Mud Daubers Nest Found on Side of Home in Freehold, NJ

Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 by Alfonso Reyes

Challenge

While treating the home of one our Home Protection Plan customers' in Freehold, NJ, we found an active mud daubers nest on the side of the building.

Mud daubers are solitary insects, meaning they are not social and do not live in colonies, that are about ¾ to 1 inch in length and can vary in coloration from all black, blackish blue, or black with yellow markings. The most common mud dauber species found in New Jersey are the pipe organ mud dauber that builds pipe-shaped mud nests in protected areas such as on walls, under eaves, or in attics.

What makes them a nuisance is that their old nests are often taken over by more dangerous stinging insects.

Solution

First, we used our scraper and removed the nest. Afterward, we treated the area with a residual application that'll prevent the mud daubers, as well as any stinging insect, from building a nest.

Here's where we found the nest!

It's an organ-pipe work of art!

The female mud dauber deposits an egg on the first spider within each mud tube and then seals them with mud. The mud dauber larvae will hatch from the eggs and feed on the prey left behind by the adult female mud dauber.