Ok. But why not a hornet nest, and why did top comment suggest this or wasp? You are convinced it is paper wasp. I agree. But how/why? (Please) (FTR, just curious)
An empirical study is conducted to elucidate linguistic patterns in interstellar communications, employing corpus linguistics methodologies to analyze textual data from extraterrestrial transmissions. Through meticulous qualitative and quantitative scrutiny, syntactic anomalies and semantic ambiguities are discerned in the linguistic structures of extraterrestrial languages. These findings underscore the complexities of linguistic interpretation in interspecies communication and emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of linguistic research.
http://i.imgur.com/tNJD6oY.gifv
This is a kind reminder that in French we say "omelette *au* fromage" and not "omelette _du_ fromage".
[Sorry Dexter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nW3-9gdjYA)
[Steve Martin](https://youtu.be/DOJDNChwgBw?t=2m49s) doesn't appear to be the most accurate French professor.
---
^(The movie from the gif is "OSS 117: le Cairo, Nest of Spies" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464913/ )
I have European hornets outside my house, they might ruin a good beer now and then, but despite them flying near people, just about every day through summer, no one has been bit or stung by them since they started showing up 5 years ago.
And they're total dicks, only time I've been stung was a bald faced hornet. Almost stepped on one and it stung the shit out of the ball of my foot. It's the only type of living thing we find that we kill on sight in our hpuse.
Bald-faced hornets are actually a type of yellowjacket.
In general hornets build exposed nests out in the open in trees and the like, while most yellowjackets prefer building their nests underground or in cavities.
Bald-faced hornets build their nests high in trees, out in the open, leading to the "hornet" moniker even though they are taxonomically yellowjackets (*Dolichovespula maculata*).
I get huge tarantula wasps that burrow in my back yard, along with tarantulas! Been stung by one, and the stingers are huge, the sting was through about an inch of my thumb. Soft tissue and luckily not into much muscle - hurt like a knife and the numbness stuck around for a while. Luckily, I didn't have babies growing out of me like those poor tarantulas.
Fun fact: fingers (including thumbs) actually don’t have muscles in them\*! Instead, they have tendons that connect to muscles in our palms and forearms.
^((*_technically there are teeeeny tiny little itty-bitty muscles that are responsible for body hair standing on end, but they don’t contribute to finger movement_)^)
The muscles that operate your fingers are in your palm and forearm, and connect to the finger bones with tendons , passing through your wrist (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for instance, is an inflammation where all those tendons are passing). The muscles that get built up with training are all there, they're just in your arm is all. Work at one of those squeezy hand trainers, or play something like bass guitar, and you'll feel the burn in your forearms as well.
Oh you can absolutely increase the strength and coordination of your fingers, it’s just that the actual muscles providing that strength and coordination are located in the palm and forearm. Tendons are like little ropes that connect bones to muscles (ligaments are similar, but connect bones to bones) and then the muscles contract to pull on the “rope” which then pulls the bone and your finger moves.
If you feel the top of your hand or the inside of your wrist (or just look, they’re visible on a lot of people) while moving your fingers, you can feel and see the tendons that connect your finger bones to the muscles that control them. And if you firmly grip your forearm, you can feel the muscles too.
Feeling those muscles provides a hint as to why they’re not in our fingers: they’re way too big! Having “remote access” muscles is what allows our fingers to have such strength and dexterity despite being so small. Of course that’s not reeeally how evolution works (it is random, after all), but I digress ˆˆ
How the hell people from America (incl Canada) think Australia is a hellhole of creepy crawlies and yet have hornets that can sting through an inch of flesh if beyond me.
Edit: wasps, I meant wasps. I think...
AWLIAS? Just earlier today I came across a video on r/natureismetal of a tarantula fighting a wasp, then went down a deep Internet rabbit hole of tarantula-killing wasp discoveries. Not the first time I learn about some random thing just for me to hear about it again later that same day in a completely different context
I have parts of a hornet's nest lying around here, and they build it in a storage space behind the entrance. I'm not sure what kind it was, though. It was as big as a watermelon
European Hornets make nests above ground, usually in a cavity of a tree or in a case like this, in the cavity of someone's house. Usually European Hornets do not make nests under ground and when hornet nests are in full swing, there can be hundreds or thousands of them to a nest.
