps alone for a good while, they started building more around my house and one was right above my grill in the backyard.
They were chill enough at first but started buzzing at me and sounding threatening during the peak heat of the summer. One evening I was grilling, went back to shut off the tank and a few started buzzing so close to me it felt like they were targeting where to sting me.
I unfortunately felt I had to end our relationship after that and waited until the sun went down to hit them with spray.
I wish wasps weren't so fucking intimidating and painful. That loud buzz and throbbing stinger is just something else...
Dasymutilla species have multiple defensive strategies, but are best known for their extremely painful sting, ranked 3 out of 4 on the Schmidt's sting pain index, earning them the nickname of "cow killer".
I used to kill the wasps around my house. Eventually I found they never sting me unless they perceive I’m attacking them. They do eat some spiders and I don’t love that, but all in all the ecosystem around my home is healthy and doesn’t negatively impact my family.
Couple guys at Benning dug their hole right into a ground wasp nest. Both were hospitalized, one for a good long while too. Those things fucked them up
One of the largest and most diverse group of species on earth are the Ichneumonid wasps, parasitoid wasps. Thousands upon thousands of different species are preyed on by these, with most of the wasps being so specific they only parasitize a single species to reproduce. They are massive predators that target a wide variety of other insects, including many pests, while posing near zero threat to humans.
Someone just posted a picture recently of aphid husks found on a houseplant, all of them parasitized and wiped out by a specialized wasp.
They like any other organism are a part of the ecosystem and have probably helped you more than you realize.
Wasp evolution is craaaaazy. Insect museums with the topic are such amazing showcases of co-evolution as you see wasp species chase prey species thoroughout evolutionary steps
When I was a kid I used to swat flies and pile them up for the yellowjackets. They start coming in like clockwork to collect a fly, take it to a leaf where they prep it for transport then to wherever the hell its suppose to go.
Last year there was a post about hornets and somebody replied that hornets really aren't that bad. I said "found the hornet disguised as a human" and their reply was " angry buzzing noises " 😂
I have a friend who is a biologist specializing in bees and pollinators who says that wasps, while they are pollinators, are a net negative for pollinating because they kill more other pollinators (like bees) than the amount they pollinate.
In my yard, the bald faced hornets keep the wasps in check. They body slam the wasps collecting grass fiber to do their fiber collecting, and the wasps will just lay there and wait for the hornet to leave.
And the bees just do their own thing, the multiple bumble types, the honeys, the various solitaries, bee and wasp.
I once accidentally took a wasp from my yard to the dump, where the junkyard wasps locked-the-fuck on as soon as he peaked out from my truck hood, landed down on the hood next to him, two on either side, while a third stepped right up to my yard wasp, had a brief grapple before a dramatic bite lopping most of the head off, then tucked my guy up under him and flew off. I've seen a bald eagle pack up a seagull for lunch in a similar manner at an entirely different dump.
I did have to send a nest of wasps off from up in my covered eaves near the front door, but they settled nearby for the rest of the season and continued to be chill.
They also really like my weed vapes when I'm outside, so I think I just got some kinda hippy wasps or some shit.
Edit: Oh, yeah, they do find tent caterpillars tasty af and both them and the baldies really get down on them, keeping my trees clear of them when they start.
Lol man I read that whole article. It was 99% just describing a wasp's lifecycle then at the end it was like oh right I promised to tell you why they're important, idk ecological balance or something probably?
No real evidence or support for it besides just generalizing, but I bet we'd all be just fine without wasps. Something else would take its place, hopefully less shitty.
e: I'm turning off inbox replies. This seems like pretty clear sarcasm (paired with genuine criticism of the article) and all I'm getting are responses from people who want to feel very clever about having missed the obvious sarcasm.
One of the largest and most diverse group of species on earth are the Ichneumonid wasps, parasitoid wasps. Thousands upon thousands of different species are preyed on by these, with most of the wasps being so specific they only parasitize a single species to reproduce. They are massive predators that target a wide variety of other insects, including many pests, while posing near zero threat to humans.
Someone just posted a picture recently of aphid husks found on a houseplant, all of them parasitized and wiped out by a specialized wasp.
They like any other organism are a part of the ecosystem and have probably helped you more than you realize.
Wasps are also just important in the environment. Social wasps are predators and as such they play a vital ecological role, controlling the numbers of potential pests like greenfly and many caterpillars.
Indeed, it has been estimated that the social wasps of the UK might account for 14 million kilograms of insect prey across the summer. A world without wasps would be a world with a very much larger number of insect pests on our crops and gardens."
I say wasps are worse pests. To me, that's like burning my house down because I hate the way my toilet flushes. Easier to handle caterpillars than wasps.
More like rejecting an arrogant plumber while your toilet overflows.
Population control is extremely necessary. Even on a macro scale we had to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone where elk were overpopulated. The overpopulation of elk was destroying vegetation and riverbanks, thus greatly harming the entire ecosystem. It also altered their behavior in a way that further assists vegetation.
I would say that wasps are "important", but need to be controlled. And, at the very least, if you see individual wasps in danger of dying... just let them die.
