i shined a light on them, and while their body is black on the belly of it is a longated white stripe, and the head is red.

Jess;
Sounds like a type of mud dauber. You can use that as a search term to learn more. I find them less aggressive than red wasps but they have been aggressive when they feel their nest is threatened or during mating season.

Anyways, the term you're looking for is mud dauber I suspect.

bon

The nest isn't being made out of mud. It looks like a regular wasp nest.

Oh, joy. A paper wasp? Our home is old and well established to all sorts of bugs. When the wasps get inside our double-paned windows we utilize that foam spray to kill wasps because it deters future installments as well. It leaves a permanent mark in that area and they will not attempt to re-establish a nest later. Plus, the foam spray has a long stream making it possible to reach from a distance. Our problems usually occur with red wasps - a dealing we do not much like.

We leave all others alone as they are so highly beneficial eating pretty much everything around including flies. Lately, we've only had to disturb their attempting to "congregate" in an area so they'll move on and nest somewhere else. This year they were trying to nest above the back porch door three feet from the ac unit and very close to a compost bucket that was drawing flies. I've discovered they love the AC units' heat, metal and a constant water supply. So, that's where we always find them.

it doesn't have strips like a paper wasp. just a blackish/brown body with a red head. but my husband informed me that the nests get bigger and bigger, so he is going to kill them. i will take one to the ag dept to see what it was.

its body is shaped like a red wasp. wonder if that is what it is. looking from inside the window to outside could make the color different.

I love your name--chicken coupe.

What your husband states is true. Otherwise, they're just a nuisance! Post an update if you remember. I'm curious to what that is now. I don't think I've ever seen one with such markings!

i'll let you know. hopefully i don't have to take it to uc berkeley. ha

Today,my husband was resting while the window AC unit tripped the breaker. It sat idle for about five hours. He had to pull the unit out a bit to work on it. In doing so he got stung by one of three yellow jackets that were already trying to set up shop inside.

GRRRR!!

that is always nice. my husband went to sit on his stool that he uses on the porch because he likes to lean on the hand rail, and some wasps flew out from under it. he killed their nest. i killed the bees that i was talking to you about when i saw that only 2 were there. i collected them and the nest and will take them to ag dept. if roger thinks he can id them.

i hate yellow jackets because they always liked to bite me

chicken coup, i haven't forgot, but the ag dept says to bring the bee in and he will send it to stillwell. i have it in alcohol and am waiting to get our car out of the paint shop so i can take it to him.

It was a paper wasp. Interesting. I had looked at that wasp and its nest, but the nest didn't look like the one that they were building in my window, so I dismissed it.

Jess
Thanks for letting me know what you found. I remember looking up a bug one time and becoming very frustrated that it wasn't listed, but had the notion that not all might be listed. Kinda why I was curious to what you found thinking it might be a rare species. I guess those paper wasps remodeled? lol

We're still have a little trouble with yellow jackets. I found one within a blanket on the bedroom floor when cleaning up. It was just like the ones we dealt with before. There is an air conditioner in the bedroom window that gets shut off throughout the day. Perhaps that's where it came in. It was disturbing because the blanket belonged to one of the kids.

I found a wasp hunched over oddly on a paver stone and at first I was concerned and to be honest, the thought "oh no, the poor thing has menstrual cramps" flew through my mind. Then I realized it was holding onto a tiny baby lizard and was eating its brains. I kid you not. Horrified at the thought of zombie wasps eating baby lizard brains in my herb garden, I immediately snipped it in two. The baby lizard's head had been gutted, so to speak.

I'm going to have to google methods for surviving zombie invasions now. Sure hope someone has had the foresight to write about zombie wasps.

zombie wasps. yuck!!

I hate yellow jackets, chicken coup. I have been bitten by them for no reason at all, like sunning myself in the yard when I was young. Or working in my garden.

Something stung me today in the house. I guess I carried it inside on my clothing, but I haven't found it.

lol Okie .. "zombie wasps" that's cool, actually. But, why not? Abraham the zombie killer really? I watched a wasp behead a very large bee and take off with its head

Never dawned on me they were after "brains" rofl

Jess, I guess it's the weather although their behavior is awful strange. Maybe it's mating season. I know red wasps are dangerous during mating season.

bon

I have a short list of animals that should never have been created, but then what do I know? ha

Creationists believe all life was created. Makes me wonder "What we he thinking and why this one?" *snicker

(Possum?)

In defense of possums, they are the only animal I know, other than some birds like hawks and vultures, that eat venomous snakes. I'd build the local possums a possum motel if they'd stay here and live in it and help control the number of venomous snakes.

Now, scientists are studying possums, believing they may be able to use something from possums to aid people who've been bitten by venomous snakes as well as those affected by weaponized substances like ricin.