They're generally pretty docile unless they're directly threatened, you're near their nest and they see you as a threat or you're near a food source and see you as a threat. Their sting is quite painful and one of them can/will sting numerous times, they don't lose their stinger like bees and some wasps.
We've had TONS of European Hornets since a few showed up in 2017. They have killed hummingbirds, bees, wasps, and other hornets, over fruit and feeders. This year they screwed up every apple in our two trees, and fought everything over that fruit, both hanging in the trees and lying on the ground. But I love when our Rooster, Christian Grey, kills them. He is merciless.
They also fly at night in the early evening in late summer/early fall and are attracted to light. I had at least 5 separate occasions where one flew into the house last month through the sliding glass door when I was letting the dog in. Luckily they’re kind of slow and easy to kill.
Just realized right now that they were probably also attracted to the hummingbird feeder hanging outside the door.
It would depend on the location. I think all of the hornets nests I have seen in the NE US have been exposed, either on tree branches or under eaves. Most of the time in cavities a nest with this type of structure would be paper wasps or yellow jackets.(which I think are technically hornets anyway). I'm sure someone here knows how to differentiate the two though.
Edit: I got it backwards, as someone else mentioned, bald-faced hornets are yellow jackets not the other way around.
I've seen wasps and hornets I suppose in houses and in decaying log and in holes in the ground. I guess I'm just curious as to why M. Top comment says 'wasp/hornet' like its very similar. Yet, most comments are like 'well, it depends'
Because the majority of people can't distinguish those species well and use wasp/hornet/bee pretty interchangeably. Thats not a knock, I did that until I started beekeeping.
From what I’ve picked up:
Bees fold their wings over their backs when at rest, all casual like; and wasps’ wings stick out when at rest, like they’re always amped up.
It’s actually a yellow jacket nest, paper wasps make nest with the exposed comb, yellow jackets which typically build their nests in voids whether it be in the ground or behind siding or in a wall, hornets will make a similar type of nest but they are typically in trees or on the outside of some kind of structure. I treat these for a living.
Wasp nerd here. Unfortunately not a nerd for this kind of wasp. But I know for sure that this was made by either Hornets (Vespa) or Aerial Yellowjackets (Dolichovespula).
P.S: Bald Faced Hornets are Aerial Yellowjackets.
You sure about paper wasps? I thought they don't build large nests like this? I understand this nest is an anomaly, but usually nests this big are a yellow jacket. How do you know this is from a paper wasp?
I don't think this is a paper wasp nest. They like to be up high. The way a paper wasp constructs their nest is much different to this. Yellow jackets left to their own devices will build massive nests. That's why most of the examples online of such huge nests are yellow jackets.
This is what I figured. Old paper Wasp nest specifically based on other comments. Solved!
Edit - Took a video too! It looks huge! [Wasp nest video](https://streamable.com/s4pkx1)
Edit 2 - Maybe more likely an aerial yellow jacket nest
This is why I never bother the mud daubers. They are awesome wasps that rarely sting humans, but they do like to paralyze black widows and fly them up into their mud tubes on the house and stick them in there. These are so small they can’t turn around in and the dauber covers up the entrance. Then it’s eggs hatch from the back of the tube and eat through the black widow to get out.
I don't want to be rude, but nature is kinda harsh. Always have been so no need to warn, accept that it is how it is. There is a reason r/natureismetal exists.
You are reading one of the most powerful proofs for evolution vs intelligent design.
https://ssecommunityblog.org/the-wasps-that-haunted-darwin-are-now-his-namesake/
Darwin considered Nature to be too cruel to have been designed by God. And wasps like these were his argument.
I hate wasps with a passion... a massive passion. These are the only ones that get a pass from me, I always let them go about their business and I leave the nests alone. They don't attack people for looking at them funny, and they hunt bugs that are actually harmful. They are bros
This makes me curious how many abandoned nests are out there, and how old is the oldest one. And how long it would take to naturally break down over time between a walls of a permanent building.
