How to get rid of and dispose of a wasp nest (Perth guide)

First, work out which wasp it is

Almost every wasp nest we're called to in Perth's northern suburbs belongs to paper wasps (Polistes species). The one to watch for is the European wasp (Vespula germanica), which is a declared pest in Western Australia and is not established here. Get this bit right; the rest of the guide depends on it.

	Paper wasp	European wasp
Body	Slender, with a narrow waist. Orange-brown or black with yellow bands.	Stocky, about the size of a honey bee or slightly larger. Bright yellow and black, with black dots on the yellow bands.
In flight	Long legs dangle below the body.	Legs tucked up. Fast, direct flight.
Nest	An open, grey, papery umbrella of cells hanging from a single stalk. You can see the cells.	Usually hidden: in the ground, a wall cavity, a roof space or a hollow tree. Any exposed nest is an enclosed grey ball, not open cells.
Where	Under eaves and pergolas, in letterboxes, meter boxes, play equipment, shrubs and fences.	A steady stream of wasps going in and out of a hole in the lawn, a wall or a garden bed.
Behaviour	Defends the nest if disturbed, otherwise leaves you alone.	Scavenges meat, pet food and sweet drinks at barbecues and bins.

If it might be a European wasp, stop here

Do not spray it, block the hole or dig it out. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) runs a surveillance and eradication program to keep European wasps out of WA, and it needs to find and destroy the nest itself so it can track where the wasps came from.

• Keep people and pets well away from the nest.
• Take a photo of a wasp or the nest entrance from a safe distance if you can.
• Report it to DPIRD's Pest and Disease Information Service on (08) 9368 3080, by email to [email protected], or through the MyPestGuide Reporter app.

If you're not sure, report it anyway. DPIRD would rather check a paper wasp than miss a European wasp. If we find a suspected European wasp nest on a job, we report it to DPIRD rather than treat it ourselves, and we don't charge for the report.

Can you do it yourself? The honest checklist

Treat a paper wasp nest yourself only if every one of these is true:

• You're confident it's a paper wasp nest: open cells, hanging from a stalk.
• It's small. Roughly golf-ball to fist size.
• You can reach it standing on the ground, without a ladder or a chair.
• It's out in the open, not inside a wall, roof, meter box or cavity.
• Nobody treating it, or nearby, has a known sting allergy.

If any of those is a no, skip to when to call someone. A ladder, a cloud of angry wasps and a hard patio are a bad combination, and a fall from a ladder can do more harm than the stings.

How to kill a paper wasp nest, step by step

1. Wait for dusk. After sunset nearly all the wasps are back on the nest, and they're slower in the cool. Treating in the middle of a warm day means dozens of foragers come home to find you standing there.
2. Cover up. Long sleeves and long pants, gloves, closed shoes and eye protection. If you need light, use a torch with red cellophane over the lens and don't shine it straight at the nest.
3. Use the right product. Buy a household aerosol registered for wasps. Read the label before you start and follow it: the spray distance, where it can be used and how long to keep people and pets away. The label is the legal instruction, not a suggestion.
4. Treat the nest and step back. Spray the underside of the nest, where the cells open, for the time the label directs. Then walk away calmly. Don't swat and don't run past the nest.
5. Leave it for 24 hours. Wasps that were out foraging will return and contact the product. Keep kids and pets away from the area.

How to dispose of a wasp nest safely

This is the part most people search for and most guides skip.

1. Check it's dead. The next evening, watch the nest for a few minutes. No movement, no wasps coming and going? Carry on. If there's still activity, don't re-treat in daylight. Leave it and call us.
2. Bag it. With gloves on, hold an open plastic bag under the nest and knock it in with a long-handled tool or a stick, snapping the stalk. Tie the bag off, then put it inside a second bag.
3. Bin it. The sealed bag goes in your general waste bin. Not the green waste or the compost, because treated material doesn't belong there, and not the burn pile.
4. Scrape the attachment point. Scrape off the stalk and any papery residue where the nest hung, then wipe the spot down. Paper wasps like to rebuild on a proven spot.
5. Clean up. Wash your gloves and hands, and store any leftover product as its label says, out of reach of children.

