Many people have heard of bumble bees and honey bees, but have you heard of carpenter bees? These bees behave a little differently than the typical bees you see in your garden; as their name suggests, they will bore into wood. Carpenter bees in Texas can actually pose a problem for the structure of your home, but maybe not for the reason you would expect. The Houston pest control professionals at Holder’s would like to offer you some helpful information in regards to carpenter bees and what you can do to prevent inviting them to your South Texas home.

Carpenter bees (also called ‘woodcutters’) are large, ranging between ½ an inch and 1 ½ inches long. They look like bumble bees but lack the hairiness of bumble bees; the females are black and shiny and the males are orange, black and shiny.  These bees tend to be solitary, which means they don’t live in a typical hive or nest. They will, however, bore holes into the wood of your home to create a safe place to lay their eggs. The female does the burrowing while the male waits outside of the nest, acting aggressive to protect the female and her eggs. While carpenter bees will feed on nectar and pollen and are considered important pollinators, the holes they bore into your home can become a problem.  The initial nest that carpenter bees build into your home isn’t usually very substantial; their nest is shaped like a T inside the wood and damage isn’t usually extensive. The problem becomes when the bees return to the same nest, year after year, adding to the damage, or when wood peckers or other insect feeding birds break into the structure to feed on carpenter bee larvae.

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