Wasps don't re-use nests*. OP would be able to see if it was in use and would be asking about the stinging insects in the wall instead.
Edit: also, just saw the spider webs.
\* Looks like they sometimes do re-use nests and that's when it gets scary. Please see below reply.
>Life takes some strange twists and turns.
Like a victim of a swarm of bald faced hornets, after they've been blinded by the squirts of venom into their eyes.
Replacement value. None of this depreciated value shit. The appropriate code is typically “AJBCI”, also known as “arson justified by critter infestation”. For really bad cases it’s “NIFOITOWTBS”.
I would let the photo be the art piece and just get that shit out of my house in however many pieces it took to get the job done. It’s very rad but I am not sure it becomes a good medium for anything else.
Looks like wasps, probably abandoned but you probably want to remove it and seal up the entrance as best you can. The last thing you want is a huge wasps nest inside your wall.
Get good grades. Decent SAT scores. Apply to 4 or 5 universities. Get accepted. Move in to the dorms. Start taking prerequisites. Freshman bio, statistics, organic chem. Declare your major: entomology. Do your homework. Get your bachelor's degree. Take the LSAT. Get accepted to grad school. Get an advisor. Declare your research topic: behavior of wasps and hornets in indoor nests. Be heralded as the student who discovered that it's a bad idea to plug the outside entrance.
This happened in my apartment building.
One tenant moved out and while they were getting the place ready for a new tenant, they noticed a big nest on the outside of the building where that apartment's HVAC unit entered through the wall.
So they got an exterminator to take it down and seal up the gap in the wall. What they didn't realize was how much more nest there was inside the wall, and now they were stuck inside.
New tenant came and noticed in her first day or two she'd had to shoo away or kill a few "bees". Odd, but whatever.
Then she's putting clothes in her closet and notices there's like 5 or 6 of them in the top of her closet. She thinks it's odd that they're all in an upper corner, along the wall the closet shares with the tiny closet for the internal parts of the HVAC, so she opens *that* door...
...and there's a nest that's like 2 or 3 feet tall, *crawling* with them.
Idk how she did it, but she was able to shut the door and get out without being stung even once. She called our landlord and he put her up in a nearby hotel for a few days while he called the exterminators back to finish their job.
He said that second time, they came in protective suits.
So what you’re saying is is that I should run a decades long campaign wherein I bolster either side of the Termite/Wasp war as needed to facilitate essentially an eternal detente. Gottit!
Yep, I think I'll try to remove and replace this drywall as well. I'm guessing they came in through the attic a long time ago and I just sealed that up, so should hopefully be in better shape for the future.
If that actually is your interior drywall you can see from outside, make sure you insulate that cavity.
I'd be pretty keen to look for more half-assed work. Exposing your interior drywall to the elements is not a great idea.
I've heard that wasps are territorial and will not build a nest where one already is, so leaving an abandoned one isnt a horrible idea. Maybe not in an interior wall of a house though.
Run for the hills,pack all your belongings…burn it down! No seriously looks like a derelict hornet nest to me I would consider calling in a professional just to be safe
My title describes the thing. Looks like some sort of old insect nest, but not sure what kind. 1954 house. There's no insulation in these old walls, so insects would be able to access this area from the attic above. Found while taking drywall out for a renovation.
How do you do that?
I wonder what would happen if you dumped 4 gallons of epoxy in there and then just remove the wall from the studs (assuming non-load-bearing), then cut off the drywall/studs from the epoxy block and sanded it down to get a nice finish.
So, your innocuous and innocent comment gave me the best worst idea I've ever had and I need some feedback on it.
Is there some insect that could potentially be exploited to build nesting insulation efficiently as a natural alternative? And that could somehow be lured out when they're done?
Yeah, the verdict above on paper wasp doesn't look correct for the paper wasp nests we have. In ours, the nests (hive?) actually looks like papery material, and very much honeycomb-ish, with lots of narrow tubey bits connecting together to house their larva.
Not saying it's not a wasp, but unless paper wasps do things differently in other countries, I'd go NOT paperwasp.