What not to do

• Don't use fire or petrol. People have set fire to their eaves doing this. Petrol on a nest is a fire and a contamination problem, and it doesn't reliably kill the wasps.
• Don't hose it down. Water knocks the nest down and leaves a cloud of live, very annoyed wasps looking for someone.
• Don't whack it in daylight. Knocking an active nest off with a broom is how people get stung repeatedly.
• Don't block a hole with wasps going in and out. They'll chew another way out, sometimes into the house. It may also be a European wasp nest, which needs reporting.
• Don't spray bees. If it's a cluster of fuzzy, brown honey bees, it's a swarm, not a wasp nest. Swarms are usually passing through and can often be collected alive. See bee removal.

If someone gets stung

For most people a paper wasp sting is painful, not dangerous. Wash the area, and a cold pack helps the pain and swelling. Wasps don't leave a sting behind, so there's nothing to scrape out.

If someone has trouble breathing, swelling of the face, lips or throat, dizziness, or a rash spreading beyond the sting, call 000. If they have a prescribed adrenaline autoinjector and an action plan, follow it. Anyone with a known sting allergy shouldn't be anywhere near a nest being treated.

When to call someone instead

Call a professional when:

• The nest is above head height, or you'd need a ladder.
• It's inside a wall, roof void, meter box, pipe or any cavity.
• It's bigger than your fist, or there's more than one.
• It's over a doorway, path, play area or pool gate that people have to use.
• You treated it and it's still active, or it's been rebuilt.
• Anyone in the house has a sting allergy.
• You suspect European wasps. That one goes to DPIRD, not to us.

That's our job. A typical accessible paper wasp nest is $180 to $280, GST inclusive, quoted before we start. We check the rest of the roofline and pergola for the starter nests you haven't found yet, and the treatment carries a 30-day re-treatment promise if that nest becomes active again. The details are on our wasp removal page. If you're reading this from the other side of a closed window, skip straight to the phone number.

Stopping the next one

In Perth, paper wasp queens start new nests as the weather warms, so September to November is when a five-minute check pays off.

• Once a week in spring, walk the eaves, pergola, patio beams, letterbox, meter box, kids' play gear and the underside of outdoor furniture.
• A starter nest is a single queen on a handful of cells about the size of a thumbnail. Dealt with at dusk, using the steps above, it's the easiest nest you'll ever get rid of.
• Paper wasps feed their young on caterpillars, so a garden full of them is a garden with wasps. That's not a reason to spray the garden. It's a reason to check the eaves.
• Keep lids on bins and don't leave pet food or sweet drinks outside. That matters most for European wasps, which scavenge.

Quick answers

Will wasps come back to a removed nest?

Returning foragers hang around the spot for a day or two and then disperse. Paper wasps do like to rebuild on a proven site, which is why you scrape off the attachment point and keep an eye on it for a couple of weeks.

Does vinegar, dish soap or a fake nest work?

Soapy water sprayed directly onto a very small nest can kill the wasps it hits, but it's unreliable on anything bigger and you have to be close. Paper-bag "decoy nests" have no good evidence behind them. A registered wasp aerosol, used to its label at dusk, is the reliable household option.

Can I remove a wasp nest during the day?

You can, but you shouldn't. In daylight a large share of the colony is out foraging and comes back while you're standing there. Dusk is safer, and more of the wasps are on the nest when you treat it.

Are paper wasps aggressive?

Not away from the nest. They defend it if it's knocked, bumped or vibrated, which is why nests on gates, clotheslines and play equipment are the ones that sting people.

Is there free removal for European wasps?

Report a suspected European wasp to DPIRD on (08) 9368 3080 or through MyPestGuide Reporter. DPIRD investigates reports and destroys confirmed nests as part of its eradication program.

Is it a wasp or a bee?

Bees are fuzzy, brown and chunky, and a swarm hangs as a dense cluster with no visible paper cells. Wasps are smooth and shiny with a narrow waist, and their nests are made of grey paper. If it's bees, don't spray them. See bee removal.

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