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Attack Of The Yellowjacket


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We just had a rather horrifying experience out in the yard... one dog stuck her nose in a yellowjacket's nest in the ground. You can imagine what happened next. Luckily I was out there with them but I couldn't pull the little :censored off of them fast enough! Everyone's got at least one bite. :(

 

Two questions:

1) Should I just go ahead and give some benadryl "just in case"? Two of the dogs are seniors, and I'd rather not give them anything they don't need... but at the same time, they got it worse than the youngin'. :(

 

2) Anyone ever had experience in getting RID of an underground yellowjacket's nest (possibly nests)? I've been finding this little holes in our yard, and until tonight didn't realize what they were... we have at least a half dozen possible nests in the yard (probably not all of the active... but still).

 

Hopefully that's the end of the excitement for tonight.

With Buster Bloof (UCME Razorback 89B-51359) and Gingersnap Ginny (92D-59450). Missing Pepper, Berkeley, Ivy, Princess and Bauer at the bridge.

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Guest LolasMom
Oh NO!!!!!!!!!! Poor babies, poor you! :( I'd give benedryl ASAP too

 

Definitely. It shouldn't hurt them in a small dose.

Edited by LolasMom
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Yep, everyone's had their dose of benadryl. I had actually run out a while back and JUST picked up some more, thankfully!

 

I swear I still hear one buzzing around, but I can't find it. :unsure

With Buster Bloof (UCME Razorback 89B-51359) and Gingersnap Ginny (92D-59450). Missing Pepper, Berkeley, Ivy, Princess and Bauer at the bridge.

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Professional exterminator.

 

Get some plastic garden or contractor fencing and some stakes so you can temporarily fence off the nest area. Exterminator will use poison. It's the only way to kill them.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Professional exterminator.

 

Get some plastic garden or contractor fencing and some stakes so you can temporarily fence off the nest area. Exterminator will use poison. It's the only way to kill them.

 

That's what my dad said (when in trouble, call dad, right?).

 

He said if we tried to do it ourselves, to only approach at night. The problem is that our yard is close to an acre fenced... and of course the nest we hit is in the way back, where we'd never be able to see anything in the pitch black anyway, even with a flashlight!

 

I'll leash walk the dogs for now, until we can find a solution.

With Buster Bloof (UCME Razorback 89B-51359) and Gingersnap Ginny (92D-59450). Missing Pepper, Berkeley, Ivy, Princess and Bauer at the bridge.

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Get an exterminator!! Yellowjackets always have a sentinel watching - even at night! You HAVE to find that one (or sometimes 2) and kill them first or they'll release their alarm pheromone & then you're IN for it!!

 

Also - give maybe a 1/2 Benadryl. Cody got stung by hornets a few times and it was BAD!! In future, if you have any ammonia in the house, put that on the stings ASAP!! It neutralizes the venom protein! (Windex will work in a pinch... anyone see My Big Fat Greek Wedding? He was RIGHT!! - 'cause it has some ammonia in it...) That's IF you can find the sting. Ice on the sting helps too...

Jeannine with Merlin, the crazed tabby cat and his sister, Jasmine, the brat-cat

With GTsiggieFromJenn.jpgAngel Cody(Roving Gemini), and Weenie the tortie waiting at the Bridge

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And some of the holes in you yard might be from cicadas, so it might not be quite as infested with yellow jackets as it looks

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Marc and Myun plus Starbuck (the cat)
Pinky my AWOL girl, wherever you are, I miss you.
Angels Honey (6/30/99-11/3/11) Nadia (5/11/99-6/4/12) Kara (6/5/99-7/17/12) Cleo (4/13/2000-4/19/2014)

Antnee (12/1/2002=2/20/17)

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Cicada-killer wasps also make large-ish holes. They are enormous and scary-looking but not very aggressive; you may have more than one burrowing in your yard but they don't make multiple-bee nests the way yellow jackets and other ground bees do.

 

When I had ground-nesting bees, the exterminator came out in daylight, found all the entrances, and treated them all. He chose not to wear his bee suit but he had one on his truck. I'd've worn it :lol . He said that he might have to come treat a second time, but the first time did it for us.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Ugh, I feel for you. The day of my fourth of July party I was out getting my deck ready, hanging lights, etc. when something started swarming around me. I moved away, then kept working. Eventually I made my way back to the same area (whatever was swarming was gone) and suddenly, bam, I was stung. Only then did I do some research and learn that yellowjackets are really nasty about defending their nests. Turns out they had just started building it that morning so there were really only a few of them and yet I still got it.

 

Since I had a group of friends coming over to watch fireworks FROM MY DECK I went to Lowe's and bought several bottles of wasp/hornet killer and came back and drowned those :censored :censored :censored! But I was able to do it from inside my house, with my arm just sticking out through the sliding door. No way I'd mess with a huge nest in my yard, even at night! Hope the pups are okay!

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Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart

"The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong."

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i had a swarm build a nest under the roof tiles above my front door, they didn't like you coming in or out the door day or nite, any little vibration & they'd go for you. i got stung, so did blue. millie managed to avoid them. had the exterminators out next day, cost me £50 ($100) but well worth it. once had a swarm of bumble bees - of all things - make a home in my attic. they didn't sting anyone, but would make a racket at any little noise we made in the bedroom. exterminator again. he would NOT go into the attic, sprayed stuff in thru a hole from outside where they were getting in.

 

i don't mind bugs that are quiet and well behaved and know their place, noisy belligerent insect neighbors get the chop.

 

 

Regards,
Wayne Kroncke

CAVE CANEM RADIX LECTI ET SEMPER PARATUS
Vegetarians: My food poops on your food.

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Guest whatahound

It happened to Nikki and I walking in the yard last year. There were yellow jackets all over both of us. We both got benedryl.

That night DH poured gasoline in the nest. That was the end of them.

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We had a huge wasp nest in one of our trees about 2 ft. long , so I went in and put on double cloths a hat gloves and a large winter coat with hood went to the tree and pulled it out then walked to the ditch as thousands of black wasps tried to get me it was very noisy and I only got bit or stung on the nose once---but I did it for our babies--never again next time I will use fire.

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We had the professionals come out today, I didn't want to mess around (or just stung again :lol) They sprayed the nests, and we'll be leash walking until the coast is clear.

 

 

With Buster Bloof (UCME Razorback 89B-51359) and Gingersnap Ginny (92D-59450). Missing Pepper, Berkeley, Ivy, Princess and Bauer at the bridge.

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Ohhh I hate yellowjackets. They are so nasty. When I was little, I was running back inside from the yard and ran over their hole. I think I kicked one of them while I was running and he came back and got me. Luckily my brother, who was even littler, didn't get stung, even though he actually stepped right on the hole. I don't remember how we got rid of them, though.

 

And when we were living with my in-laws for a couple of months, I woke up one night to hear a buzzing noise on the ceiling, and looked up to see a big wasp-- then I saw that there were more and more of them coming in through the window and crawing outside of it. :yikes We covered up the window with a garbage bag and slept in the other room. The next day, we found a nest on the outside of the house, and also one under the house in the crawl space (this one found after FIL stepped in it, ouch!) He bombed both nests with something, we had to leave for the day. And when we came back, he'd killed them all, and went back through the dead ones to make sure the queen was dead.

 

I live in fear of having to deal with them at my own house. If I do, I will definitely be calling in the professionals. ;)

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