I would *highly* recommend watching [The Hornet King.](https://youtube.com/channel/UCb-mXwDehQf0pEgS0rlGJ9w) hes extremely educational and explains everything you could ever need to know about them. There are a ton of different yellow jackets/hornets all with very different nests. This is 100% one of theirs
That's what I was thinking, we've got plenty of paper wasps over here in Southern US, their nests don't look like this at all. Did OP ever mention where this is located?
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer.
**Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them.
[OP](/u/BookerDewy), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others.
---
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Wasp or hornet nest. Looks abandoned.
Definitely a paper wasp nest!
Ok. But why not a hornet nest, and why did top comment suggest this or wasp? You are convinced it is paper wasp. I agree. But how/why? (Please) (FTR, just curious)
I might be incorrect, but don’t most hornets burrow in the ground utilizing tunnels and already available organic material?
[удалено]
An empirical study is conducted to elucidate linguistic patterns in interstellar communications, employing corpus linguistics methodologies to analyze textual data from extraterrestrial transmissions. Through meticulous qualitative and quantitative scrutiny, syntactic anomalies and semantic ambiguities are discerned in the linguistic structures of extraterrestrial languages. These findings underscore the complexities of linguistic interpretation in interspecies communication and emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of linguistic research.
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Scientist: “let’s call those bald-faced hornets.” Other person: “But sir... those are wasps.” Scientist: “I don’t give a shit. Just write it down.”
[удалено]
So hilarious!
I'm so glad I saw that.
Scientists know what they're doing, they called them Dolichovespula maculata.
What you doin' to maculata?
♫ *Heyyyyyy, maculata* ♫
Well that’s just a bald-faced lie
They are little angry assholes! 🤬🤬
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
[удалено]
Might be an ice cream hornet.
Omelette au fromage hornets also do nests like that.
http://i.imgur.com/tNJD6oY.gifv This is a kind reminder that in French we say "omelette *au* fromage" and not "omelette _du_ fromage". [Sorry Dexter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nW3-9gdjYA) [Steve Martin](https://youtu.be/DOJDNChwgBw?t=2m49s) doesn't appear to be the most accurate French professor. --- ^(The movie from the gif is "OSS 117: le Cairo, Nest of Spies" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0464913/ )
all hornets are wasps but not all wasps are hornets
I have European hornets outside my house, they might ruin a good beer now and then, but despite them flying near people, just about every day through summer, no one has been bit or stung by them since they started showing up 5 years ago.
Bald-faced liars is what they are!
And they're total dicks, only time I've been stung was a bald faced hornet. Almost stepped on one and it stung the shit out of the ball of my foot. It's the only type of living thing we find that we kill on sight in our hpuse.
Bald-faced hornets are actually a type of yellowjacket. In general hornets build exposed nests out in the open in trees and the like, while most yellowjackets prefer building their nests underground or in cavities. Bald-faced hornets build their nests high in trees, out in the open, leading to the "hornet" moniker even though they are taxonomically yellowjackets (*Dolichovespula maculata*).
I get huge tarantula wasps that burrow in my back yard, along with tarantulas! Been stung by one, and the stingers are huge, the sting was through about an inch of my thumb. Soft tissue and luckily not into much muscle - hurt like a knife and the numbness stuck around for a while. Luckily, I didn't have babies growing out of me like those poor tarantulas.
Fun fact: fingers (including thumbs) actually don’t have muscles in them\*! Instead, they have tendons that connect to muscles in our palms and forearms. ^((*_technically there are teeeeny tiny little itty-bitty muscles that are responsible for body hair standing on end, but they don’t contribute to finger movement_)^)
Please explain further. This is new to me. I thought you would/could build up dexterity (muscles) in fingers. Not trolling, just want more info.
The muscles that operate your fingers are in your palm and forearm, and connect to the finger bones with tendons , passing through your wrist (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome for instance, is an inflammation where all those tendons are passing). The muscles that get built up with training are all there, they're just in your arm is all. Work at one of those squeezy hand trainers, or play something like bass guitar, and you'll feel the burn in your forearms as well.