Every single living creature has a role in the Ecology Web. I think the trouble begins when the population of some creature gets out of balance and, also, when they infest our gardens in outrageous numbers like folks in NE OK and parts of Central OK are seeing with pest insects like blister beetles and grasshoppers this spring and summer. I think red katydids are beautiful and I only see one or two a year. I'd like them much less if I lived in one of the parts of Texas where they sometimes are present in large enough numbers to strip the oak trees of their foliage. Even mites have their place. I hate the damage red spider mites do, but if I use a miticide/acaricide to try to wipe them out, then I also am wiping out the smaller population of predatory mites that prey upon the spider mites.

Now, I'll find and link the recent news article on possum research and how possums someday may indirectly help humans overcome venomous snake bites and exposure to other toxins.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Possum Immunity To Toxic Substances

I like posseums too.

Also was happy when a mom groundhog made her home in our backyard and had two cute babies.

A red fox is now hanging around and started after one of the cats, but it hissed and so the fox left. Not so sure what to think about that red fox and hopes he doesn't kill any of our cats, which I have read they will do.

I'm sure that, when created, it was all "good." But with the fall, creation got out of balance. It is hard to even imagine what this earth was like before sin and death entered.

Still, I love to joke (tongue in cheek) that God made all creatures, except... fill in the blank (squash vine borer, mosquitoes, etc.)!

Last night, when we went to bed, we found two ambush bugs. One of them appeared, crawling on my wife, after we turned out the lights. (I hate excitement.) Fortunately no one was hurt.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Maybe George, after Satan fell he was able to create, and so he gave us the bad stuff. My list is long.

Well, they are more of a positive if they kill snakes. I really had no idea nor did I care for they certainly are in abundance and love my compost pile and trash can. Very annoying but I remain grateful for that is the worst of our critter problems outside of wild violent dogs being the fault of irresponsible owners.

Jess; They will kill cats if there is not a more readily available source of food. They play an important role of keeping the ferile cat population down and, thereby, keeping the bird population more safe. Around here the domestic cats are healthier and stronger than the occasional fox wandering near the city limits in search of food.

bon

i have a feeling the fox is here due to a need of food. we have 9 feral cats, all spayed and neutered. i am mainly concerned for my own two cats.

If we begin to miss cats I will know why, and after a while I would put out a live trap and hope to catch the fox. it has to eat too, but not my own cats. not that i am not somewhat attached to the ferals.

I saw a hawk moth laying eggs on my tomatoes. I have been waiting for the hornworms and looking for them every day. On the side of my house up high is a huge paper wasp nest. I also have lots of wasps visiting my stock tank for drinks. It is in the garden. I wonder if the wasps ate the horn worms.

I was going to buy some spray but I am having so much trouble with blister beetles that I may leave the wasps alone if they eat caterpillars.

Helen, Braconid wasps lay eggs in the hornworms. When the larvae hatch, they tunnel through the hornworms, eating them as they go. Sometimes you'll find the hornworms with the little white coccoons still attached to them. I love the predatory wasps and think that's why I don't have a lot of tomato hornworms.

Dawn

All spayed and neutered!? That's great! They make great mousers! hubs and I are not fond of cats but the feral ones do an excellent job on the field rats and mice. We tried to trap one that hung around here to have it spayed but she was too smart. Something got her because she disappeared. Sure enough, I had to start putting out mouse bait the next year.

it isn't easy trapping some cats.

now i am worried that the fox will get them all. and he is probably too smart to be trapped.

we have no mice or rats now.

We tame feral cats by feeding them until they become our friends. It can take a long time. I fed one for four years before he would let me touch him. We tried trapping him many times but he was too fast. Eventually he adopted us, moved indoors and became a fat, lazy housecat who liked to sit beside me on the couch in the evenings. His name was Hobo and he lived to be approximately 18 years old, the last 10 years with us as a housecat. Once we have tamed them enough to handle them we take them to the vet to be spayed or neutered and to get their shots.

We only have one semi-feral cat now. We have been able to catch her and get her spayed and get her shots, but she doesn't like to come inside the house. She's been here a little over a year and sleeps on the porch swing at night. When I feed her, every now and then she'll let me pet her, but then when she realizes that a human being has touched her, she freaks out and runs off and hides. Her mom never seemed feral---more like a barn cat who brought her feral kittens here last year during the drought. Her mom and 3 siblings are tamed and come inside to sleep upstairs in the guest room at night, but only two of her siblings will let you pick them up or pet them. The third one is pretty skittish still about being touched, but at least he comes inside at night so that he is safe from predators.

The cats do keep all the little varmints under control, which means snakes and bigger varmints that also prey on rodents have less reason to be in our yard, and I really like that.

I hope you can trap the fox before it gets the cats. We don't have many foxes here and the ones I see often are not much bigger than our largest cats. I've never heard of the foxes here getting adult cats, but they do prey upon kittens.

