Call us today 
Nothing ruins a sunny afternoon on the patio faster than wasps. They buzz around your food, hover near your drink, and get aggressive if you try to shoo them away. And if there’s a nest on your Ankeny property — under an eave, in a soffit, behind a shutter, or underground in your yard — the problem only gets worse as the colony grows through summer.
Miller Pest Solutions has been removing wasp nests and reducing wasp populations across the Des Moines metro since 2007. Skip the can of wasp spray and the ladder. Let us handle it safely.
Signs of a Wasp Problem
Wasps don’t always advertise their nests. Here’s how to tell if you have an active colony nearby:
- Repeated wasp activity in one area. Wasps flying back and forth to the same spot on your roofline, deck, or garage is the clearest sign of an active nest.
- Visible nests. Paper wasp nests are open, umbrella-shaped, and hang from eaves, porch ceilings, and railings. Bald-faced hornet nests are the large, enclosed, football-shaped structures you see hanging in trees or on buildings.
- Wasps entering gaps in your home. If wasps are disappearing into a crack in your siding, a gap around a vent, or a hole in your soffit, they’ve likely built a nest inside a wall void or attic space.
- Ground nest activity. Yellow jackets often nest underground. You’ll see wasps flying low and entering a hole in the ground — in a flower bed, along a sidewalk edge, or in an open lawn area. Ground nests are especially dangerous because they’re easy to stumble onto and the colony can be enormous.
- Increased aggression. Late summer colonies are large and defensive. If wasps are aggressively approaching you in a specific part of your yard, there’s a nest within a short distance.
Why Wasps Are Common in Ankeny
Central Iowa’s warm, humid summers are ideal for wasp colony development. Queens emerge from hibernation in spring, start new nests, and by August those colonies can number in the hundreds or thousands — depending on the species.
Ankeny’s suburban environment offers wasps everything they need. Newer homes with vinyl siding and composite trim have gaps and channels that wasps exploit for nesting. Older homes provide even more entry points. Decks, playground sets, storage sheds, and fence posts all offer sheltered nesting spots.
The city’s extensive landscaping and garden culture attract the insects that wasps prey on — caterpillars, spiders, and flies. Wasps are predators, so they set up shop where hunting is good. And Ankeny’s food scene — outdoor dining along SW Ordnance Road and the Prairie Trail district — draws yellow jackets looking for sugary drinks and food scraps, especially in late summer when the colony’s diet shifts toward sugars.
Our Wasp Control Process
Nest identification. We locate all active nests on your property and identify the species. Paper wasps, yellow jackets, bald-faced hornets, and mud daubers each present different risks and require different treatment methods.
Safe nest treatment. We treat active nests with professional-grade products that eliminate the colony rapidly. For nests in wall voids, attics, or underground, we use dust and liquid formulations designed to reach the colony where it lives. We don’t just spray the entrance — we treat the nest itself.
Nest removal. When accessible and appropriate, we remove the physical nest after treatment. This prevents other wasps from re-using the structure and eliminates secondary pest issues (like carpet beetles that feed on abandoned nest material).
Preventive treatment. We treat common nesting areas — eaves, soffits, window frames, deck undersides — with a residual product that discourages new queens from building nests in these locations. This is especially effective in early spring when queens are scouting for nest sites.
Why Choose Miller Pest Solutions
wasp removal isn’t something to take lightly. Stings can cause severe allergic reactions, and disturbing a nest without proper equipment and knowledge is asking for trouble. Joel Miller and the team at Miller Pest Solutions have the training, the gear, and 17-plus years of experience handling wasp situations safely.
We’re QualityPro Certified and NPMA members. We show up when we say we will, treat the problem completely, and charge a fair price. That’s been the approach since 2007.
Get a Free Phone Bid Today
Wasps making your Ankeny yard uncomfortable — or unsafe? Call Miller Pest Solutions at (515) 329-1679 for a free phone bid. Tell us where the wasps are, how many you’re seeing, and we’ll let you know what it’ll take to solve it.
Learn more at millerthekiller.com. Don’t risk a sting. Let the professionals handle it.
