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Size: 5/8 to 1 inch (14-25.4mm) Color:Black and yellow or black and white. Description Yellow jackets are wasps with a definite waist. They fold their wings lengthwise when at rest. Like all wasps, yellow jackets prey on a wide variety of insects and other arthropods. Yellow jackets are unusual in that workers also forage on foods consumed by people, especially sweets and meats. Habitat Yellow jacket wasps are often pests in recreational areas in Virginia from late summer until early autumn. Life Cycle In the fall, wasp colonies have attained their largest size, and in the vicinity of numerous colonies, foraging workers may become serious pests as they search for food-usually food that is eaten or discarded by people. Type of Damage If a colony is disturbed, worker yellow jackets will aggressively defend their colony by stinging. May create a nuisance and life-threatening stinging episodes. For most of us a sting may be just a temporary painful experience, but for allergic individuals a single sting may result in a serious reaction. Control Management of yellow jacket foragers: destruction of all yellow jackets in and around a recreational area is advised to reduce the possibility of a dangerous sting. Nests should be located during the day when the workers are going and coming on a regular basis; the location of the nest should be marked. Return late at night to treat the nest with a liquid insecticide. The destruction of individual colonies may not eliminate all the yellow jacket workers from an area in which food is available. This is because yellow jackets are capable of flying a mile from their colonies in search of food. Effective management of yellow jackets can be achieved by:
The following measures are of no value in reducing the number of yellow jacket foragers in an area:
Recent surveys indicate that between 0.5 and 1.0 percent of the population may be allergic to yellow-jacket venom. Call Vanish Pest Control to arrange for one of our Bay Area yellow jackets removal experts to come help you exterminate yellow jackets from your area. |
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