Oh my God! There is a really really big yellow-jacket in my house!

[Mutley]

:cry: :scared: :cry: :yoiks: :cry: :scared: :cry: :yoiks:

Someone come get it out!

[BikeWriter]

1. Ack! Do you have any hairspray? It works.

[Mutley]

2. No. I don't want to kill it anyway.

I just want it to go back outside where it belongs. I tried to catch it in a cup but it freaks me out too much. :scared:

[supernova]

3. It might be a hornet

rather than a yellow jacket. If it is quickly changing position rather than randomly flying around, it's a hornet. They look like yellow jackets.

Not to alarm you or anything. :P

Do you have any bug spray? That's what I use if one gets in the house. Or Try to shoo it into a room with an open window and close the door.

[Mutley]

4. It is quickly changing position.

As close as I can get to it it looks like this.



I don't want to kill it. I just want it to go back outside. My balcony door is open but it's not taking the bait. x(

[billyskank]

18. Wow that was a damn good drawing!!

Fast, too. :P

[Mutley]

24. Yeah. I drew that.

Right. Exactly, billy! :P

[billyskank]

26. You didn't?

:o

[Mutley]

27. No. Yes.

I'm really a genius in disguise. :7

[Mutley]

5. I think it's gone.

Phew!!

Or it's waiting to jump out and get me. :P

[ScreamingMeemie]

6. Yikes!!!!!

I hate stingy things...otherwise I'd help. :scared:

[Mutley]

7. I think he left, anyway.

He realized this is not a safe haven for him. :P

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. Either that...or he's calling for backup...

:hide:

[Mutley]

9. Oh my goodness.

Where's the "faint" smilie when you need one? x(

[BikeWriter]

10. You mean this one?

[Mutley]

11. Absolutely perfect.

You're always looking out for me BikeWriter. :pals: :D

[BikeWriter]

12. Not a problem, Sweety.

:pals:

[ashling]

13. A Yellow jacket?

Give it to Good Will. A yellow jacket is definitely a fashion faux pas - unless of course you are a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, in which case you are past help.

[Mutley]

15. ...

Smartass. :P :D

[Deep13]

14. wasp nomenclature

yellow jacket- small wasp that lives in the ground. Pretty aggressive.

paper wasp- yellow and black wasp that lives under eaves building honey-combed paper nests.

hornet- a brown wasp that builds round, enclosed paper nests.

mud wasp- dark or blueish colored wasp, similar in color to a hornet, with long, thin wings. They live in hardened mud nests often in barns and sheds.

white-tailed wasp- large black wasp with white tail and face. Aggressive. Nests are similar to hornet nests.

[Mutley]

16. Well, it was yellow and black

but I have no idea where it lives.

[B3Nut]

17. Just about all yellow/black vespids in the US

are in the Yellowjackets classification (genus Vespula). There is only one species of hornet in the US, the European Hornet (Vespa Crabro) and is rather rare, and not as bellicose as members of the yellowjacket group. Yellowjackets are mostly ground-dwelling or build nests inside structures, only two species build aerial nests in the US, Dolichovespula Aerenaria (aerial yellowjacket) and the bald-faced hornet Dolichovespula Maculata(grayish-white and black, not a true hornet but a yellowjacket with no yellow). The poster a few posts up who referred to a "white-tailed wasp" was doubtless referring to d. maculata.

Right now you'll be seeing foundresses (queens) emerging from overwintering and searching for places to build a colony. It'll be a few weeks before you start seeing workers. Males generally don't show up until late summer/early fall, their only purpose is to mate with a queen and kick the bucket after about a week.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[Mutley]

21. Thanks for the info.

This one was certainly very big.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Suthuhn nomenclature:

Mud wasp = dirt dobber.

:popcorn:

[Sanity Claws]

20. A yellow jacket? Is that like a red coat?

[Mutley]

22. Yes. Yes indeed.

:D

[hfojvt]

23. I have been known to throw towels over them

and carry them outside.

Boy, they sure do get angry and buzz. I tell them "chill out, dude, I could squash you like a bug"

[Mutley]

25. Good idea for the next time one invades my space.

:D Thanks.

[Duer 157099]

28. You people are so tolerant

I have a rule about critters that inadvertantly get inside my house, which is that I give myself full permission to end their life. Most of the time I don't do so, because I capture and escort outside when possible.

