Mowing the Lawn? Trimming the Hedges? Be Careful! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

       Remember the fairly mild winter we had, and all that nice warm, sunny weather we got back in April, and May. Well, that was the perfect storm for all those yellow jacket and white faced hornet queens that left their nests last fall and went dormant for the winter. They came out of winter dormancy about a month early to start their new nests for this year and we have had no cool weather to slow them down. I have already been getting calls for them. The nests are already about the size of an orange or grapefruit. They normally don't get that big until the end of July, so they seem to be about 4-5 weeks ahead of schedule. I mentioned mowing the lawn because yellow jackets will nest in the ground, and a lot of people find them (very painfully) with the lawn mower when they run over their nest. They will also build gray paper enclosed nests in shrubs, trees, and on houses, and can also nest within the structure of a building. White faced hornets build the same type of nest in the same places as yellow jackets except they never nest in the ground.
       Don't confuse yellow jackets with Mediterranean wasps which are totally different. The differences can be found at our website:    www.nfpestcont.com

I Saw a Bat!

Most people have heard or read about "White Nose Syndrome" which is killing off thousands of overwintering bats. Well, it didn't get all of them. The other day I was doing a mouse job at a house, and as I was poking around the attic, I told the customer that he had bat droppings on the floor around his chimney. He said "I know and there it is now". I looked up and there was a bat flying around the attic. I asked the customer if he wanted to get rid of it, and he said, "Nah, it's up here all the time and I don't mind having it around". How many people do you know who would be screaming, barricaded in their bedrooms, with a towel over their head? While I wouldn't want bats or any other animal in my attic, it was refreshing to see this kind of attitude towards them.