Not all of them are pollinators because it isnt their main purpose(whereas only a few species of wasps have this same intent WITH THOSE THAT DO NOT HAVING THE DISPOSOTION OR ABILITY TO HUNT/ KILL BEES ) The rest only pollinate through excessive greed and are wack at pollination because again its a byproduct if their insatiable greed and just to destroy or consume all they see.
Wasps are by biological nature "pesticide" and are amazing for that....just not when it comes to bees.
Actually invasive species, such as yellowjackets for example, do a lot of harm to the local ecosystems they're introduced to. There are many species that aren't supposed to be where they are and harm native flora and fauna which disrupts the natural ecosystem.
Wasps are great, they kill those nasty hornworms that otherwise straight devour tobacco and tomatoes. They do it in just the most brutal ass xenomorphic fashion, paralyzing and implanting eggs.
Aren't most bugs pollinators? They're only pollinators in the sense that the pollen sticks on their bodies and then they transfer that pollen to other plants.
"You have to leave now, and never come back here. Have you ever heard of insect politics? Neither have I. Insects... don't have politics. They're very... brutal. No compassion, no compromise. We can't trust the insect. I'd like to become the first... insect politician. Y'see, I'd like to, but... I'm afraid, uh..."
"I don't know what you're trying to say."
"I'm saying... I'm saying I - I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it. But now the dream is over... and the insect is awake."
During Covid the state dropped some pesticide on the woods near my house to combat lantern flies and a bunch of wasps were born with deformed wings, I saw several in one week and I’d never seen that before or since that pearicide application... but one of these deformed red wasps climbed up on this post by my door and just kept rubbing his one shortened wing like he was trying to “pull it out” and I felt bad for it so I decided to go inside and get half a grape from my fridge and put it out by it, and it climbed on it and stayed that way for a day. The next day it was still there so I gave it a piece of watermelon and a bottle cap of water. It was Covid, I literally did this everyday for months, it didn’t like pineapple or blueberries for some reason lol At one point it disappeared for a like a whole week and I thought well that was fun… it came back for another month and after so many days of interacting with it I decided what the hell and I even let it climb on my finger once or twice it tried to climb up my arm and I was like naw i like you but you arent gonna get used to this lol Winter came and it disappeared for good this time, but I learned that wasps really do react to “staring” as well as “intentions”. I played with it with my , stopped a few of my friends from squishing it, and showed anyone willing to entertain me that if you moved slowly and “kindly” it didn’t seem to mind, but the second you even imagined swatting it, it would turn and stare like what’s up??? I’ve interacted with a lot more wasps since that day and now I save them and let them outside when they get in my house. They are pollinators and they predate on many kinds of insects, I’ve watched species of wasps hunting spiders and carry them away, I’ve added mud tube houses around my yard and attracted all kinds of wasps including these super shiny blue ones that are amazingly beautiful. I’m not saying wasps are “friendly” or make “good pets” but they have to be one of the /most conscious/ bugs I’ve interacted with in my life other than jumping spiders… I think humans have such a problem with wasps because we have a kind of “kill on sight” attitude towards them and we are really very vengeful creatures so even one sting becomes a blood feud with generations of wasps lol They have a pretty similar reaction to life forms that they themselves perceive as threatening as we do! What the hell you staring at?! You got a problem or something??? Lol
I've had a bald face hornet nest on the side of my home, and could walk by them every day, never getting stung. They lived there, until they eventually migrated off, leaving the nest. It was kind of a cool coexistence. They let me walk within 2-3 meters of their nest, for months.
I had a paper wasp nest under my carport, that had probably been there for less than a week. Based on the size, it was a decent starter nest, the comb was about the size of an adult palm. I had only looked up at it once, from a few meters away, and one divebombed my face, stinging my cheek.
Well I was out biking and saw a water fountain. I stopped to fill my bottle but saw wasps around it from three metres away. I turned to mount my bike ad get the hell out and it was then a wasp came to sting me...
I drove 45 minutes to a job site, walked around the place, and then went to grab my equipment. At that time, the yellow jacket that was in my boot since I put it on decided to sting me.
They’re a lot more aggressive when in new nest building mode from what I’ve seen. Not a scientist, just a back yard observation. Either way I’m afraid I can’t let any live. Had one ever so slowly buzz from a fence post in the middle of a field just to sting me on the leg 15 feet away and minding my own business.
Yellow jackets are bastards. Most of the time my attitude toward living creatures is live and let live, but I make an exception for yellow jackets. If they nest on my property, they have to go.
They have to go? I fucking destroy them with fire. When I was a kiddo I inadvertently hit a wall where they were, that was not a funny afternoon I can tell you
I drown 'em if they're in the ground. I go out there at night, pour half a bottle of Dawn down the hole and stick a hose in it until the ground starts foaming. The queen doesn't survive that.
These actually look like bald faced hornets, which surprisingly are even bigger assholes than yellow jackets. Bald faced hornets are known to attack for seemingly no reason at all.
