The summer heat is beginning to decrease, and we are ready to enjoy the return of cooler evening breezes. During the fall season, we enjoy family cookouts or relaxing by the fire pit roasting hot dogs on our Bettendorf property. One pest that can ruin a quiet walk, family cookout, or conversation around the firepit is the yellow jacket insect.
If yellow jackets disturb and ruin your fun in the sun, you need the best pest control in Bettendorf, Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators. We have been freeing homeowners from the tyranny of wasp infestations for almost 100 years.
How Can I Tell If It's Yellow Jackets Around My House?
Because honey bees and yellow jackets have the same coloring and like the same food sources, it is easy to wonder if you are seeing a bee or a yellow jacket. The following will help you determine if you have yellow jackets flying around your Bettendorf home:
Size: Yellow jackets are 1/2 inch in length and are slightly smaller than honey bees.
Color: Yellow jackets have alternating yellow and black bands on the abdomen, similar to honey bees.
Body: Yellow jackets have smooth bodies, but honey bees have fuzzy bodies.
Nesting: Yellow jackets build paper-like nests, but honey bees create wax combs.
Sting: Yellow jackets can sting multiple times due to their smooth stingers, but honey bees sting only once because their stingers are serrated and get stuck in the skin.
Pursuit: Yellow jackets will pursue those who threaten their nest, but honey bees will not.
Because yellow jackets in Bettendorf like sweets and various meats, you will find them around open garbage containers in the house and yard.
How Dangerous Are Yellow Jackets?
Yellow jackets are territorial social wasps that live in large nests. By early fall, a yellow jacket nest may contain over 4,000 workers. If the nest is disturbed by a perceived threat, yellow jackets will advance to attack the perpetrator. As they strike the victim, they release a pheromone leading other wasps in the nest to join the attack.
Unlike bees, yellow jackets have smooth stingers and can repeatedly sting the victim, releasing venom each time. In some people, the repeated yellow jacket wasp stings cause anaphylactic shock, which can be deadly. Yellow jackets, along with other stinging insects, are responsible for over 500,000 visits to the emergency room annually.
What's The Best Way To Get Rid Of Yellow Jackets?
Because yellow jackets are aggressive and create attack swarms, removing a yellow jacket wasp nest can be dangerous. The best way to get rid of yellow jackets is to contact our experts at Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators.
When you contact our team, we will set up a free, no-obligation inspection and evaluate your Bettendorf property. Our professionals will determine the nest location and the attractants for yellow jackets on your property. We will create a custom strategic plan and effectively treat your yard to eliminate the yellow jackets.
How Can I Prevent Yellow Jackets From Coming Back?
Once the yellow jacket exterminators from Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators have removed the yellow jackets from your Bettendorf property, implement these pest control tips to prevent their return:
Clean up after eating and drinking outdoors; wipe down tables and chairs to remove residual food.
Dispose of all trash in containers and keep the containers closed.
Remove rotten stumps, logs, leaf piles, and other debris from the yard.
Provide proper drainage to ditches and puddles to keep them dry.
Trim bushes and shrubs.
To stop yellow jackets from entering your Bettendorf home again, repair holes in window and door screens, seal cracks leading into the house, and close indoor garbage can lids after use. Contact Quik-Kill Pest Eliminators, and let us stop the yellow jackets from ruining the enjoyment of your Bettendorf property.