What are Wasps?
Wasps are aggressive pests that pose serious risks to your home, family, and pets, especially in Bakersfield’s hot, dry climate that encourages nesting around eaves, patios, and sheds. Known for stinging multiple times, they can trigger severe allergic reactions and create unsafe outdoor spaces. Timely removal is crucial. At Killian Pest Control, we provide fast, eco-friendly wasps control Bakersfield CA, tailored to local conditions and regulations that protect both your property and the environment. Whether you’re near the Kern River, downtown, or Bakersfield College, our team ensures your home stays wasp-free with trusted, professional service that delivers peace of mind.
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Why Choose Killian Pest Control for Wasp Control in Bakersfield, CA?
Local Expertise with a Family Touch
As a family-owned business in Wasps Control Bakersfield CA, we prioritize trust, reliability, and customer satisfaction. We treat every home like our own and deliver exceptional wasp control services that cater to your specific needs.
Eco-Friendly & Pet-Safe Solutions
Your family’s safety is our top priority. We use non-toxic, eco-friendly treatments that are safe for both pets and the environment. Our solutions target wasps effectively while ensuring your home remains healthy and safe.
Transparent Pricing with No Hidden Fees
At Killian Pest Control, we offer clear, upfront pricing with no surprises. We believe in transparency and provide honest, reliable pricing, so you always know exactly what you’re paying for.
Our 3-Step Wasp Control Process in Bakersfield, CA
We follow a proven, three-step approach to ensure your home is free of wasps and stays protected in the long term:
Step 1: Wasp Nest Inspection
Our wasp control process begins with a thorough inspection of your property to identify signs of wasp activity. We examine all potential nesting sites—attics, eaves, and hidden garden areas—to detect any wasp nests. Our team use their extensive knowledge to locate nests even in the most difficult-to-reach areas.
Step 2: Safe & Effective Wasp Nest Removal
Once the nest is identified, we proceed with wasp nest removal in Bakersfield, CA, using safe, industry-standard methods. Our trained technicians utilize specialized equipment to ensure the nest is removed quickly and safely, minimizing disruption to your property while eliminating the immediate threat to your home and family.
Step 3: Preventive Measures & Maintenance for Long-Term Wasp Control
After removing the nest, we don’t stop there. We implement preventative treatments to ensure wasps don’t return. We also offer tips on how to reduce the risk of future infestations, including sealing entry points and eliminating food sources. Our team will follow up with you periodically to ensure your home remains wasp-free.
For more information about the area, you can visit the City of Bakersfield’s official website or learn more about the city’s history and landmarks on Bakersfield CA Wikipedia. Understanding the local conditions is key to effective pest control, and Killian Pest Control is here to help with expert wasp control solutions.
WASPS AND BEES
Bald-Faced Hornet
Dolichovespula maculata is a North American wasp commonly called the bald-faced hornet, white-faced hornet, white-tailed hornet, blackjacket or bull wasp. Its well-known features include its hanging paper nests and the females’ habit of defending them with repeated stings.
The bald-faced hornet belongs to a genus of yellowjackets in North America, but unlike many congeners it lacks yellow coloring. Instead, it is called a hornet in the American sense of a wasp that builds paper nests. It is large compared to other yellowjackets, with adults averaging 2-3 cm long. It is sometimes confused with the similar-sized European hornet, the only true hornet in America, but is distinguished by its mostly white “baldfaced” head and three white stripes on the end of its abdomen.
It is best known for its large, football-shaped paper nest, which it builds in the spring to rear young. The nest, one of the largest of wasp nests, can be up to 14 inches (35 cm) in diameter and 23 inches (60 cm) in length. The population of a nest varies from 100 to 700 individuals, averaging around 400. The bald-faced hornet is protective of the nest and will sting repeatedly if it is disturbed. This wasp is more aggressive than most yellowjackets of Dolichovespula and the genus Vespula, and the nest should be observed only from a distance.
Yellow Jacket
Yellow jacket is the common name in North America for predatory wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula. Members of these genera are known simply as “wasps” in other English-speaking countries. Most of these are black and yellow; some are black and white like the bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata. Others may have the abdomen background color red instead of black. They can be identified by their distinctive markings, their occurrence only in colonies, and a characteristic, rapid, side to side flight pattern prior to landing. All females are capable of stinging. Despite having drawn the loathing and fear of humans, yellow jackets are in fact important predators of pest insects.
