‘When do wasps die off?’ Searches surge as people longingly hope that insects will leave their houses

The long summer appears to have kept the wasps around for longer than usual, and people want rid of them

Wasps indulge their sweet tooth in the later summer months after their larvae become self sufficient (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

People are clamouring to find out when wasps will leave their house, according to Google search.

Searches for “When do wasps die off?” have surged as much as 1000 per cent in recent days, apparently as people panic about why the insects are still in their house. It isn’t clear whether the interest is because of the long summer keeping wasps around, or just a quirk, but people clearly want to know when exactly their houses will be wasp-free.

The trouble is that it’ impossible to know. Wasps, prompted by the changing weather, will fly away as the summer draws to an end – which should be happening around now, but might be prolonged by the longer summer.

When it finally does draw to a close, any wasp colony will produce some new males and queens that will escape from the nest. They’ll mate, and then find somewhere to hibernate ready for winter to kick in.

Once it does, the cold weather and harsh conditions will kill off the males and the queens will go into hibernation. That will get them ready again for the summer, when they’ll get ready to come back out, build new nests and get back to life outside.

Again, if the winter is particularly warm then they might come out early. If they do, there’s a fairly good chance that they’ll die – there simply won’t be enough resources around for them to keep themselves going.

In the meantime, it’s important to know that it’s not worth upsetting any wasps. They launch a biological response that is equivalent to calling for back up – meaning that attempting to swat one wasp might actually lead to more arriving.