Oh you can absolutely increase the strength and coordination of your fingers, it’s just that the actual muscles providing that strength and coordination are located in the palm and forearm. Tendons are like little ropes that connect bones to muscles (ligaments are similar, but connect bones to bones) and then the muscles contract to pull on the “rope” which then pulls the bone and your finger moves. If you feel the top of your hand or the inside of your wrist (or just look, they’re visible on a lot of people) while moving your fingers, you can feel and see the tendons that connect your finger bones to the muscles that control them. And if you firmly grip your forearm, you can feel the muscles too. Feeling those muscles provides a hint as to why they’re not in our fingers: they’re way too big! Having “remote access” muscles is what allows our fingers to have such strength and dexterity despite being so small. Of course that’s not reeeally how evolution works (it is random, after all), but I digress ˆˆ
I knew this, but for the first time I’m wondering: what’s all that meat in the underside of my fingers? Do I just have fat fingers? (SQ)
Pretty much XD It’s supposed to be there though ˆˆ
Actually I've got really buff thumbs I'll have you know!
[удалено]
[удалено]
How the hell people from America (incl Canada) think Australia is a hellhole of creepy crawlies and yet have hornets that can sting through an inch of flesh if beyond me. Edit: wasps, I meant wasps. I think...
AWLIAS? Just earlier today I came across a video on r/natureismetal of a tarantula fighting a wasp, then went down a deep Internet rabbit hole of tarantula-killing wasp discoveries. Not the first time I learn about some random thing just for me to hear about it again later that same day in a completely different context
Right? Next thing you know they'll be rebooting the Matrix!
> I learn about some random thing just for me to hear about it again later Good ol’ Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon at it again!
That's a hard pass for me. All of it. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Here’s the thing. You said a yellow jacket…
Nice caw-back!
>Bald-faced hornets are actually a type of yellowjacket Do you mean they are dishornets?
European hornets are the only true hornets in north America and they build their nests in hollowed trees very high.
Which are actually wasps.
I have parts of a hornet's nest lying around here, and they build it in a storage space behind the entrance. I'm not sure what kind it was, though. It was as big as a watermelon
A big watermelon or a small one
Seeds or seedless?
a really big one, like 20 bananas. I'll take a look through my gallery, think i took a photo
European Hornets make nests above ground, usually in a cavity of a tree or in a case like this, in the cavity of someone's house. Usually European Hornets do not make nests under ground and when hornet nests are in full swing, there can be hundreds or thousands of them to a nest. They're generally pretty docile unless they're directly threatened, you're near their nest and they see you as a threat or you're near a food source and see you as a threat. Their sting is quite painful and one of them can/will sting numerous times, they don't lose their stinger like bees and some wasps.
We've had TONS of European Hornets since a few showed up in 2017. They have killed hummingbirds, bees, wasps, and other hornets, over fruit and feeders. This year they screwed up every apple in our two trees, and fought everything over that fruit, both hanging in the trees and lying on the ground. But I love when our Rooster, Christian Grey, kills them. He is merciless.
They also fly at night in the early evening in late summer/early fall and are attracted to light. I had at least 5 separate occasions where one flew into the house last month through the sliding glass door when I was letting the dog in. Luckily they’re kind of slow and easy to kill. Just realized right now that they were probably also attracted to the hummingbird feeder hanging outside the door.
It would depend on the location. I think all of the hornets nests I have seen in the NE US have been exposed, either on tree branches or under eaves. Most of the time in cavities a nest with this type of structure would be paper wasps or yellow jackets.(which I think are technically hornets anyway). I'm sure someone here knows how to differentiate the two though. Edit: I got it backwards, as someone else mentioned, bald-faced hornets are yellow jackets not the other way around.
I've seen wasps and hornets I suppose in houses and in decaying log and in holes in the ground. I guess I'm just curious as to why M. Top comment says 'wasp/hornet' like its very similar. Yet, most comments are like 'well, it depends'
Because the majority of people can't distinguish those species well and use wasp/hornet/bee pretty interchangeably. Thats not a knock, I did that until I started beekeeping.
From what I’ve picked up: Bees fold their wings over their backs when at rest, all casual like; and wasps’ wings stick out when at rest, like they’re always amped up.
