Blue Mud Daubers (I think), less risky than yellowjackets?

Factual Questions
1

By all the pictures and descriptions I can find, I’m pretty sure I’ve got blue mud daubers living in the old yellowjacket nest outside my kitchen window.

As far as I can tell, the males have no stingers?

Any buggy folks out there who can give me more information than I could find googling?

A little history: There’s been a yellowjacket nest outside my kitchen window since I moved in 6 years ago. They left me alone, I left them alone. Last summer, things started getting more personal, and I had 1 or 2 getting into my apartment each week for about 8 weeks. I’m on the 3rd floor, it’s a pain to get to, and I didn’t bother going to the landlord about it as they were all kinda slow and easy to squish.

This year I was fully prepared to let them know as soon as the nest looked like it was back and populated again - if it happened, and if they started getting into my apartment again. I usually have a “live and let live” attitude toward small winged things, but enough is enough. They never showed. Instead it looks like Blue Daubers flying around.

From what I read about them, they’re supposed to be solitary, though, and these have clearly taken over the yellowjackets’ nest. I’ve had 4 in my apartment so far, one I killed (don’t think I saw a stinger, and it didn’t do the “stinger hump” like the yellowjackets did when I nabbed them) and the other 3 I fould already dead, not sure if my cats got them or what. It seems like they’re a fair tradeoff, and if the males really are the ones doing the flying around and they have no stingers, then I don’t mind if one gets in now and again.

I’m mostly worried about one of my cats getting stung.

What say you, great minds of the Dope? If my cats aren’t in danger of a sting (or many stings), then I’d rather leave the wasps alone. They’re kinda pretty!

2

I am not an entomologist but, in my experience, mud daubers are mostly harmless. Yellow jackets are much worse and I have been stung several times by them. I would be happy about the swap. Personally, I would just knock the whole hive down with a broom but you seem to be a much kinder person than I am towards our six-legged friends.

3

When I was but a small boy on the farm we had our fair share of yellow-jackets, red wasps, and what we called dirt dobbers (your Mud Daubers).

In my experience I never had any issues with the little dirt dobbers, and never caused them any harm because of it. Others flying, stinging insects I went out of my way to kill, maim, and destroy their houses. scratch the flying part, I also loved to kill the little fire ants also.

I’m interested more in the fact that they are taking over an old nest from a different species. All of my friendly dirt dobbers just dug holes in the dirt and just lived in the ground. But, in the summer, the ground was parched and would crack with fissures very easily, so I guess it was easy for them to build an underground nest.

Even though its been over 10 years since I last spied my buddies the dirt dobbers, I still remember them fondly.

YMMV, like in all things, but I wouldn’t even consider them a threat at all.
Though, I’m not what you’d call … knowledgable … in the insect world at all.

4

I will second this. I got stung by enough red wasps and yellow jackets as a kid not to like them. There were always dirt daubers flying around in the shed and shop - sometimes right beside my head startling me - but they’ve never messed with me. I don’t know if they’re incapable of stinging or just unaggressive. I wouldn’t worry about them. I’d gladly trade your dirt dauber nest for the red wasp nest I have right now.

5

Assuming that you’ve correctly identified them as mud dauber wasps (of any variety), they should be harmless. As far as I know, the males of all wasp and bee species are incapable of stinging because the stinger is actually a modified ovipositor. But it’s kind of neither here nor there, because daubers are quite non-agressive (unless you are a spider)

6

Edit: Argh, accidentally hit the post button too soon on my last post, and can’t go back and edit it now.

I’ve lived in an area that has a sizeable dauber population my entire life, and I can’t say I’ve ever heard of anyone being stung by one.

To the best of my knowledge, when they lite on a surface, all of the dauber species fold their wings back into a straight line, one on top of the other. Most aggressive wasp species, in contrast, rest their wings in a spread V position, instead. This is definitely true of yellow jackets, and is true of all of the common aggressive wasp species in the NE Texas region. I couldn’t say how valid it is for your neck of the woods, but it might be of some use in identifying them.

7

To add anecdote to the superior information above, I have lived around yellow jackets and mud daubers all my life. I too have found mud daubers to be passive, to the point of even landing on me and making no attempt to sting. On the other hand, yellow jackets are ill tempered little bastards who swarm and sting aggressively. Here, in south Georgia, the yellow jacket lives in the ground, not in what would consider the typical wasp nest that hangs in the eaves or rafters. Mud daubers do in fact build their nests in overhangs and similar structures. Their nests are mud tubes, made parallel to one another.

by “all my life”, of course I mean the portion I have lived thus far.

8

Thanks all for your input/advice/anecdotes. I feel better now. The pics I found online really look like these guys, and they’re a really pretty iridescent cobalt blue color, which resembles the dauber’s description closest, too. I think I read on one of the sites that they’ve been known to take over other wasp species’ nests, which makes sense. I wonder if they usually use the ground in the Midwest, but were forced out by all the rain and saturation we had this year. Good for me, anyway!

9

Now that I read this thread, I do remember that the little blue buddies that I had in central Tx did make the little mud tubes on the walls and overhangs…

Thanks all for helping me to remember that fun little bit of my childhood.

10

Bumblebees are mellow too, unless you are near (or walk on!) one of their nests, which are dug into the ground. Found that out on a nature walk once…

11

Before you get to feeling too much better, it says here that Blue Mud Daubers primarily prey on Black Widow Spiders. If they moved in to your place, that means there’s a sufficient supply of Black Widows to feed upon.

12

Mud daubers have a mild reputation. Yellow jackets on the other hand go out of their way to cause trouble, are vicious little bastards and should be destroyed without the slightest pang of conscience.

13

The biggest hazard they pose is that they like to plug up tubes with mud stoppers. So cap off or plug any small diameter tubing, bolt holes, etc.

Walking into a machine shop or garage down south and seeing tape over random openings isn’t so much to keep dust and moisture out.

14

I got stung by one when I was a teenager. I held one in my hand, not letting it go, and after about ten minutes it stung me. The pain was more like a mild bee sting, not like other wasp stings I’ve had.

15

I’ve had mud daubers building nests on my condo unit (in a townhouse development) since I moved here over 23 years ago. At first, I would knock down the nests with a broom, and when they build them so high that I could not reach them with a broom, I used a hose. They would fly around me but never stung me, although sometimes it appeared they might. I have now built a deck and they are nesting under the deck. Somehow they manage to fit in-between window panes and get into my living space. I have a gizmo that sucks them up in a tube and then you can release them outside. The tube has a cover, but I don’t have to use the cover, as they don’t fly out until you release the suction. However, one time I thought I’d do it without the gizmo. I’ll just pick up the sucker and put it out the window. In attempting this rash act, the wasp stung me.

So the female daubers do have stingers, but their stings are very mild. It hardly met a mark, did not hurt much, and the pain soon dissipated.

16

Damn, that’s not my experience with yellowjackets at all. They are fast, hostile and have painful stings.

They are especially irritable not only around their nests, but also around any and all garbage cans that have discarded soda pop containers in them. They are drawn by things that are sweet apparently. I’ve been stung by the little fuckers a couple times just throwing something away in a garbage can that they had taken over.

No quarter for those sumbitches!

17

You are right about that. Yellow Jacket stings aren’t as bad as red wasp stings but they are all about swarming meanness especially around trash cans. I once got stung by one right between the eyes and my face looked more like a balloon than anything a few hours later. I really don’t like to be around them but I will kill any of them I can given the chance.