Carpenter bees... are they something to fear, or they just harmless little bugs? Well, in this article, we'll look at a couple of reasons supporting both being harmless and something to watch out for.
First, the only carpenter bees to have stingers are the females. The males have no stinger whatsoever, but they will fly in an aggressive manner around you if you are in their territory. Another thing to notice is that, if carpenter bees do invade your home, they could cause damage to the weathered or untreated lumber built into your home. This kind of wood attracts these bees for the use of creating tunnels to nest in. A common misconception is that carpenter bees eat wood, however, they only carve out tunnels to reside in them during the winter months.
SO to combat them, you must first find the entry point on the outside of your home, then find the tunnels they've created, then take measures to seal up the entry and tunnel points. Some very effective pesticides to use to kill these bees are both boric acid (Borid Turbo Aerosol), and Carbaryl dust (Sevin). If these bees are left untreated, then as time goes on, after the winter months, the bees will breed and grow in numbers, thus creating more tunnels and nests. Caught early, the damage can be prevented head on.
Keeping these things in mind will help your home to be free of carpenter bees, but it requires both foresight and insight into ridding these bees from your home.
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