Post #4068958

2026-07-24 17:42 UTC

Important pollinator content!! Most wasps are way less aggressive than people think and they're doing a lot of important work in our shared environment. A wasp nest that's built directly on your home may unfortunately need removing, but if they're settled a good ways away from you, or you just encounter them foraging, you can just leave them be and they probably won't bother you.

Replies (3)

@PallasRiot@social.treehouse.systems 2026-07-24 17:48

Wasps can be foraging for lots of things that may not be intuitive to you: some will be attracted to very dry, damaged wood because they can collect tiny splinters to make their paper nests out of, some will be attracted to evergreens for resin and sap, some will be attracted to your family barbecue because they're hunting for protein. Foraging wasps are often pretty placid, and are very unlikely to be hostile. I've literally let foraging wasps climb across my hands, they seriously aren't that stressed if they aren't protecting their nests.

Open ##4068957
@EricLawton@kolektiva.social 2026-07-24 18:39

@PallasRiot@social.treehouse.systems FWIW: We used to get large wasps' nests hanging very close to our front door. My wife is severely allergic to their stings. So we hung paper decoy nests close to our doors. Problem solved. Haven't had one near the house, since, for ~10 years. YMMV: this person disagrees https://askentomologists.com/2020/07/14/do-wasp-nest-decoys-work/

Open ##4312458
@jmeowmeow@hachyderm.io 2026-07-24 18:47

@PallasRiot@social.treehouse.systems We had wasps under our roof for a season. They were relatively chill and tolerant of me capturing them under a jar for release if they mistakenly took the wrong way out of the nest and ended up in the house. Would not host again, but was mostly "oh right, wasps?" and checking the shower curtain.

Open ##4312462