How prevalent are wasps, mainly in the Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama region(but info from anywhere in the south is fine)? I’m strongly considering attending college in the region but I have a huge problem with wasps. I’ve heard people can have problems with them but I don’t know how common or how big of a problem they are. Can I go to college, work in Mississippi for 1-3 years to get work experience, and then move out without having huge issues with wasps, or will it be a daily issue? I know this may be a weird question but responses are greatly appreciated.
I may decide to simply go to college there and then get certified for another state, haven’t decided.
I live in north Texas. We have wasps, but they are easily controlled. I’m sure any college you attend will have groundskeepers who keep the wasps at bay.
Just curious. Are you allergic to wasps or just afraid of them?
I grew up in Louisiana and went to LSU for undergrad. I was stung many times as a kid growing up in a rural area but never remember a problem at LSU. You learn when to be wary. Wasps nests will be under house eaves, up in trailer tongues if the trailer hasn’t been used recently, occasionally under a picnic table. Unless you disturb a nest, they aren’t that aggressive.
I knew folks who were allergic to wasps or bees and carried an epi-pen but I never heard of someone moving because of it. I would absolutely recommend carrying an epi-pen or similar first aid but would not expect you to have to make major adjustments to daily life.
I’ve lived in Louisiana most of my life and I’ve never been stung by a wrap (I have twice by a bee). Maybe I’m an anomaly but I don’t think too much. My son was stung once as a kid and I don’t think my daughter ever has been.
We live in Atlanta, and I haven’t been stung in years (now I’ve done it!).
Stay away from trash cans and you’ll be fine-down here it seems like the wasps love the trash cans in picnic areas.
Really, you have more to worry about down here from the copperhead and water moccasin snakes, and the brown recluse and black widow spiders (I wish I were kidding).
I think yellow jackets are more of a problem that actual old fashioned wasps. The wasps around here seem to leave you alone but dang those yellow jackets will go for your eyeball! I encountered VERY aggressive ones when I was a camp nurse one summer in N.C. also.
I live in New Orleans and haven’t really seen wasps. Then I was having window work done and the guy told me there was a tiny wasp nest behind the shutters and he wanted me to get a spray. It wasn’t a big deal at all.
Honeybees are more of a problem. I know two families who had them start a hive somewhere under the eaves or on their porch and there was a 3 month wait for special bee keepers to come and move the queen! One family couldn’t wait that long and just called an exterminator.
Yellow jackets are a kind of wasp but I haven’t seen them here at all. Generally wasps go for garbage, rotting fruit, and soda cans while bees only go for nectar.
ETA - fire ants are more of a problem than bees or wasps.
I had a wasp in my townhouse once, many years ago, when I was single and living with my best friend. She was dodging it, gasping with fear, and I decided to be cocky. I said, “I’ll get it,” and swung at it with a rolled up newspaper. I missed. The wasp, more than annoyed, didn’t. Not pleasant.
Until the OP indicates that he meant WASPs instead of wasps, I will take his post at face (and grammatical) value. Also, while I didn’t read every single post he has ever made, there is nothing I can see in his history that would indicate ill/prejudicial intent.
Speaking personally, I never had a problem any of my years at Tulane or in Atlanta (although there did seem to be more in Atlanta). On the other hand, I have been stung twice here in Rhode Island. Once when I accidentally ran over a ground nest with my lawn mower (2 stings in the neck and shoulder), and once when I got up from watching a hockey game in the family room, barefoot, iPad in hand catching up on CC posts, and stepped on one that had sneaked into the house and was on the tile floor. Can’t believe my iPad didn’t shatter when it hit the tiles.
In LA and FL, the giant roaches known as palmetto bugs were my nemesis. Elsewhere in the south, I would have said that spiders and scorpions were my worst problem, until this month. (I check my shoes for scorpions and don’t go barefoot after stepping on one in the foyer.)
We’ve been inundated with wasps for a couple of weeks and so far spraying has not done much good. We found two very small nests on the exterior of the house, but nothing that would support the huge numbers of wasps suddenly buzzing around our home. Last weekend, I noticed a cluster of wasps above our front door, just gathering on the stone and brick. There must have been 50+. Dh sprayed and most flew off, although we did see a few casualties on the walkway later. He investigated the attic and saw no sign of wasp nests, but sprayed two large cans of pesticide around the perimeter anyway. This afternoon, I was told they can nest under roof shingles. The last time we had lots of wasps, I hung up one of the fake nests that’s supposed to discourage others from staying around. It did not work.
I’m afraid of them, too. Actually I’m afraid of all bugs. I went to college in east Texas and the Palmetto bugs would congregate on the porch of the dorms because of the lights. Those things can fly! I was terrified every time I came home after dark.
The sight of the giant wasp nests in the eaves of my grandma’s house in the rural south terrified me as a child, but we never had a problem with them. On the other hand, a childhood friend was viciously attacked by a swarm of wasps during one of our adventures in the woods near our neighborhood in the Pacific Northwest.
