You’re not alone in worrying about wasps in your yard. Wasps and other stinging insects send more than half a million people in the U.S. to the emergency room every year. Wasps are most active during late summer and early fall, so it’s important to start working on preventing them in spring. To have the best shot at not having wasps this year, it’s important to enlist the help of a professional Portland pest control company like Kanga Pest Control.

What Are Wasps?

There are many different types of wasps, even some that you might not know are wasps. For example, yellow jackets are wasps, and so are hornets. Here in Portland, we have several common types of wasps:

• Bald-faced hornets (aka black jackets) are a type of paper wasp. They’re noted for their coloring; rather than the yellow and black or brown markings of their cousins, they’re black and white, with most of the white occurring on their faces.
• Hornets are the biggest social wasps, living in nesting colonies with 200+ workers in each nest. They’re often reddish-brown and yellow instead of black and yellow.
• Mud daubers are known for building their nests out of a series of mud tubes. They have a thread-waisted body, which means they have a long, thin body part between their thorax and abdomen.
• Paper wasps build their nests out of a paper-like material, typically in the shape of an umbrella. They’re brown with yellow or red markings.
• Yellow jackets are yellow and black, with repeating patterns that look like stripes on their abdomen. They’re social wasps that make their nests underground.

The best way to get rid of wasps in Portland is with the help of a knowledgeable, experienced pest management company like Kanga Pest Control.

Some Wasps Can Be Dangerously Aggressive

The most dangerous wasps are the aggressive varieties, including yellow jackets, bald-faced hornets, paper wasps, and hornets — which can actually shoot their venom at you, often aiming for your eyes. The danger is especially high because these wasp species are social and attack when they feel trapped or their nest is threatened.

Yellow jackets are especially known for swarming when their nests are disturbed because they live underground. It’s easy for a child or a lawn mower to unknowingly run over a yellow jacket nest. When that happens, the yellow jackets swarm, delivering multiple stings each from many workers from the nest.

When these aggressive species sting, they inject venom that could cause something as harmless as a little pain or itching to a severe allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock. Allergic reactions and anaphylactic shock can both be fatal if left untreated for too long. It’s for this reason that we highly recommend you not try to get rid of any wasp nests on your property. Instead, call a Portland home pest control service like Kanga Pest Control immediately.

Five Environmentally Friendly Wasp Prevention Tips

Wasp prevention is achievable. You may not be able to prevent wasps from nesting on your property, but you can make your home as inhospitable as possible. Here are five wasp prevention tips that are also environmentally friendly.

1. Remove all water sources from your property. Get rid of bird baths and empty kiddy pools, fill in depressions in your yard where rainwater puddles, and fix leaky faucets or sprinkler systems. Also, make sure your gutters are draining appropriately with downspout extenders and splash stones diverting water away from your house.
2. Keep your garden and your firewood as far away from your house as possible to discourage wasps from building their nests under your eaves or roof overhangs.
3. Put tight-fitting lids on all your outside garbage bins and compost heaps so wasps aren’t attracted by food scraps. Keep your garbage bins at least six feet away from your home.
4. Maintain your yard. Cut tree branches back from your house. Trim bushes and shrubs away from your home, too. Get rid of overgrown vegetation, and clear away any lawn debris.
5. Partner with Kanga Pest Control for wasp control in Portland. We can point out areas that may be conducive to wasps building nests or being attracted to your property, and help you mitigate those factors.

Prevention is your best bet for keeping wasps away, but if you discover an active nest, it’s time to call in the pros.

Contact Us For The Best Wasp Control For Your Yard

Wasp control is not something you want to tackle on your own, and for your own safety, you should never try DIY solutions. The professionals at Kanga Pest Control have safety equipment and special gear to keep us safe when we remove wasp nests. We also have access to wasp control products that aren’t available to the general public. Contact us today for your free estimate.