Wasps are aggressive and easily provoked. It takes very little to set them off, which is why the DIY tricks doing the rounds online tend to do nothing but enrage the nest and put you at real risk of being stung or seriously hurt. The short version: don’t try to remove a wasps’ nest yourself.
Here are three of the most common DIY methods people try, and why every one of them is a bad idea.
Burning the nest
Setting fire to a wasps’ nest is both dangerous and useless. Nests are built from a thin, papery material that is extremely flammable, so lighting one can easily spread to your home, your business or a neighbouring building. The risk of serious burns to yourself is just as high.
And it doesn’t even work. The flames might kill a few wasps, but most will pour out of the nest the moment the fire starts, furious and ready to sting anyone standing nearby.
Flooding the nest
Some sites suggest drowning a nest with water. If the nest is in your loft or anywhere inside the house, flooding it can cause serious water damage that costs far more to repair than calling out a specialist would have.
Like burning, flooding fails to clear the colony. A few wasps may drown, but the rest will abandon the nest quickly, leaving angry and agitated, and ready to attack anyone close by.
Bashing the nest
The third method people try is hitting the nest with a bat, racket or similar, the theory being that you’ll frighten the wasps into leaving. In reality you’ll just put them in a foul mood, and wasps in a foul mood sting.
It doesn’t get rid of them either. The wasps swarm out, attack whoever is nearby, then return and repair the damage, because the nest is made from their own chewed-up paper and patches up easily. Worse still, this method keeps you right next to the nest as the angry wasps emerge, which makes you their first target.
If there’s a wasps’ nest in or around your home or business, leave it to the professionals. Call our wasp removal team and we’ll clear the nest safely and effectively. We’re open every day except Christmas Day, from early until late.