Too Early or Too Late to Be Seeing Pests Like These in Minnesota?
The other morning I was walking into work. Which is at about 5 am, I know, very early, but hey that's the life of being on radio and doing a morning show. Not the point. Anyway, I got to work, parked and started walking in, when I caught out of the corner of my eye, something scurrying.
It was a mouse and it went running up right in front of me toward the door I needed to go through to get inside the building at work. Let it be known I do not like mice. Those little rodents, I don't care how cute you might think they are, are icky and NOTHING like the cute and helpful mice you find in Disney movies.
So being the adult chicken I am I stomped my feet and threw snow its way to try and shoo him away from the door. The mouse, probably being more terrified than me, scooted away and I made a mad dash inside.
That was my fun on the one February day that felt like spring in Minnesota. Someone else, however, also saw an unwanted pest on the same day. But what they saw was much more surprising then a mouse trying to find shelter inside a building. What they discovered was a WASP! Here's a photo they shared on a reddit thread.
If you are thinking, what the heck. It's a little too early or a little too late to be seeing a pest like this? Actually, It's not completely unheard of to see one during the winter, but it's not all that common either. As you can quickly see others chime in with their comments to let it be known it isn't the last one in Minnesota. One shared they see them at work now and again:
While another person stated where they are probably staying during the winter months:
Which is very likely, but it won't be a swarm.
Fun Fact
According to Pest Lock:
Because wasps and hornets are not made to endure cold temperatures they will die come late fall or early winter. The only ones to survive will be the mated queens who will hunker down somewhere they can hibernate until spring arrives; at which point they will start constructing a new nest.
So my guess is this wasp got confused like the rest of us in Minnesota by being teased with a taste of spring in February. Sorry waspy, you're in for a rude awakening and you might want to get back to hibernating, because this is Minnesota and we know that more snow and cold weather will be sure to find it our way at least once, twice or more before we actually get to spring.
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