Countless people across the U.S. are no strangers to having to play exterminator to deal with a wasp nest a little too close to home during the summer. A video viewed more than 33 million times shows a person holding a plastic cup half-filled with gasoline up to a wasp nest, causing the wasps to drop from the nest and into the cup, apparently killing them.
THE QUESTION
Is holding a cup of gasoline up to a wasp nest a safe way to kill wasps?
THE SOURCES
Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI)
Discount Dumpster, a dumpster rental company
Michael Raupp, Ph.D., an entomologist at the University of Maryland
Jonathan Larson, Ph.D., extension entomologist at the University of Kentucky
THE ANSWER
No, holding a cup of gasoline up to a wasp nest is not a safe way to kill wasps.
WHAT WE FOUND
The trick seen in the viral TikTok video, in which a person holds a cup half-full of gasoline up to a wasp nest so it’s fully sealed within the cup, does kill wasps. But that’s because gasoline is particularly dangerous to all living things — whether that living thing is a wasp, you, your pets or plants.
“Hydrocarbons that comprise gasoline are volatile and can be lethal to humans if ingested or inhaled,” said Michael Raupp, Ph.D., an entomologist at the University of Maryland, in an email to VERIFY. “I am certain that gasoline is quickly lethal once it enters their respiratory system. You wouldn't last long if someone dumped you in a pool of gasoline.”
Jonathan Larson, Ph.D., extension entomologist at the University of Kentucky, says the gasoline likely penetrates the wasps’ exoskeletons and dissolves parts of their central nervous systems.
A cup of gasoline can kill wasps, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best way to kill a wasp nest around your house.
“This sounds like a very foolish thing to do. Gasoline vapor is highly flammable and if there was a spark or flame nearby these folks might immolate themselves or burn down their house,” Raupp said. “Wasp sprays are designed for this purpose and don't have the risk of the cup spilling and getting into someone's eyes or absorbed through skin or setting fire to a structure.”
“When I see these videos, and watch people doing this, I get very nervous for them because they're seconds away from everything going wrong, and ending up doused in gasoline and covered in wasp stings,” Larson said.
People have tried for years to use gasoline in other ways to kill wasps and other stinging insects despite warnings from pest management companies and entomologists.
One such dangerous tactic involves a person pouring gasoline into an underground hole where a yellowjacket nest is hiding. Some people let the gasoline sit, others light it on fire.
Texas A&M’s School Integrated Pest Management says to never use gasoline to remove wasp nests. If poured into the ground, gasoline can create a fire hazard, contaminate the soil and prevent the growth of vegetation for some time.
“A ground application of gasoline poses greater harm to children and the environment than a wasp nest,” Texas A&M says.
To further highlight the dangers, Texas A&M reported as far back as the 1990s about incidents in which people poured gasoline into the hole of a wasp nest somewhere in their yard, lit it on fire and ended up watching their house burn down.
Another popular method involves dousing a hanging wasp nest, like the ones in the recently viral TikTok videos, in gasoline. The University of Kentucky Department of Entomology says this is “seldom successful and can result in multiple stings.”
Gasoline can cause serious health effects when it comes into contact with a person’s skin, when it’s inhaled or when it’s ingested, says the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI). Among those health effects is a potentially fatal kind of chemical pneumonia if the gasoline enters the lungs through inhalation. TDI says gasoline is also highly flammable, and just about any kind of spark can ignite it.
The cups used by people taking part in the TikTok trend also increase the dangers for the people handling them, says Discount Dumpster, a dumpster rental company. That’s because you should only transport gas in an approved container, such as those marked with an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or Factory Mutual (FM) symbol.
“Gas should never be transported in plastic milk jugs, glass containers, or small plastic containers that have held other automotive liquids or other liquids like cooking oil,” Discount Dumpster says. “These containers are not sturdy enough, cannot handle the expansion of the gasoline, and may degrade quickly causing leaks in the container.”
Because of its toxicity and flammability, gas should never be thrown out with the rest of the trash, nor should it be poured down your water pipes or left out to evaporate, Discount Dumpster says. Instead, you should take any gas you need to dispose of to a Household Hazardous Waste Facility (HHW), or to a local recycling center, community collection event, local fire station or auto repair shop if any of those places accept gasoline disposal.
How can you reliably get rid of wasp nests safely?
The best way to get rid of a wasp nest is with an aerosol wasp spray, which is intended to be used exactly for this purpose and allows you to hit the nest from a safe distance, Larson says.
According to Pests in the Home, which is funded through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grants, these aerosols are designed so they can be sprayed at a wasp nest from 20 feet away, and freeze and kill the wasps on contact. They’re good for “instant control” of small nests, such as the one seen in the viral video. The Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences says this should work on any nest the size of a grapefruit or smaller.
When choosing an aerosol spray, you can check the can’s label to figure out which product is the safest.
“If you find two similar products, and one has a ‘Caution’ signal word and the other has a ‘Warning’ signal word, choose the Caution product,” Penn State says. “These words indicate how toxic the product is and Caution is the least toxic. Warning is considered moderately toxic while a Danger Poison signal word is extremely poisonous, even to humans. A ‘Danger’ signal word indicates the product will cause a severe eye or skin irritant.”
Treat the nest in the early morning or the evening, when the wasps are least active and are in the nest, Penn State says. Stand as far back from the nest as you can, and pre-plan to get away from the wasps as soon as possible, Michigan State University Extension Pest Management says. You should then check on the nest periodically over the next day or two, and once you’re sure there is no more activity, you should take a long pole or rake to knock it down.
Since wasps don’t typically build a brand new nest in the same location as an old one, knocking down the nest can be an effective preventative measure for the formation of new nests, the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service says.
If you don’t like the idea of using pesticides, Larson recommends you simply leave the wasps alone, since the kind of wasp that builds nests with exposed hives is a beneficial predator that isn’t aggressive unless you bother its nest.
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