Wasps!

Steve: Wasps in Tennessee are an adrenaline rush and these guys, you've got to be careful and know what you're doing. There's three different species of wasps that we deal with here in Tennessee. The yellow jackets. These guys are crazy. They emit a pheromone and then it's on, it's go time. You have to be ready for what you're doing. You'll see them coming out of the ground a lot of time in Tennessee. They can have up to a thousand yellow jackets on a nest in the ground basketball size.

John: You will find them when you're out on your lawn mower because that vibration has woken them up. You can usually pass over it once with no problem, but when you turn back around and that vibration starts again they know where you are and they're coming to let you know where they are. They can sting multiple times and will follow you.

Steve: You may get them in the house as well. We have had that. They'll get in a wall void and/or in the attic space. Mr. Wasp is another. He's a big red wasp that we have here in Middle Tennessee. You'll see them sitting on little paper nests lot of time in the corner of porches, under decks, or in between the studs on decks. They'll hold anywhere from 1 to 40 wasps on the nest, and they can be very aggressive. If you get too close to that nest, they'll be one wasp on there that his job is to see that that doesn't occur and he'll come out and get you. Once again, you guessed it, they can repeat sting.

We also have hornets. These guys are evil, they're bad. Big nests, we had one here at The Hermitage recently that was treated about the size of a basketball. You can actually get them in the attic as well, you'll get them in the bushes and trees. If you come across something like that, you need to contact a professional because these insects can hurt you, they can repeat sting, there's a lot of venom in there, so you need to contact a professional to deal with it that knows what he's doing to keep these stinging pests away.

There are measures you as a homeowner can do as far as caulking extremely small-gauge wire for areas. Any pipes on the exterior of the home where there's a gap, you'll see wasps go in there. There's so many things you can do. If you'll just take a walk around the exterior of your home, you'd be surprised at how many gaps you'll find. I know I've done it myself. There's so many things you can do as a homeowner to keep these guys off of your property.