Carpenter Bee Damages

September 25, 2017

In: Carpenter Bees

When it comes to pests, people tend to be most knowledgeable about and most wary of the pests that can cause serious health risks or that can damage their property. When it comes to damaging property termites and carpenter ants tend to be on top of everybody’s most unwanted list. However, there is another species of damaging pest that people tend to forget about, but left to their own devices can cause serious structural damage to your Hartford home and property- the carpenter bee!

To know if carpenter bees are wreaking havoc on your property, you first need to know what this pest and the damage they cause look like! Carpenter bees have a very chubby, round bumble bee appearance with some notable differences. Carpenter bees have a shiny abdomen instead of a furry one like the bumblebee. Bumblebees usually have a black and yellow stripped appearance while carpenter bee females are usually completely black or dark brown in color, males may have some yellow or white markings on their face. Carpenter bees grow to between 1/2 and 1 1/2 inches in length. These stinging insects are not social; they are a solitary species that live completely on their own, or sometimes in very small groups of females. To create their nest the females will bore a round dime-sized hole into wooden structures and then tunnel through the wood. They prefer to pick older structures that are made of softwood and that aren’t painted or stained. Structures that are commonly invaded by carpenter bees include decks, porches, wooden outdoor furniture, sheds, wooden trim and wooden playsets.

You may be currently thinking to yourself, if I have one loan carpenter bee on my property, what’s the big deal, how much damage could they really cause? Well, the big deal is that while it is true that they create their own individual nests, female carpenter bees tend to pick the same piece of wood to invade, this means that you may have many carpenter bees boring holes and tunnels into a piece of structural wood, which as you can probably guess can cause significant structural damages. Damages can also become significant because carpenter bees often return to the same areas year after year to nest, again leading to more damages each year to the wood they are invading. Another important fact to understand about carpenter bees is that woodpeckers love to dine on carpenter bee larvae, they are attracted to the sounds they create as they hatch; the woodpeckers will peck at the entrance of the nest creating, you guessed it, even more damage to that piece of wood!

The best way to get rid of carpenter bees that have decided to nest on your property is to contact the professionals at American Pest Solutions. Our highly trained professionals have the skill and equipment needed to find all the nests that carpenter bees have created on your property, treat the nests and prevent a re-infestation. At American Pest Solutions we never recommend you try and take care of a carpenter bee infestation on your own because while a female carpenter bee is very docile, they are equipped a stinger and their venom is strong enough to cause health consequences. In addition to our professional services to help prevent a carpenter bee infestation in the future, we highly recommend painting or staining any wood that is used to create structures on your property. It can also be beneficial to use hardwood instead of softwood when building! To learn more about our highly effective solutions to carpenter bees and other damaging pests including carpenter ants and termites, get in touch with us today at American Pest Solutions!