Nobody likes bees flying around on their property. Even bumblebees, which are generally harmless towards humans, can be annoying and a little frightening. The loud noise they make as they zip around your head is rather startling. While a bumblebee might be bothersome, though, you really need to be wary of carpenter bees.
A carpenter bee looks a lot like a bumblebee, as it has a yellow and black oval-shaped body and grows to be about one inch long. Though they may look similar, carpenter bees have very different habits and can wreak havoc on the structure of your home if you’re not careful. Continue reading to learn all about the dangers of carpenter bees and what exterminators in Bartlesville, OK can do to eliminate them.
About carpenter bees
Unlike most other types of bees, carpenter bees are solitary insects, meaning they don’t live in a hive or nest. Instead, female carpenters bore circular holes into wood and lay their eggs. They’ll stay around the hole and protect the eggs until they begin to grow. Though females have stingers to protect their eggs, they typically don’t use them all that often, so the good news is that you probably won’t get stung by a carpenter bee if you get too close to their eggs. The bad news, however, is that their nests can cause significant structural damage to your home.
Obviously, having one or two carpenter bees floating around your property isn’t a huge deal—the problem comes when you have hundreds of them. As they continue to bore into the wood, the structural integrity of your home will continue to get worse and worse. Before you know it, you may have hundreds of carpenter bees to deal with, and hundreds of holes in the wood of your home!
What can be done to eliminate them?
As we’ve seen above, carpenter bees tend not to sting (the males don’t even have stingers), but that doesn’t mean you should just let them live freely on your property. Here are a few ways you can take care of them and prevent them from coming back:
- Paint: Carpenter bees prefer to bore into untreated wood, so painting over any exposed wood could help prevent them from making themselves at home on your property. That said, paint isn’t a magical preventative tool, and carpenter bees still might bore into your treated wood.
- Inspect: The only way to know whether or not you have a carpenter bee problem is to inspect your property. Look for half-inch holes along the exterior of your property, some of which may even have little piles of sawdust underneath. If the holes are occupied, you might even be able to hear or see the bees buzzing around. If you’d prefer to not inspect your house by yourself, just call an exterminator. We’ll be glad to check your whole property for you.
- Call an exterminator: The best way to get rid of your bee problem is to let the pros handle it! We can eradicate all of your carpenter bees and apply a preventative spray to ensure they don’t come back anytime soon.
If you notice any signs of carpenter bees around your property, don’t hesitate to pick up the phone and call your trusted exterminators in Bartlesville, OK. Excellence Pest Control has years of experience handling infestations, and can quickly eliminate all of the carpenter bees from your home.