Dawn

hi dawn,

i have to call someone about a live trap for the fox. but if like you said, you have never seen one get a grown cat, then i won't worry. our cats are pretty big and hiss at the fox, which as i said, causes him to leave.

our feral cats are a lot more tame than they were. one comes in the house now and is a sweetheart. the some others let you pet them, and others will get within a foot of you.

Jessaka, Sometimes your animal control officers for your city or county will loan you a trap, but you might have to get on a waiting list to get it.

I think a healthy adult cat could fight off an average sized fox.

I am a sucker for feral cats because I feel like all they need is to be tamed, loved, adopted and cared for. I've always heard they can't be tamed, but have found with a lot of cat food, love and patience, most of them can be.

Yellow Cat, who is at least 13 or 14 years old, was feral and roamed a wide swath of our neghborhood for years. In a bad drought year, I started putting dishes of food and water out for him at an oil well about a quarter-mile from our house. He would sit and watch me put down the food and then continue on my way walking the dogs. One day he followed me and the dogs home. It was a long time before you could touch him, but he eventually came around. Having been a feral male, though, he is highly territorial and likes to fight. I do see him mellowing in that area a little bit as he ages though. I don't think fighting is as much fun for him as it used to be.

Dawn

good idea for getting a live trap. will see what the fox does first.

one the the feral cats and I named Mandy used to hang around me in the garden, while my own cat didn't. I finally coaxed her in the house and she freaked, but I would let her out and then get her back in until she liked being in. she is a lap cat now.

my husband has named most of the cats and can pet more of them than me. i worry what to do if any get sick. may not be able to catch some of them again.

but some hang out on our back porch, even the most wild one will be within 1 foot of me now. and she is really a beauty, long haired grey mottled. clark named her graybeard. what? that is a male cat's name.

the latest addition, a white female cat, that is always dirty, won't hardly come into the yard yet. i suggested naming her pig pen. my husband doesn't like the name. he may name her dusty. one i named pumpkin and he calls her skunker. then there is blondie, blondette, simonize (pure bred siamese that is really wild, and then smokie. my own cat is taffy.

I like the name pig pen, but Dusty is more polite. Suppose it depends which name you'd prefer hear calling out? hehe

dusty is better but will see what my dh calls her

Jessaka, We cornered MiMi, the feral kitten that didn't want to come indoors, on the enclosed back porch last summer when a 112-degree was forecast, and kept her inside throughout the heat wave. She stayed mad and stubbornly hid in the guest room closet for 2 months, venturing out only to eat and to use the litter box. I finally let her go outside to play, hoping she'd come in with her litter mates at night. She wouldn't then and still doesn't. We caught her again when she was a little older in order to take her to the vet and get her spayed. She still holds that against us. She is a very stubborn cat. If I ever catch her again, I will keep her inside forever or until she becomes tame.

She doesn't hate me. She follows me around and meows and talks to me. She just doesn't want to be touched or told what to do. I could put on leather gloves and grab her and bring her in against her will, but I hate to upset her that much. I keep hoping she'll follow her mom indoors one evening. Last week she actually did. She made it inside the front door about a foot, then realized where she was and turned and ran out before I could close the door.

In the meantime, paper wasps are building a nest by the front door, so I need to remember to knock that down at night while the wasps are not active...but MiMi sleeps on that porch and I don't want for the wasps to get her.

Pet names can be tricky. For years we had a dog named Biscuit. (Chris named him after the rock group Limp Bizkit.) About 5 years after Biscuit adopted us, a golden terrier type dog came to live with us and we named her Honey. We didn't think about it at the time, but later on, when they were out running through the woods and we were calling them to come home, there we were yelling "Honey! Biscuit!" It sounded like we were calling our breakfast to come home.

Dawn

Biscuit is a cute name. Honey and Biscuit.

When I was letting Mandy in the house I would let her out again in a few minutes so she would know that she wasn't trapped. I got her in each time by putting a food bowl just inside the door. Finally, she got used to it but loves the outdoors.

I have plastic tote boxes outside that are insulated and then I put straw in the bed of them. Seems to keep the cats okay in the winter. Something tells me that these boxes would be a good way for a fox to catch a cat.

What would a paper wasp do to a cat? Mine were black, and the ones in photos have yellow spots. Must be different varieties. Yes, I looked. Black paper wasps.

I've never heard of foxes messing with cats. Remember that many cats are almost as big as foxes and cats have claws and sharp teeth and will fight back. We had friends that lost two litters of mama cats/kittens to raccoons though. Those cats slept in a dog crate on the porch with the door closed, but the racoons got them anyway.

It is raining here. I invited MiMi inside. She looked at me, then turned and jumped off the porch and ran up under the porch. She's stubborn beyond reason.

Hope we don't get racoons, although we have had them from time to time without incident.

This rain was nice, all 15 minutes of the downpour.