WHY ARE HORNETS AND YELLOW JACKETS SO AGGRESSIVE DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS?

The summer months in the Las Vegas Valley are known to be warm and monsoon-like rains can happen at any time – also yellow jackets and hornets seem to be more aggressive. Why???

Many of the hornet and yellow jacket species that sting us are social insects. Hornets and yellow jackets must start their colonies from scratch every year. In spring, a young fertilized queen emerges from winter dormancy and builds a new nest by herself out of wood pulp. Her lonely labor continues until she’s raised her first brood of worker daughters, which dutifully take over caring for the next rounds of eggs, larvae, and pupae. And there are many next rounds: A colony of hornets or yellow jackets may grow to 1,000 workers, says entomologist Donald Lewis of Iowa State University —although you wouldn’t know it for most of the summer.

Until midsummer, most human and wasp encounters happen because people disturb the colony’s nest. Bald-faced hornets like making their nests in trees and under the eaves of houses while paper wasps favor exposed beams. Yellow jackets can be particularly troublesome: They build their homes inside the walls of our homes, as well as holes in the ground—often where people walk and mow grass.

But things change for these communal, defense-minded wasps when the queen lays her final broods, which mature into fertile kings and queens that fly away to eventually form their own colonies. Once those fertile siblings leave the nest in late summer and early fall, their left-behind sisters no longer must spend time defending the colony and hunting for food for the young. They only need to worry about defending themselves and eating what they want—which is why August and September have the most yellow jacket stings. The workers and queens survive at most until mid to late autumn; only the fertilized queens survive over winter.

If you find a nest on your property – contact a licensed pest control professional immediately.

GLOBAL PEST SERVICES in Las Vegas is a licensed pest control company that is qualified to handle all your pest elimination needs. Call our office at 702-657-0091 or go to our web site- to speak with us for all your pest control needs. Get a quote now!

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