You can hear the sinister buzz. You can spot the imposing nest. You’ve got a serious problem on your hands: A wasp infestation!

But you’re wondering: where did these guys come from? And even more: what attracted them?

Not only are we going to answer these questions but we’re also going to tell you how to get rid of these things. No more wasting time. Let’s go!

Things That Attract Wasps

Wasps are attracted to a wide variety of things. Some of the most common of these things include the following.

Sugar

Simply put, wasps love sugar. This is particularly true during the fall and winter months, though it will still attract them during the spring and summer months as well.

It doesn’t matter whether this sugar is naturally occurring or synthetically added, the wasps will flock to it. This makes everything from soda to candy to fruits to chocolate a target.

Meat

Wasps are fans of foods that are high in protein. As such, if they sense meat is in their general vicinity, they will swarm to it, and they will stick around.

As such, you need to be sure to keep trashed meats away from the outside of your home. Store your trash in a garage, shed, or basement until garbage day.

In addition, you need to keep an eye open while camping, barbecuing, and picnicking. At the very least, cease from leaving meat lying around for extended periods of time.

Gaps in Construction

Like most living creatures, wasps are looking for shelter. Once they find a suitable spot, they’ll start building a nest.

What constitutes a suitable spot for a wasp? In many cases, it’s a gap in a piece of construction, namely in a house or other building.

For instance, let’s say a small piece of your roof’s overhang comes loose. Wasps might deem this a good spot to start building. It provides a decent amount of protection from outsiders and is a fairly safe spot for a wasp to create a home.

Other areas that wasps might take advantage of include siding, shingles, air conditioner entryways, and light fixtures.

Insects

When it’s time for wasps to eat, they’re generally going to prey upon other insects. As such, if you have an excess of insects in one part of your yard, you’re likely going to attract wasps as well.

Areas that are commonly dense with insects include gardens, hedges, trees, and woodpiles. Insects tend to hang around weeds as well.

You can keep insects at bay by keeping your yard tidy. Mow the grass regularly, trim up your hedges, ensure that woodpiles are away from your home, and make an effort to neutralize weeds in your yard and garden.

Flowers

Wasps tend to be attracted to flowers as well. Not only do flowers contain nectar (which wasps eat) but they’re also sweetly scented, thus attracting wasps through smell also.

This is another reason that wasps are commonly found in gardens. They’re filled with flowers and so are essentially spotlights for wasps in their vicinity.

How to Get Rid of Wasps

Wasp extermination is not necessarily a difficult endeavor. However, it can be a painful (and dangerous) one. Nonetheless, if you follow these steps, you should be able to get rid of your wasps without a hitch.

Find Their Nests

First and foremost, you need to get out there and find the wasps’ nests. If there are enough wasps around for you to notice them on a regular basis, there is almost certainly a nest (or a few) nearby.

There are a few places in which wasps like to build nests. Trees are popular destinations; So too are the eaves of roofs; you might also find nests in fence posts, in damaged siding, in crawl spaces, and the like.

Wear Protective Clothing

Getting stung by a wasp isn’t fun. Getting stung by a bunch of wasps is downright dangerous. As such, before you set in to eliminate the wasp nests on your property, you need to put on protective clothing.

You don’t need anything specialized or high-tech. Just make sure that you don’t have any exposed skin. Wear a sweatshirt, long pants, a hat, shoes, and whatever else is necessary to cover your body. Think about wearing goggles and a scarf as well.

Prepare Your Poison

You’ve located the nests. You’ve put on the requisite clothing. Now, it’s time for you to prepare your poison.

This doesn’t need to be anything complex. In fact, you can use either boiling water or soapy water. Both will kill wasps upon impact and will do substantial damage to their nests.

Attack

Once your poison has been prepared, it will be time to attack. You don’t want to do this when wasps are swarming; you want to do it when they’re inside of the nest. The best time for this is nighttime.

Sneak up quietly, position yourself for an accurate pour, and let the water flow quickly. As soon as it’s gone, take off and high-tail it back into your home. You’ll have killed quite a few of the wasps on impact, and will have weakened many of the others.

Return the next night and repeat the process, doing so until all of the wasps are gone. As long as you’re persistent, this problem should be a thing of the past very soon.

Need Help With a Wasp Infestation?

Are you dealing with a wasp infestation? Need help doing away with it? If so and if you need wasp extermination in Bridgeport PA, we here at Pointe Pest Control are the people to see.

We’ve fought all types of pest infestations and can rid your house of wasps in no time. Our pest control team will leave your home in a safe, functional, and wasp-free manner.