Pests We Treat - Cicada Killer Wasp Invasion in Brielle, NJ

I was recently sent to one of our new home protection plan (HPP) customers in Brielle, NJ who was having a serious issues with cicada killer wasps invading the side yard of her property. HPP customers can simply pick up the phone and call Cowleys and we’ll come out to handle any insects covered by the plan, not to mention coming out for periodic preventative inspections and treatments. Home protection plans are a great way to keep your home pest-free and safe for your family and give peace of mind to homeowners that they can call at a moment’s notice to handle any pest control problems that may arise. 

Cicada kills wasps are solitary wasps that burrow into the ground to lay their eggs. Solitary wasps tend for their own instead of the large caste queen-worker structures that you see with social wasps. Social wasps tend to be aggressive and territorial, while solitary wasps are not. Cicada kills wasps have the perfect descriptive name. With these wasps, the female immobilizes cicada bugs with a powerful venom. She places the paralyzed insect in the burrow and then lays her eggs right on the cicada for the larva to feed from while taking care to keep the poor cicada alive. For the poor cicada, I suspect that it’s fate as living food for the larvae is worse than death.

The males wasps are the ones seen flying around to protect the nest and the female in the burrow. Although these wasps are intimidating (especially to cicadas!), they rarely sting people unless threatened or stepped on. On a small field of wasp burrows, the best way to treat the infestation is with a dust application that is able to get deep inside the burrow. This treatment is quick and lethal once the the wasp comes into contact with the product. I dusted all the visible burrow, and also applied a liquid application to the areas to repel any additional burrowing into the treated areas.