BEE & WASP ERADICATION
Posted By SafeGuard Pest Control Administrator
HOW TO TAKE THE STING OUT OF BEE & WASP ERADICATION
Although honey bees are beneficial to the planet, pollinating fruits, vegetables, and flowers, they can also become a serious threat to homeowners. Bees are known as pollinators, and their thinner, leaner cousins, the wasps, are predators. Both can be troublesome and even dangerous when they establish a hive on your property, or even inside the walls of your home.
WHERE BEES & WASPS LIKE TO GATHER
Wasps and bees are opportunistic creatures, and they will construct their hives in locations where they feel safe. Unfortunately, this often includes the eaves of houses, sheds, inside garages, vents, in attics, inside walls, soffits, and the casings of doors and windows. While their main mission is to find pollen, if provoked and threatened, bees and wasps will sting. For some, the sting is an irritation, a welt that needs to be treated with a topical cream. But for others who are allergic, it can mean a trip to the hospital. About 50 people in the United States die every year from bee and wasp stings. This is part of the reason why calling a Pest Control Service is so important to eradicate bees and wasps from your home or property.
YELLOW JACKET WASPS
Yellow jacket wasps are often mistaken for bees because of their coloring and lines. They are also often confused with paper wasps and hornets. Most yellow jackets build their nests in soil, but some are happy in man-made structures. They can build their nests in shrubs, trees, stumps, and in and around homes in the eaves, in sheds, attics, garages, etc. Those in the soil can be aggravated by vibration caused by running or the lawn mower, and may attack to defend their nest. They are equipped with a stinger that looks like a lance with barbs, and can sting their “victim” repeatedly when threatened.
BALD FACED HORNETS
Bald faced hornets are technically wasps. This species builds a hanging paper nest, which usually evokes fear in people when they stumble upon it. Although adult bald faced hornet feed on fruit pulp, tree sap, and nectar, they are also known to predators and prey on other small insects to feed to their larvae. Removal of a bald faced hornet hanging paper nest must be done with extreme care. They should not be burned down or flooded because this puts the homeowner at risk of multiple stings. Instead, an experienced pest control company should be contacted for proper removal.
• Toy boxes
• Inside the seams of wallpaper
• Window and door moldings
• In cell phone casings
• Books
• In cat and dog beds
• In cars
• In the laundry room
CICADA KILLERS
These wasps are among the largest in the insect world, usually double the size of other wasps. They resemble yellow jacket wasps but are darker and wider. They are aptly named because their main prey are cicadas. Cicada killers are burrowing creatures and are often found in and around sidewalk and driveway cracks, on small hills, and in patios. They typically won’t sting unless handled aggressively, but they are fearsome to look at and often engage in mid-air combat which is especially intimidating to people.
WHEN YOU HEAR NOISE IN THE WALLS
There’s almost nothing as stressful to a homeowner as hearing noise inside a wall. It might be a chewing, purring, buzzing, scratching, or thumping sound. The noise could be caused by many things, including bees and wasps. And while honey bees do not cause structural damage unlike carpenter bees, they can cause cosmetic damage.
Conversely, wasps and hornets can penetrate walls and enter your home if given the opportunity.
Regardless of what’s causing the noise, you should call your pest control provider immediately for proper identification and eradication.
HIVE AND NEST REMOVAL
Although bees, and even wasps, are necessary to the environment, you don’t want them too close to your home or loved ones. Most bees and wasps are not intent on stinging humans, but most will when they feel threatened. Whether a person is allergic to the venom or not, multiple stings could send a person to the hospital. That’s why, if you’re looking to get bee hives, hornet nests, wasp nests, or yellow jackets nests removed, it's usually best to consult a licensed pest control company.
PREVENTION TIPS RECOMMENDED
Once a bee or wasp nest has established a presence in or around your home, calling a professional exterminator is the next best step to ensure proper nest removal. However, there are some ways you can prevent them from building a nest or gathering around your property in the first place.
• Remove any fruit that has fallen from trees in the yard. Both bees and wasps are attracted to fruit pulp, and they will gather in large groups to feed on the fallen fruit.
• Treat any outside wood that is exposed. Certain types of bees and wasps will burrow and make their nests within the wood.
• When serving food outdoors, cover all sweet foods and drinks, as well as meats and other proteins which will attract wasps.
• Regularly scan the property for gatherings of bees and wasps. If you find them, watch where they so you can report it to the pest control provider.
• Never squash a wasp. It will release chemicals that signal other wasps in the area to attack.
• Seal cracks, holes, and crevices in the driveway, walkways, or any hollow area in the structure of your home, garage, and sheds to avoid the entrance of bees and wasps.
