Things you'd rather not see on your outdoor speaker....

[herr_oberst]

Sheesh. I couldn't tell for sure if this was dormant or abandoned or not, and I'm not a fan of wasps...

Couldn't shoot it with a bomb, just had to nad up and hope for the best....

(notice how they even filled up the little brass mounting holes in the label area with mud!)

(notice, too, how I left the screen door open so they could torment me further if they so decided!)

I wonder if they managed to go even deeper inside the speaker box
...

[masraum]

mud daubers, just knock the thing off and clean up what's left. I'm not a fan of wasps, hornets, bees, etc, but mud daubers seem to be the mild of the bunch except maybe for bees.

[Rick V]

Dude, that is a simple fix. Just crank some Deftones at max volume they will leave

[yetibone]

The black, and steel blue mud daubbers aren't defensive, or aggressive at all. I knock down those blob type nests, and the ones they make in rows every summer.

I bet there's currently at least 50 rows of mud daubber nests under the entrance door awning at the shop that I neglected to evict from last year. I remember last fall that somebody made a comment about them, so I should probably do something about it...

If they make a paper nest (red wasps), or even worse a paper hive (hornets!!!), be careful. Red wasps are mildly aggressive if they're disturbed, but hornets are ALWAYS looking to screw up your program!! They'll chase you down when you fk wid 'em!!

Brakleen in the red can is a highly effective weapon against all of the flying bringers of doom. Green can Brakleen is also effective, but will dissolve most kinds of paint, so you can only hose 'em down with that if you don't have to worry about the surface they're building on. Red can Brakleen won't hurt paint.

Of course, hornet killer always works really well, too.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by yetibone

The black, and steel blue mud daubbers aren't defensive, or aggressive at all. I knock down those blob type nests, and the ones they make in rows every summer.

I bet there's currently at least 50 rows of mud daubber nests under the entrance door awning at the shop that I neglected to evict from last year. I remember last fall that somebody made a comment about them, so I should probably do something about it...

If they make a paper nest (red wasps), or even worse a paper hive (hornets!!!), be careful. Red wasps are mildly aggressive if they're disturbed, but hornets are ALWAYS looking to screw up your program!! They'll chase you down when you fk wid 'em!!

Brakleen in the red can is a highly effective weapon against all of the flying bringers of doom. Green can Brakleen is also effective, but will dissolve most kinds of paint, so you can only hose 'em down with that if you don't have to worry about the surface they're building on. Red can Brakleen won't hurt paint.

Of course, hornet killer always works really well, too.

All good to know!

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Rick V

Dude, that is a simple fix. Just crank some Deftones at max volume they will leave

I tried nickleback. Maybe that's why it's empty.

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by Rick V

Dude, that is a simple fix. Just crank some Deftones at max volume they will leave

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I tried nickleback. Maybe that's why it's empty.

ZING!!!

[Rick V]

Yeah but I actually like The Deftones.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by Rick V

Yeah but I actually like The Deftones.

Me too, and I just assume that anything that decides to live with me shares my impeccable taste!

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

I tried nickleback. Maybe that's why it's empty.

Kaisen, is that you?

[cashflyer]

Though mud daubers do sting spiders to harvest them, mud daubers rarely ever sting humans. Usually it is only from being caught in clothing and believing itself to be unable to escape.

Mud dauber nests are occasionally considered unsightly nuisances on human buildings. However, before you eradicate your mud dauber nests, remember that these relatively harmless insects comb the environment for spiders, including black widows.

The black-and-yellow mud dauber (Sceliphron caementarium) constructs nest cells side by side or on top of one another; the final product is rounded and about the size of a lemon or a fist.

The organ pipe mud dauber (Trypoxylon politum) is black with blue wings, with white “stockings” on the hind legs. It makes vertical, parallel rows of cells; the finished product looks like a pipe organ.

The blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) is a pretty metallic blue; it does not build nests but instead reuses those of one of the other species. Instead of mud, it carries water, which it uses to soften and remodel the mud of the older nests.

[Baz]

[yetibone]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Though mud daubers do sting spiders to harvest them, mud daubers rarely ever sting humans. Usually it is only from being caught in clothing and believing itself to be unable to escape.

Mud dauber nests are occasionally considered unsightly nuisances on human buildings. However, before you eradicate your mud dauber nests, remember that these relatively harmless insects comb the environment for spiders, including black widows.

The black-and-yellow mud dauber (Sceliphron caementarium) constructs nest cells side by side or on top of one another; the final product is rounded and about the size of a lemon or a fist.

The organ pipe mud dauber (Trypoxylon politum) is black with blue wings, with white “stockings” on the hind legs. It makes vertical, parallel rows of cells; the finished product looks like a pipe organ.

The blue mud dauber (Chalybion californicum) is a pretty metallic blue; it does not build nests but instead reuses those of one of the other species. Instead of mud, it carries water, which it uses to soften and remodel the mud of the older nests.

How 'bout that. I knew that most all of them ate spiders, but I didn't know that the steel blues were squatters. I guess that explains why some of the rows of organ pipes change to a darker color during the summer. They're remodeling an old house.

I only knock off the ones that build inside the shop, in my home garage, under the vehicles I fix, or under the awning at work when customers get the heebie-jeebies. I had to rehab a motorhome last year that had organ pipe nests that were 4 rows deep on the differential cover. That stack of nests was at least a 3 pounder!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cashflyer

Though mud daubers do sting spiders to harvest them, ....

Hmm, thanks for the cool info. What about the nests that are one tiny little sphere about the size of a grape with a little trumpet shaped door.

[cashflyer]

Could be a single chamber from the black and yellow mud dauber...

Or it could be a potter wasp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potter_wasp

[masraum]

Cool, thanks. Yep, that's what I often see.

[cashflyer]

You can (as far as I know) always tell the difference between a mud dauber and a wasp by the connection between the thorax and abdomen. The wasp abdomen is attached almost directly to the thorax, whereas the mud dauber has a slender waist between the thorax and abdomen.

Mud dauber:


Flying a-hole; the Yellow Jacket (which is also a wasp):

[David]

I get those all the time and of course they completely block the bass port.

[doug_porsche]

I don't know how the EPA lets us buy it..

Try aerosol break cleaner.

It don't much care about family linage.

[aschen]

we have had tons of red paper wasps this year and last. They get in the house pretty frequently.

It is amazing how NOT aggressive they are. They dont seem to have any interest in humans, but Im still worried my baby girl will accidentally get stung.

Anything I can do other than soak their nests in wasp killer spray?