Yellow jackets are sometimes mistakenly called “bees” or more often “meat bees,” as they are similar in size and appearance and both sting, but they are actually wasps. Yellow jackets may be confused with other wasps, such as hornets and paper wasps. Polistes dominula, a species of paper wasp, is very frequently misidentified as a yellow jacket. A typical yellow jacket worker is about 12 mm/0.5in long, with alternating bands on the abdomen; the queen is larger, about 19 mm/0.75in long (the different patterns on their abdomens help separate various species). Workers are sometimes confused with honey bees, especially when flying in and out of their nests. Yellow jackets, in contrast to honey bees, are not covered with tan-brown dense hair on their bodies, they do not carry pollen, and do not have the flattened hairy hind legs used to carry it.
These species have lance-like stingers with small barbs, and typically sting repeatedly, though occasionally a stinger becomes lodged and pulls free of the wasp’s body; the venom, like most bee and wasp venoms, is primarily only dangerous to humans who are allergic or are stung many times. All species have yellow or white on their faces. The mouthparts are well-developed with strong mandibles for capturing and chewing insects, with probosces for sucking nectar, fruit, and other juices.
Yellow jackets build nests in trees, shrubs, or in protected places such as inside man-made structures, or in soil cavities, mouse burrows, etc. They build them from wood fiber they chew into a paper-like pulp. Many other insects exhibit protective mimicry of aggressive, stinging yellow jackets; in addition to numerous bees and wasps (Müllerian mimicry), the list includes some flies, moths, and beetles (Batesian mimicry).
Paper Wasp
Paper wasps are 0.7 to 1.0 inch (1.8 to 2.5 cm)-long wasps that gather fibers from dead wood and plant stems, which they mix with saliva, and use to construct water-resistant nests made of gray or brown papery material. Paper wasps are also sometimes called umbrella wasps, due to the distinctive design of their nests or other regional variants such as Trinidad & Tobago’s use of Jack Spaniard.
The nests of most true paper wasps are characterized by having open combs with cells for brood rearing, and a ‘petiole’, or constricted stalk, that anchors the nest. Paper wasps secrete a chemical which repels ants, which they spread around the base of the anchor to prevent the loss of eggs or brood.
Nests can be found in sheltered areas, such as the eaves of a house, the branches of a tree, or on the end of an open pipe (for example, of an old clothesline).
Unlike yellowjackets and hornets, which can be very aggressive, polistine paper wasps will generally only attack if they themselves or their nest are threatened. Since their territoriality can lead to attacks on people, and because their stings are quite painful and can produce a potentially fatal anaphylactic reaction in some individuals, nests in human-inhabited areas may present an unacceptable hazard.
Cicada Killer
Sphecius speciosus, often simply referred to as the cicada killer or the cicada hawk, is a large digger wasp species. Cicada killers are large, solitary wasps in the family Crabronidae. The name may be applied to any species of crabronid which uses cicadas as prey, though in North America it is typically applied to a single species, S. speciosus. However, since there are multiple species of related wasps, it is more appropriate to call it the eastern cicada killer. This species occurs in the eastern and midwest U.S. and southwards into Mexico and Central America. They are so named because they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. In North America they are sometimes called sand hornets, although they are not hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. Cicada killers exert a measure of natural control on cicada populations and thus may directly benefit the deciduous trees upon which their cicada prey feed.
Adult eastern cicada killer wasps are large, 1.5 to 5.0 centimetres (0.6 to 2.0 in) long, robust wasps with hairy, reddish and black areas on the thorax (middle part), and are black to reddish brown marked with light yellow stripes on the abdominal (rear) segments. The wings are brownish. Coloration superficially resembles that of some yellowjacket and hornet species. The females are somewhat larger than the males, and both are among the largest wasps seen in the Eastern United States, their unusual size giving them a uniquely fearsome appearance. European hornets (Vespa crabro) are often mistaken for Eastern cicada killers.
Adults emerge in summer, typically beginning around late June or early July and die off in September or October. They are present in a given area for 60 to 75 days, usually until mid-September.
Although cicada killers are large, female cicada killer wasps are not aggressive and rarely sting unless they are grasped roughly, stepped upon with bare feet, or caught in clothing, etc. One author who has been stung indicates that, for him, the stings are not much more than a “pinprick”. Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males but they have no sting. Although they appear to attack anything that moves near their territories, male cicada killers are actually investigating anything that might be a female cicada killer ready to mate. Such close inspection appears to many people to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers do not land on people and attempt to sting.
