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Catch of the Week: Carpenter Bee
August 16, 2017
Bees are a common pest problem in Iowa during the summer. The most common bees found in Iowa are honey bees, ground bees and carpenter bees. One of our latest extermination job involved carpenter bees around a home in Urbandale.
Where Do Carpenter Bees Live?
Just like their name suggests, carpenter bees like to live and make their nests in wood. Females will eat away at bare, unfinished wood and dig out about an inch-deep hole that looks so perfect you would think a drill made it. After she digs a shallow hole, tunnels are excavated to the side, going with the grains of the wood.
Carpenter bees will lay their eggs inside the tunnels they carve out and leave behind pollen and nectar for their larvae to eat. This species prefers to reuse their old nests so the female carpenter bees do not need to "drill" new holes each year. When they continue to create new tunnels, this can cause quite a bit of damage over the years.
Signs of a Carpenter Bee Infestation
If you're enjoying the outdoors on your patio or porch, take a quick look around. If you see a small hole that looks like it was drilled into the wood, you could have carpenter bees. Another clear sign that the hole was caused by a carpenter bee is if there appears to be small wood chips resembling sawdust below. We found this at the Urbandale home and knew immediately that we were dealing with carpenter bees.
Although this bee species is solitary and tends to travel alone, when all their eggs hatch around the same time you could have a problem! Don't wait to take care of suspicious insect activity, call a professional right away. Preferred Pest treats carpenter bee holes with a pesticide placed directly on and inside the hole. This effective method gets rid of the returning bees so the damage can be repaired.
Leading Pest Control in the Des Moines Area
If you think you've encountered these small holes in wood around your house, Preferred Pest can help! Our exterminators offer efficient and quality bee removal services, or you could sign up for year-round protection with the Groundforce Pest Service Plan. If you're dealing with carpenter bees like this Urbandale homeowner, schedule an appointment online or call Preferred Pest today at (515) 276-7277.
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