HOWEVER, I will make an exception for these beasts you talk about -- hornets or wasps or whateverthehellthey'recalled. I don't like any flying buzzing things, but I've managed to tamper down my anti-bee sentiments because they are such productive and wonderful little guys.

But wasps??? What good are they? I just watched a show on Nat'l Geographic channel about how hornets/wasps/something will attack a bee hive and massacre 30,000 bees in a few hours, with just a handful of their buddies, and then steal the honey and the bee larvae.

This is war! I side with the honey bees!

[Mutley]

29. I don't know what their purpose is.

Perhaps to keep the bee population down? :shrug:

[tinfoilinfor2005]

30. Not to mention, most WASPS are republicans.

Nasty little things.

[Duer 157099]

31. LOL, good one

I was going to compare them to republicans just because of how loathesome they are, but you really nailed it!

[Ryano42]

32. As a kid, our neighbor...

said his abandoned cars were infested with the terrifying and MEAN "Pusher Wasps" who not only stung but were powerful enough to knock a kid down!!! :scared:

It made SO fearful of bees and wasps that it ruined things like cookouts and outings becasue of me running and SCREAMING around if I heard a buzz anywhere! :o

Only years later I got over it (mostly) and later realized he wanted to be safe and not mess around in some old junk! :blush:

[Mutley]

33. That's awful!

:hug:

I don't think I will ever get over my bee phobia.

[Ryano42]

34. I now try to Zen it...

and stay calm even if they land on me. I am totally OK with bees because I just keep thinking "he's just doing his job looking for a flower" :)

:hug:

[Mutley]

35. Unless you get the ones who come after you just for fun.

Which I've experienced, thank you. :yoiks:

[Duer 157099]

36. Here's what got me over mine:

and mine was BAAAAD too, I mean, jump up and run around with arms flailing, that kind of bad.

One day as I was driving with the window open, a bee flew in. I knew I was at risk of a horrible car accident if I succumbed to my natural instincts. So I willed myself to be calm and convinced myself that the worst that could happen is that it would sting me and it'd pinch a little bit, but that crashing my car would probably hurt waaaay way more.

Ever since then, I've been able to manage fairly well (but this is only with BEES -- wasps, all bets are off)

[Mutley]

37. When I was a kid

My family was taking a road trip. My mother was driving. This huge bee/wasp/whatever-it-was flew in the window. My mother very quickly pulled to the side of the road and we all jumped out of the car while it was still rolling a little bit (only a few more feet, but still). We then waited on the side of the road for half an hour until the bee finally flew out of the car. :D

[Ryano42]

38. Also!

Eat a nice peanutbutter and honey sandwich! Enjoy the GIFT of bees! :):9

Wasps...agree all bets are OFF! :hangover:

[Mutley]

39. I do like honey.

I can thank the bees for that.

No, wasps... :yoiks:

[B3Nut]

40. Wasps keep pest populations under control

Annoying as they can be, they are vital to the ecosystem.

I would prefer to release captured queens out in the country, however. I have been catching bumblebees in our screened-in porch (they get in through the open doors) and letting them back outside. Queen yellowjackets get frozen with canned air propellant (turn the can upside down and aim the spray tube at the wasp, they freeze. I've had 'em break into pieces upon hitting the floor.) I don't want a yellojacket colony in my house...dealt with that in an apartment. No thanks.

Todd in Beerbratistan

[ForrestGump]

41. You've got a Georgia Tech linebacker in your house?

:o

Call in the Bulldogs! They'll take care of it...

[SoCalDem]

42. Jacket too big..try a very hot dryer..and yellow looks good with navy blue

[Haole Girl]

43. A Yellow Jacket landed on my arm once, and since they always

..said to just be still and it "won't sting," well...you guess it, I stood there and just watched the little sucker stick it's stinger of a butt into me. OUCH! It was once of the more painful stings ever--even more so than the time a bumble bee got caught between my foot and sandal and stung me (that one really hurt, too).

[Rhiannon12866]

44. I know. I catch them in cups, too, and take them back outside.

I don't mind ants or spiders, but yellow-jackets and wasps freak me out, make the hair stand up on my arms, though I've managed to catch a few. If they're in the house, they are often pretty logy.
:scared:

But I share your apprehension. Last week I was stung on the hand by a wasp while in the supermarket. I wasn't sure, at first, what had hit me, until a guy who worked there saw it and stomped on it. Then he and the lady butcher from the meat section were all worried that I had allergies and would go into shock or something. That only made it worse!x(

[ContraBass Black]

45. Help is on the way.