No ideas how to get rid of them, but we have heaps at the moment, they are the ones that chew up the wood and take it to make their nests, so they are busy munching away at our deck, I think they are building nests so they can hibernate for the winter, the only way to get rid of them is to find the nest, if you do spraying them with crc works really well, and do it in the evening or first thing in the morning before the day gets too hot, then they are sleepy and at home.
sorry to hear about your little boy, lucky he is okay.