If handled roughly, females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen. Both sexes are well equipped to bite, as they have large jaws; however, they do not appear to grasp human skin and bite. They are generally non-aggressive towards humans and usually fly away when swatted at, instead of attacking.
Bumblebee
A bumblebee is any member of the bee genus Bombus, in the family Apidae. There are over 250 known species, existing primarily in the Northern Hemisphere although they also occur in South America. They have been introduced to New Zealand and the Australian state of Tasmania.
Bumblebees are social insects that are characterised by black and yellow body hairs, often in bands. However, some species have orange or red on their bodies, or may be entirely black. Another obvious (but not unique) characteristic is the soft nature of the hair (long, branched setae), called pile, that covers their entire body, making them appear and feel fuzzy. They are best distinguished from similarly large, fuzzy bees by the form of the female hind leg, which is modified to form a corbicula: a shiny concave surface that is bare, but surrounded by a fringe of hairs used to transport pollen (in similar bees, the hind leg is completely hairy, and pollen grains are wedged into the hairs for transport).
Like their relatives the honey bees, bumblebees feed on nectar and gather pollen to feed their young. Queen and worker bumblebees can sting. Unlike a honey bee’s stinger, a bumblebee’s stinger lacks barbs, so it can sting repeatedly without injuring itself. Bumblebee species are not normally aggressive, but will sting in defence of their nest, or if harmed. Female cuckoo bumblebees will aggressively attack host colony members, and sting the host queen, but will ignore other animals (e.g. humans) unless disturbed.
Bumblebee
Honey bees (or honeybees) are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Honey bees are the only extant members of the tribe Apini, all in the genus Apis. Currently, there are only seven recognised species of honey bee with a total of 44 subspecies, though historically, anywhere from six to eleven species have been recognised. Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees. Some other types of related bees produce and store honey, but only members of the genus Apis are true honey bees.
Honey bees appear to have their center of origin in South and Southeast Asia (including the Philippines), as all but one (i.e. Apis mellifera), of the extant species are native to that region. Notably, living representatives of the earliest lineages to diverge (Apis florea and Apis andreniformis) have their center of origin there.
Most species have historically been cultured or at least exploited for honey and beeswax by humans indigenous to their native ranges. Only two of these species have been truly domesticated, one (Apis mellifera) at least since the time of the building of the Egyptian pyramids, and only that species has been moved extensively beyond its native range.
Velvet Ant
The Mutillidae are a family of more than 3,000 species of wasps (despite the names) whose wingless females resemble large, hairy ants. Their common name velvet ant refers to their dense pile of hair which most often is bright scarlet or orange, but may also be black, white, silver, or gold. Black and white specimens are sometimes known as panda ants due to their hair coloration resembling that of the Chinese giant panda. Their bright colours serve as aposematic signals. They are known for their extremely painful stings, hence the common name cow killer or cow ant. Unlike a real ant, they do not have drones, workers, and queens. However, velvet ants do exhibit haplodiploid sex determination similar to other members of Vespoidea.
Mature mutillids feed on nectar. Although some species are strictly nocturnal, females are often active during the day. Females of Tricholabiodes thisbe are sometimes active up to two hours before sunset. Guido Nonveiller (1963) hypothesized the Mutillidae are generally stenothermic and thermophilic; they may not avoid light, but rather are active during temperatures which usually occur only after sunset.
In mutillids, as in all Hymenoptera, only the female is capable of inflicting a sting because the stinger itself is a modified female organ called an ovipositor; female mutillids have unusually long and maneuverable stingers. In both sexes, a structure called a stridulitrum on the metasoma is used to produce a squeaking or chirping sound when alarmed. Both sexes of mutillids also bear hair-lined grooves on the side of the metasoma called felt lines. Only one other vespoid family, the Bradynobaenidae, has felt lines, but the females have a distinct pronotum and an elongated ant-like petiole.
Ready to Reclaim Your Space from Wasps?
If you’re dealing with a wasp infestation in Bakersfield, CA, don’t wait until the problem escalates. Contact us to schedule a quick, efficient wasp control service. You can also fill out our online form for a free, no-obligation quote, and we’ll provide a personalized estimate tailored to your needs. Take action today and enjoy a wasp-free home with Killian Pest Control!
