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Mud Dauber

  • Scientific Name: Various depending on species
  • Nicknames: Organpipe Mud Dauber, Black/Yellow Mud Dauber, Blue Mud Dauber
  • Length: 0.5" - 1.25"
  • Color: Brownish colors
  • Aggressive? No
  • Do They Sting? Yes, Extremely Rare
  • Poisonous/Venomous? No
  • Disease Carrying? No
  • Invasive Species? No

The Mud Dauber

Also known as Organpipe Mud Dauber, Black and Yellow Mud Dauber and Blue Mud Dauber

Mud daubers may become a nuisance when they construct nests of mud, especially on porches, decks, sheds, eaves, attics, ceilings, walls and under roof overhangs around homes and other structures where people live, work and play. They are considered nuisance pests since nests are not defended and stings are rare. In spite of their formidable appearance, these solitary wasps are not aggressive and controls are rarely needed.

Adult organpipe mud daubers are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, shiny, black, elongate and slender. The inner margins of the eyes are deeply emarginate, with hind leg segments white. Black and yellow mud daubers are about 1 to 1-1/4 inches long; black or brown with yellow markings (partially yellow legs) and thread-waisted. Blue mud daubers are about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, metallic blue to blackish (with blue wings) and thread-waisted.

The mud dauber builds finger-like nests of mud attached to flat surfaces under roof overhangs, under eaves, etc. The nest is a series of parallel mud tubes of varying length. The black and yellow mud dauber is often seen around wet areas digging up balls of mud for its nest. The nest is placed on the undersides of boards, logs, rocks, etc. Nests may be a single cell or several cells placed side by side. The blue mud dauber does not make its own nest, but takes over the nest of the black and yellow mud dauber.

How Do We Remove Them?

One of the pest management experts at McMahon Exterminating will visit your home and provide a proper assessment and ID the bugs that are infesting your home or property to better understand the type of insects or pests that they are dealing with to properly coordinate a plan that will work best for you.

We help educate the customer on things that they might be able to do to help deter the pests as well, and will try to prevent this from becoming a reocurring infestation.

The treatment will begin and we will monitor the situtaion closely to make sure that the numbers are being depleted in the area. We want to try to deter the insects from coming to your area as opposed to just chemically treating them, as that will only be a short term solution for you but with McMahon's C.A.N. initiative and our three easy steps — Canvas the area, Act on those results, and Negate re-entry for the pest, we can work to getting your home to pest free status.