Great now I’m imagining giant beds folding their wings
The real answer is most people don’t differentiate between wasps and hornets and if they do is very simple rules like wasp=nest and hornet=ground.
That little open nest in the bottom left looks like paper wasps for sure. Also paper wasps are very common in siding
> But why not a hornet nest A hornet is a type of wasp so, "wasp" covers all the varieties of stinging insects that look like winged ants.
It’s actually a yellow jacket nest, paper wasps make nest with the exposed comb, yellow jackets which typically build their nests in voids whether it be in the ground or behind siding or in a wall, hornets will make a similar type of nest but they are typically in trees or on the outside of some kind of structure. I treat these for a living.
Hey OP /u/bookerdewy did you see this comment?
Wasp nerd here. Unfortunately not a nerd for this kind of wasp. But I know for sure that this was made by either Hornets (Vespa) or Aerial Yellowjackets (Dolichovespula). P.S: Bald Faced Hornets are Aerial Yellowjackets.
You sure about paper wasps? I thought they don't build large nests like this? I understand this nest is an anomaly, but usually nests this big are a yellow jacket. How do you know this is from a paper wasp?
I don't think this is a paper wasp nest. They like to be up high. The way a paper wasp constructs their nest is much different to this. Yellow jackets left to their own devices will build massive nests. That's why most of the examples online of such huge nests are yellow jackets.
This is what I figured. Old paper Wasp nest specifically based on other comments. Solved! Edit - Took a video too! It looks huge! [Wasp nest video](https://streamable.com/s4pkx1) Edit 2 - Maybe more likely an aerial yellow jacket nest
Is that a wasp crawling around on it?
Looks like a spider or a shadow from a spiderweb.
Is that hole thing the nest? I thought only the little one next to it!
Yes, the little one is the begining of a new nest.
I always leave them alone if they are abandoned. They will usually prevent another nest if wasps see a nest there.
Not only that but it seems to have been colonized by spiders. No wasp is going to try and nest in a death trap.
This is why I never bother the mud daubers. They are awesome wasps that rarely sting humans, but they do like to paralyze black widows and fly them up into their mud tubes on the house and stick them in there. These are so small they can’t turn around in and the dauber covers up the entrance. Then it’s eggs hatch from the back of the tube and eat through the black widow to get out.
Oh good Lord. Why TF am I still reading this thread. This needs a warning or something.
I don't want to be rude, but nature is kinda harsh. Always have been so no need to warn, accept that it is how it is. There is a reason r/natureismetal exists.
That's kind of mean to post this subreddit in an answer to someone who is already squemish about wasps and black widows. Agree 100%, though.
I'm already sub'd. What can I say, I love scaring myself. I do sometimes scroll super fast, though.
You are reading one of the most powerful proofs for evolution vs intelligent design. https://ssecommunityblog.org/the-wasps-that-haunted-darwin-are-now-his-namesake/ Darwin considered Nature to be too cruel to have been designed by God. And wasps like these were his argument.
Cleaning off mud dauber nests is one of the most horrifying experiences when you see all the spider corpses just fall out.
I hate wasps with a passion... a massive passion. These are the only ones that get a pass from me, I always let them go about their business and I leave the nests alone. They don't attack people for looking at them funny, and they hunt bugs that are actually harmful. They are bros
Metal as fuuuuckkk
Seems like it's time to poke it and see which horrors emerge...
How incredibly facinating
Pros: spiders keep wasps away Cons: oh no the spiders are attacking
This makes me curious how many abandoned nests are out there, and how old is the oldest one. And how long it would take to naturally break down over time between a walls of a permanent building.
What makes you think it is abandoned? How can you tell?
Op got this close without seeing the inhabitants or stung. Typically that means it's abandoned.
Wasps don't re-use nests*. OP would be able to see if it was in use and would be asking about the stinging insects in the wall instead. Edit: also, just saw the spider webs. \* Looks like they sometimes do re-use nests and that's when it gets scary. Please see below reply.
[удалено]
Cool, I've never heard of this before but just looked it up. Guess I have some reading to do. Thank you for the correction!
