to be scared, very scared!?!

[TheApprenticeAdult]

I'll start by saying this has never happened in over 20 years of living in my house.

4 wasps appeared in my house this past week. FOUR!!! At most in previous years we've had 1, but over my 20+ yrs here that's like 1 wasp in 5+ yrs on average.

Between 2-2.5cm long so all queens from what I've read.

Do I have a nest or could they be scoping out to start one? I don't know what to do but the internet is filling me with fear. Need some helpful first hand experience before I run away until the winter.

Yes my cat is my other concern as she's old, nervous & has a heart condition. Wasps getting her attention would not be good.

I just don't know at what point you know you have an actual problem. I've not seen any outside yet coming & going although there was one sat on my doorstep when I left this morning thinking back but it looks smaller than the queens inside.

We've generally lived with wasps without problems - they tend to nest in the attic - but if you have vulnerabilities/allergies and need to get rid of them, give the council a call. They can deal with nests.

On the whole, wasps are not an issue until late summer, when they can be sleepy and confused.

On the whole, wasps are not an issue until late summer, when they can be sleepy and confused.

The queens secrete pheromones, which keep them reasonably docile, but towards the end of summer, this drops off. The workers go looking for sweet foods, often associated with fermenting fruit, which basically turns them into pissed up skinheads.

They go looking for a fight and it's in late summer that stings are most common. Once the queen leaves the nest to find somewhere to hibernate, they go completely kamikaze.

@ArabeIIaScott

'On the whole, wasps are not an issue until late summer, when they can be sleepy and confused.'

Oh my goodness, I think I might be a wasp!

I knew that doctor wasn't taking me seriously, well I'll be right back there and jab him on the back of the neck. Sleepy or not sleepy.

I got several 'drunk' wasps down my top whilst walking in the woods one day. 8 stings. It was awful but I don't know who suffered most, me or the man I ran up to taking my top off and asking him to check they were all gone!

I’ve just put the 5th one outside in 4 days, obviously they’re waking up from hibernation. They’re a minor inconvenience at this time of year, I fully expect to find more. I have never been stung by one at this time of year, they’re generally a bit dopey.
Every year they appear as if from nowhere; I have never found out where they hibernate and we’ve had the whole house decorated and new flooring since last autumn.

I'm really scared of wasps, wish I wasn't but they give me the absolute horrors. Had a nightmare with them on holiday last year so less than delighted to hear it's likely to be a bumper summer for them. I try to be friendly to all insects but wasps are proper dickheads.

The good thing is that they only use a nest for one year/season.

I had a nest above my bedroom window one year, stuck some fine netting (IKEA cheap curtain net) to it with self adhesive velcro, only needs one side - the hook side - and was able to open the window with no intruders.

We have nest every year somewhere in the house or garden, I don't kill them as they are pollinators and we need them, especially with bees dying out.

I would smoke them out rather than destroy them.

You should be more scared about not seeing wasps - that is truly terrifying.

Unless youre allergic then please try not to feed wasps, the stings (I have had many, many stings, often multiple at once due to my job) are actually fairly mild, the fear is greater than the actual pain.

Wasps are important pollinations, JUST as important as fluffy bees. Please don’t consider killing them, we are in the middle of a biodiversity crisis and the loss of insects is huge, more so than any other animal group. It’s also one of the most devastating.

I know wasps are a pain and if you’re allergic then I get it, but if not please, please don’t kill them. Let them do their job, it’s such a vital one.

We had hornets in our house, they make wasps look like harmless gnats!

I don’t know why it changed to feed, I mean kill!

Through the summer I usually turf out around 5 wasps a day. I'm more used to them now but sometimes they just crawl around the floor which worries me as I'd hate to stand on one. I would see how it goes over the next few weeks.

We have previously put up a fake bike near an old wasp's nest, which seemed to deter them from making a new nest.

A crumpled up/stuffed brown paper bag.

We hardly had any last year, usually have a nest in the eaves, we tend to leave them alone if they leave us alone. Last year was a poor year for the plum tree, which generally means this year will be a bumper crop so expect them back any day !

They'll have been hibernating in your loft OP. We start getting them on upstairs windows at this time of year, through to late May/early June every year. They have just woken up with the sun/warmth and are looking for a way out. We had 3 today. I just open a window and flick them out.

I inadvertently disturbed a wasp nest a couple of years ago while sorting out some old stuff in the garden. One minute there wasn't a wasp to be seen, the next I was running for my life being attacked as I went. I got indoors and stood fully clothed under the downstairs shower watching as they dropped from my hair in numbers. I ended up with more than 30 stings to my face and chest, and was VERY sore for about 3 days, the first day I couldn't bear to have anything over me, even a sheet as I was so sore. Thankfully I didn't have an allergic reaction, as I'd have probably been dead by the time we got to the hospital. So please everyone be VERY alert to wasp nests, and stay clear, as it was one of the most stressful and frightening experiences of my life.