Bees, Wasps & Hornets

Mud Daubers

Size: 1/2 inch to 1 inch. These wasps are long and slender with a narrow, thread-like waist.

Color: Black or sometimes steel blue in color. Sometimes with darker brown markings.

Health Risk: Mud Daubers are basically non-aggressive and beneficial insects. However, should they be disturbed, they are stinging insects and their venom can be dangerous to people with certain allergies.

Behavior – Mud daubers are solitary wasps that construct small nests of mud in or around homes, sheds, and barns and under open structures, bridges and similar sites. This wasp group is named for the nests that are made from mud collected by the females. Mud is rolled into a ball, carried to the nest and molded into place with the wasp's mandibles in the shape of cylindrical tubes resembling pipe-organ pipes.

Control – Control of these insects is not warranted since they normally pose little threat. Rather, mud daubers should be regarded as beneficial, since they remove and use as prey many species of spiders which most people find disagreeable. The mud nests can be scraped off and discarded at night if they are objectionable, or wasp and hornet aerosol sprays can be used to treat nests if desired.

Northern Kentucky

859-525-6515

1020 Arbor Tech Drive
Hebron, Kentucky 41018

Cincinnati-Loveland-Mason-Lebanon

513-352-0080

1418 Walnut Street
Cincinnati Ohio 45202