Wasp Lifespan: Do Wasps Hibernate?
Like most insects, wasps don’t like winter. Wasps inspect for nicks and crevices to hide during the colder months. It turns out wasp queens may be hiding inside your home, and you wouldn’t even realise it. Scary!
The misconceptions surrounding the stinging bugs are many, and Fantastic Pest Control is here to bust them. So let’s answer all the important questions about wasps in the winter!
Where do wasps go while hibernating?
Wasps hibernate, but to be exact, the queen wasp hibernates and ordinary wasps die. Once the weather warms up, the queen wasp emerges from her long slumber and the first things she does are finding food and scouting for a place to build her next nest.
In the winter months, wasp queens can be hibernating anywhere from inside your property, to crevices in trees and rocks. The only thing needed is the place to be warm enough for them to hibernate and not freeze to death. Most of the times you won’t even notice they are there unless we’re blessed with nice winter weather.
Once the temperatures rise, you may find a wasp trying to navigate around your house. They are often slow, disorientated and easy to catch (or hit).
A single wasp won’t do you harm so you can try to catch it and release it outside safely. However, be careful because they are still capable of stinging when handled.
Check out: Are Cockroaches Attracted to Light?
Do wasps die off in the winter?
Yes, and no. As we mentioned, ordinary wasps die when the winter comes. However, wasps don’t freeze to death. They starve to death. Because of the lack of food in the winter, they are incapable of surviving.
However, queen wasps hibernate. They can spend the whole winter in hibernation, and once the weather warms up again, they go out on a mission to build a new hive (hopefully away from your property).
Queens are perfectly capable of hibernating through the harsh winter months. In fact, warm winters are bad for them because queen wasps get out of their hibernating spots fooled that winter has ended.
When they search for food, flowers aren’t flowering, and they starve to death, as there isn’t sufficient nutrition.
Can I safely remove a wasp nest in the winter?
We suggest you don’t remove a wasp nest by yourself, even if it’s in the winter and you suspect the wasps are hibernating. You never know if there are any living wasps still in there. The potential for you to harm yourself is huge, so we suggest you contact a professional to remove the wasp nest safely.
Burning the nest with fire is a big no-no! If there are any leftover wasps, then it would be hazardous, as wasps tend to get violent when their nest is threatened. There are cases of people dying from wasp stings.
Request a professional to come and inspect the nest; they can determine if it’s safe to handle. This way, everything will be disposed of accordingly as well.
Do wasps hibernate in houses?
Sometimes they do! It depends on what the queen wasp finds suitable for her hibernating place.
Most of the times, house owners aren’t disturbed by hibernating wasps. They find crevices somewhere outside the house that is warm enough and spends the winter in it.
Of course, there are cases where the wasp queen finds herself inside our properties. They can once again hibernate in places that we don’t see personally or choose a place such as our curtains.
It’s rare, but when you find a hibernating wasp, you can easily kill it. In fact, we recommend you do so, as once it wakes from its long slumber, the queen may find your house, or somewhere around your property, as the perfect place to build her next wasp nest.