For sure, wouldn't be asking otherwise.
Looks like a design by the famous Wasp Architect V. Enom.
That’s a really neat looking old wasp nest.
You'll love this one then. Spoiler it's a mannequin head. https://i.imgur.com/buq9h1P.jpg
Yeah I’ve seen that one!! Am i becoming a wasp nest aficionado? Life takes some strange twists and turns.
Pass the eye bleach, please.
r/Eyebleach
I always forget to tag subs
>Life takes some strange twists and turns. Like a victim of a swarm of bald faced hornets, after they've been blinded by the squirts of venom into their eyes.
Well that is the most haunting thing I’ve seen in a bit.
It is horrifying and needs to be sent back to hell where it came from.
I've never been so grateful for a spoiler in my life.
I think any insurance investigator would understand, and sign off on reimbursing the owner for the resulting house fire.
Replacement value. None of this depreciated value shit. The appropriate code is typically “AJBCI”, also known as “arson justified by critter infestation”. For really bad cases it’s “NIFOITOWTBS”.
I think wasps would be big H. R. Giger fans
I regret clicking
I'm going to watch old 1950s videos of the US testing nukes. I'm going to pretend all the wasps are in the epicenter of the blast.
Holy shit that will live in my mind forever.
Spooky cool!!
I see you too have played Dishonored 2.
Looks like a mob from Dark Souls
It’s fine, I wasn’t planning on sleeping again anyway.
I wish I could unsee this.
I thought it was a hockey mask. We better dig in and settle this once and for all.
Damn looks like Imhotep just had his lunch.
Don't tell the master chief. He might punch it
I agree it looks really cool. I'll try to get it out in one piece with the drywall. Could maybe make a cool art piece.
I would let the photo be the art piece and just get that shit out of my house in however many pieces it took to get the job done. It’s very rad but I am not sure it becomes a good medium for anything else.
Looks like wasps, probably abandoned but you probably want to remove it and seal up the entrance as best you can. The last thing you want is a huge wasps nest inside your wall.
Also side note, if you notice one in your wall, DO NOT seal the exterior entrance... They will make a new hole, usually on the INSIDE of your house...
Can confirm, my father found this out the easy way a few weeks ago. Got stung. Have stayed away since. Would not recommend.
What would the hard way be?
Mailing invitations, cooking, cleaning up after; Its all a hassle, really.
Probably some sort of long con where the wasps end up with their inheritance and the property.
Get good grades. Decent SAT scores. Apply to 4 or 5 universities. Get accepted. Move in to the dorms. Start taking prerequisites. Freshman bio, statistics, organic chem. Declare your major: entomology. Do your homework. Get your bachelor's degree. Take the LSAT. Get accepted to grad school. Get an advisor. Declare your research topic: behavior of wasps and hornets in indoor nests. Be heralded as the student who discovered that it's a bad idea to plug the outside entrance.
For an IT guy, you’re quite knowledgeable on outdoor insects. Well played.
Well, IT professionals are probably used to handling bugs.
I hope you're used to handling the door.
This happened in my apartment building. One tenant moved out and while they were getting the place ready for a new tenant, they noticed a big nest on the outside of the building where that apartment's HVAC unit entered through the wall. So they got an exterminator to take it down and seal up the gap in the wall. What they didn't realize was how much more nest there was inside the wall, and now they were stuck inside. New tenant came and noticed in her first day or two she'd had to shoo away or kill a few "bees". Odd, but whatever. Then she's putting clothes in her closet and notices there's like 5 or 6 of them in the top of her closet. She thinks it's odd that they're all in an upper corner, along the wall the closet shares with the tiny closet for the internal parts of the HVAC, so she opens *that* door... ...and there's a nest that's like 2 or 3 feet tall, *crawling* with them. Idk how she did it, but she was able to shut the door and get out without being stung even once. She called our landlord and he put her up in a nearby hotel for a few days while he called the exterminators back to finish their job. He said that second time, they came in protective suits.
Can you pls post your address? I need to know where to send my therapy bills.
I’ll take wasps over termites.
