Lots of dead wasps (2 Viewers)

[roxyghost]

Hello there! I found this forum whilst searching for information about something odd that happened today and found some great, informative threads here but not what I was looking for. I figured the same people may know why this happened?

I live in a small, third floor flat in a town centre. There is a park right next door and the wasps/bees usually keep themselves to themselves. I've lived here for two years and never seen anything like this!

Came home after work, went to go in the bathroom, floor, windowsill, shelves, bath, toilet, sink - covered in dead wasps, one or two alive ones. The window was shut. There is no loft/attic space above me and we're the top floor.

After I finished freaking out, got some spray to make sure they were definitely all dead, and my other half disposed of them. Someone told me that they hatched too early and that's why they all died? There was about 20 of them - to be honest I didn't stop to look too hard. Are more going to appear? Why?

The other problem is we can't figure out where the nest is. Would love to stop this from happening again! They can have all the nests they want in the park...

I hope it's ok to ask about this...

 

[Jon Turner]

Hi welcome to the Forum. I'm no expert, but was your flat hot when you got home; they may just have died in the heat? Presumably there is a nest nearby perhaps in a corner you hadn't suspected. If more appear then yes there is a nest.

Jon

 

[roxyghost]

Hi Jon, thanks for the welcome!

It was a warm day here in Surrey, but the bathroom is actually the coolest room in the flat and wasn't hot at all. They were quite small which is why I thought the "hatched too early" idea may have been it.

Thanks for the suggestions, the spray we used in the bathroom is one you spray in the room and leave for 10 minutes, supposedly gets all flying insects. Guess we'll find out soon enough! :S

 

[salticus]

I'm no expert either, but I don't reckon much to the hatched too early theory. Maybe they're just small because its early in the season (I know bumble bee workers are smaller earlier in the year).

Are you sure they're wasps (sorry if that's an insult to your powers of observation)?

If the window was shut then have you any idea about how they got in? Presumably the pipes from the sink/bath have U-bends and anyway wouldn't be easily accessible. Have any other people in the building had the same problem?

 

[roxyghost]

Haha, no worries. I didn't look that hard. EDIT: Yes they were definitely wasps, found two that we didn't find yesterday when my mum and I tried to find the source. I have taken a picture so I will upload that when I get the chance.

No idea how they got in, I was looking from outside to see if I could see any going in and out of the wall but couldn't. There's no holes in the ceiling and no way they got through the light fitting - there were none in the light. The toilet and sink are on the outside wall and have wooden panels covering the pipes creating a shelf on top behind them. I reckon they're behind there and got in through a crack or from downstairs somehow. It was hard to be sure where they originated because they were all over the room. The alive one was down near the panelling. There weren't any in the sink and one in the bath. Mostly they'd got up to the windowsill, a lot on the shelf I mentioned and bunches on the floor and toilet tank. The door was open but there were none in the hall and none were near the door, they were on the half of the room nearer the outside wall.

As for other people in the building, I will go and ask my downstairs neighbour later. To be honest, it's one of those buildings where no one talks to anyone

Thanks for the response, every response is helpful in trying to understand this! It was such a shock, looked like a massacre.

EDIT: It does look like the outside wall and the boarded up pipes are the culprit though obviously can't see for sure. Doesn't explain why they're all dead though?