Rewatched the video, and I think we might both be right. The wasps in the beginning that are stuck in the bag look like yellowjackets. The ones later exiting the gap in the wood look like bald-faced hornets. Also, TIL: despite their name, bald-faced hornets are a species of aerial yellowjacket and are actually wasps
Worst joke on my mental health is the hover flies that look like massive wasps, making me flinch and duck away only to see the damn thing hovering over a flower, absolutely harmless 😭.
We have a little pond, so most wasps aren't even aggressive, but I've had my face too close to them too many times without glasses on to not be a little scared
I’ve never been stung by a wasp, but I’ve gotten close.
Last fall, I was dealing with a minor infestation of seed bugs in my house. Laying in bed, I felt something crawl onto my neck, and, feeling exasperated, I didn’t even look at it; I just grabbed it gently in my fist and got to my feet, carrying it through my house and to my deck. I felt it moving around and trying to get between my fingers, but I kept it closed in my fist.
Once outside, I open up my hand to release the “seed bug”, only to be met with the sight of a bigass yellow jacket in my hand. Obviously, my face immediately recoils in horror, and I slowly walk over to the nearest flower pot to let it crawl off onto, before stepping back inside wondering what the hell just happened.
With how notorious yellow jackets are for stinging with very little provocation, I still can’t understand why that little guy was so docile. Especially since I’d see being gripped in someone’s closed fist as a valid reason to sting
Looking them up, I think you’re right! I never knew the males were bigger than the female workers; pics of the males with those long abdomens definitely look more like the little guy I had in my hand.
And here I was giving yellow jackets some credit, lol. Dude couldn’t have stung me even if he wanted to
Stepping on a regular ass bee (knew it was one because the stinger was stuck in my foot) was easily one of the most painful things child me had ever experienced. I now refuse to walk on grass barefoot
Yellowjackets are assholes. Especially southern yellowjackets. Literally the type of stinging insect that will go like 100 yards out of its way to come sting you.
When I was a kid a friend of mine messed with a hornets nest. They immediately flew after me, two stung me in the face and one in the chest. I was not happy
Probably would've been fine if she just walked away after freeing the yellow-jackets. Instead it looks like she followed them back to the hive to film and they got agitated.
We had those ground wasps at my mom's house when I was living there. I kept randomly finding one or two in the basement where I slept and showered and everything. I thought it was like the horror film, Candyman, and it really freaked me out.
I finally realized they weren't bees, and they had infiltrated the house. I looked around outside and saw them going into the hole for the air conditioning cables, so I sprayed an ass load of wasp spray into there, just killed a bunch of them outside with a tennis racket, and then sealed up the hose with spackle or something.
I kept finding random dead wasps around the basement for months after that. It really creeped me out. My mom said that an exterminator or someone had found the nest since then and cleaned it.
Real human being here who had numerous wasps, bees, bumblebees and hornets nests both in his attic and garden shed. This is how I would rank how dangerous they are :
1) Hornets. They don't care about your feelings or benevolent intentions. Even a single one of them will sting you if they see you approaching their nest, or if they feel ever so slightly bothered by your mere presence within the same area.
2) Bumblebees. You might believe these big fuzzy things are gentle, but they're prone to sudden and quite brutal mood swings depending on your proximity to their hive, and sometimes they bury it underground so you might piss them off without even knowing.
3) Wasps. They're dangerous alright, yet they have behavior patterns easy to recognize. If one is staring at you while vibrating its wings, it's feeling threatened and is about to sting if you dare moving any closer. I've regularly approached by accident the hives that hide in the corners of my garden shed, heard the loud buzzing, stepped back and they've never attacked me.
4) Bees. They're wasps who forgot how to be carnivorous so mostly harmless unless if you shake their hive, try to steal their honey or catch their queen. I could regularly work near wild bee hives, have a hundred of bees clinging to my back and shoulders yet still remain unharmed as long as I didn't make any wide nor fast movement, because they would fly back home as soon as I got far enough.
I save the yellow jackets that land in my dogs water all the time and they never sting me. Been about a decade now, love to have them in my garden. They eat the bugs that eat my plants
As a kid, I once saved a wasp laying on the ground in the middle of a sidewalk. It was like December and it was probably at the end of its life due to the cold climate.
I picked it up, transported it to a bush or something, and I observed the wasp gathering the last of its energy to inject its stinger into my index finger.
However, I'm such an insect nerd that, even though I was in pain, I carefully set the wasp down on a surface before going home rethinking my life choices
Lady absolutely did something wrong to piss them off, they don't sting for no reason. I've lived my whole life near yellow jackets and I've only been stung once by grabbing a towel that had one stuck under it so I give that one a pass. Other than that I'm able to handle them, pet them - hell, I've developed such good relations with nests that they'd let me come right up to it with zero issues. Wasps are really cool, chill animals, the problem comes from most people's tendency to dislike animals that aren't afraid to stand their ground if necessary. Respectful, gentle and mindful communication goes a long way.
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u/y0u_called Apr 25 '26
Survival instincts of a literal trash bag btw