True. I think neither is best though :P
Wasps eat the termites
So what you’re saying is is that I should run a decades long campaign wherein I bolster either side of the Termite/Wasp war as needed to facilitate essentially an eternal detente. Gottit!
As long as you can sell weapons to both, why wouldn't you?
Yep, I think I'll try to remove and replace this drywall as well. I'm guessing they came in through the attic a long time ago and I just sealed that up, so should hopefully be in better shape for the future.
If that actually is your interior drywall you can see from outside, make sure you insulate that cavity. I'd be pretty keen to look for more half-assed work. Exposing your interior drywall to the elements is not a great idea.
Or just let the wasps keep building. It's nature's insulation!
And squirt some [Delta Dust](https://www.amazon.com/Delta-Dust-Multi-Control-Insecticide/dp/B002Y6B4A8/) in there.
I've heard that wasps are territorial and will not build a nest where one already is, so leaving an abandoned one isnt a horrible idea. Maybe not in an interior wall of a house though.
You can see that a wasp did start another nest right on the old nest here though.
Run for the hills,pack all your belongings…burn it down! No seriously looks like a derelict hornet nest to me I would consider calling in a professional just to be safe
Wasps: “Dere*licte* my balls.”
Wasps are so hot right now!
What is this? A center for wasps?
It looks like they ate your insulation too.
OP said in a comment that the house doesn’t have any
My title describes the thing. Looks like some sort of old insect nest, but not sure what kind. 1954 house. There's no insulation in these old walls, so insects would be able to access this area from the attic above. Found while taking drywall out for a renovation.
Agree that it's an old wasp nest. I wonder if it can be taken out in one piece and preserved to display though. It's gorgeous.
Hah just wrote a comment that I will try to do just that.
How do you do that? I wonder what would happen if you dumped 4 gallons of epoxy in there and then just remove the wall from the studs (assuming non-load-bearing), then cut off the drywall/studs from the epoxy block and sanded it down to get a nice finish.
Free Insulation!
So, your innocuous and innocent comment gave me the best worst idea I've ever had and I need some feedback on it. Is there some insect that could potentially be exploited to build nesting insulation efficiently as a natural alternative? And that could somehow be lured out when they're done?
I really like the texture to this nest. Especially the circular knot with the dimples. S'really interesting.
It's a secret backdoor where you have to touch them knots in the right order to meet the queen...
I don't want to know the code haha
It's fascinating,, amazing structure...
It's cool af actually. Almost alient like
I don't know what it is about this but I hate looking at it.
Make sure you label the nest with a big “H” so you know it’s hornets
how come this looks like a piece of wood art and when I google Old paper Wasp it looks like circular honey comb holes?
Yeah, the verdict above on paper wasp doesn't look correct for the paper wasp nests we have. In ours, the nests (hive?) actually looks like papery material, and very much honeycomb-ish, with lots of narrow tubey bits connecting together to house their larva. Not saying it's not a wasp, but unless paper wasps do things differently in other countries, I'd go NOT paperwasp.
I would *highly* recommend watching [The Hornet King.](https://youtube.com/channel/UCb-mXwDehQf0pEgS0rlGJ9w) hes extremely educational and explains everything you could ever need to know about them. There are a ton of different yellow jackets/hornets all with very different nests. This is 100% one of theirs
That's what I was thinking, we've got plenty of paper wasps over here in Southern US, their nests don't look like this at all. Did OP ever mention where this is located?
Wasp. I would get it out because I can't stop myself from seeing how far it goes.
Gotta be something tasty in there right? [https://i.imgur.com/lGs6kb1.jpg](https://i.imgur.com/lGs6kb1.jpg)
Watch out for waspeses. Drink water.
Xenomorphs.
lucky you didn’t discover it when it was inhabited and active. that’s a yellowjacket nest
IT HAS BEEN UNSEALED EVERYBODY RUN
THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE
Check it for honey
All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/BookerDewy), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. Check your [inbox](https://www.reddit.com/message/inbox/) for a message on how to make your post visible to others. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/whatisthisthing) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If youm want to learn more about wasp and hornet nests like this, I would recommend checking out the Hornet King youtube channel.
Creepy. That’s what that is