News & Information - Redlands Pest Control Services: Termite Control; Treatment & Pest Control. Your Protection against Termites & Pests.

Mice & Rat Control in Winter Months

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -1000

Colder temperatures send wintry pests, such as rodents, spiders and cockroaches searching for food, water and shelter indoors. Throughout the winter rodents such as house mice seek shelter indoors, often causing serious and costly property damage. In addition to property damage, winter pests contaminate food and water sources throughout the home.

Redlands Pest Control provide a very effective and efficent rodent control program for residential and commercial properties. Please call us to find out more, on 1300361814 or book online for $10.00 discount.

Termites put Manly under wraps

Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 -1000

RESIDENTS of Manly on Brisbane's bayside have woken up to find half their commercial heart under wraps - literally - thanks to a termite infestation.

An enormous tent has been erected opposite the Manly Hotel and surrounding shops at the intersection of Cambridge Parade and Stratton Terrace.

The bizarre sight heralds the start of fumigation for West Indian drywood termites - one of the world's most destructive insects.

The Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries is co-ordinating the project.

The hotel will be closed for two weeks but other businesses including a hair salon and real estate agent should be able to reopen on Friday.

Discussions have been underway for 18 months between the hotel and the State Government about the infestation in the pub's upper level.

It has been undergoing annual checks since an initial infestation in 1989.

Manly Hotel and surrounding shops at the intersection of Cambridge Parade and Stratton Terrace.

CLOSED ... an infestation of West Indian termites at Manly has resulted in several businesses being closed while fumigation is undertaken.

Bee Colonies Face Extinction?

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -1000

To bee or not to bee? Colonies face extinction

The value of the bee to the British economy is around $2 billion a year (AFP: Saul Loeb, file photo)

There are fears around the world that the humble bee could become extinct.

Over the past two winters, the US has lost 70 per cent of its honeybee colonies. In Britain, it is estimated that if the situation continues as it has been, the honeybee will be extinct in less than a decade.

The value of the bee to the British economy is in the region of $2 billion a year because it is the number one pollinator of agricultural crops.

No one knows what causes so-called 'colony collapse disorder', so British scientists have been given the equivalent of $20 million to help solve the riddle.

At London's environmental education centre Roots and Shoots, chief beekeeper David Perkins says the disorder was not even talked about four years ago.

"This is a new term, it's like it's a new disease and you come to your next inspection and there are no bees in the hive at all," he said.

"They're not dead, they're not dead in the hive, they're just gone and if you try to reuse the frames or the boxes, the bees won't go near it. There's something tainted about the box."

Flower power

Francis Ratnieks, a professor of Sussex University's laboratory of apiculture and social insects, says bees are dying because of diseases and environmental changes.

"Honeybees suffer from many diseases including the varroa mite, virus diseases, bacterial diseases," he said.

"Then there's the environment itself. In particular the availability of flowers in the countryside. Without flowers even the healthy honeybee colony can't live because they get all their food, pollen and nectar from flowers.

"What we have is changes in farm use, land use, so there's really just fewer flowers now than there used to be."

After the 2008 winter, 30 per cent of British colonies died out.

Value in bees

Throughout the UK the economic equation is simple - if you add retailers' profits to farm gate prices, the honeybees value is around $2 billion a year. Thirty-five per cent of the country's diet is dependent on them.

"The honeybee pollinates wildflowers, garden flowers and agricultural crops," professor Ratniks said.

"Without the honeybee, without the bees, the whole world would the different to what it is today. There would be far fewer flowers and a lot less food to eat."

"The great thing about social insects is they can communicate extremely quickly, they communicate using chemical signals," chief beekeeper David Perkins said.

"The waggle dance gives information to other workers that are going out to forage, where to fly, how far to fly, what distance to fly in, to find a good patch of forest, good patch of flowers."

Professor Ratnieks's project aims to decode these dances, and hopefully find answers to the bees' demise.

"We'll be able to tell where they're foraging and therefore we'll be able to tell which part of the landscape is actually good for the bees and also will help us understand what the bees need," he said.

"We can hopefully improve the countryside, the towns for bees as a result."

How to get Rid of Ants

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -1000

How To Get Rid of Ants

How To Control Ants

First of all, ants serve an important function out of doors. Ants aerate the soil, break down organic matter and control the population of other insects. So your goal should not be to destroy them altogether, just to control them and keep them out of your home.

There are several varieties of ants found in Australia.

Ants establish colonies and they send out scouts to find resources (food and water). The scouts leave a scent trail enabling them to return to the colony with news of found resources. Other members of the colony will follow the scent trails to collect resources and bring them back to the colony. Depending upon the variety of ant, colonies will also establish sub colonies near resources or they will send out queens to establish new independent colonies.

With argentine ants and some other varieties, you see heavily traveled trails as the ants make their way to and from the colony. Other varieties of ants look less like a traffic jam and more like the occasional strolling ant. In both cases they are following the scent trail layed down by members of their colony who passed by there before.

The Key to Controlling Ants is:

Erase their scent trails
Eliminate the food source
Seal their entrance to your home
Use natural and low-toxicity compounds to destroy colonies as necessary

Eliminate Ants Scent Trail

When you see scouts, kill them and wipe down the area. This important step will prevent major scent trails from being formed and will prevent the scout from reporting back to the colony about any found food. Once a trail has already been established, start from the food source and wipe backwards to the trail entrance. Use a sponge with soapy water. Plain water will not completely eliminate the trail. If you cannot get the trail all the way to the entrance to your home, block the trail at the point you can get to. They will seek a way around, but if you act quickly and are persistent, the ants will likely give up after anywhere from a day to a week.

Seal the Ants Entrance to Your Home

As temporary blockades for ants there a variety of things that will discourage ants. Ants will not cross vaseline or various sticky substances. Chili powder, cinnamon and boric acid are also avoided by ants. Block a trail entrance with any of these substances. For a more permanent blo

Eliminate the Food Source

Ants send out scouts to search for food, the scouts will wander endlessly and there seems to be an endless supply of scouts. Given time, ants will nearly always find any food in your home. Ants may seem disinterested in some foods, but it really depends on what the colony needs. Something ignored this time month may be their food of choice a month later.

To cut off the supply of food, place open foods into tightly sealed containers or store them in your refrigerator. Wipe down counters and sweep floors nightly. Clean cabinets drawers and shelves to remove crumbs and stains. Ants also need water, so keep sinks and counters dry to discourage them. This is typically only a problem during the hot or dry seasons.

If ants are eating pet food from your pet's bowl, create a moat around the bowl. To do this, place the food bowl into a pie tin or similar low pan and add soapy water to create a barrier around the bowl.

Redlands Pest Control has developed successful ant treatments for residential and commercial properties, please call 1300 361814 or enquire or book online for further information.

CSIRO Termite News

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -1000

TROUBLE WITH TERMITES

By Roger Beckmann

When you think of architects and builders, you expect them to be human, don't you? Well, think again . . . there are large, highly organised structures on Earth that weren't built by humans. There are even plenty of them right here in Australia. They can be more than three times the height of a person, and some even have covered walkways radiating out from them. So where are these things, and how did they get there? The answer is that they're the work of tiny termites, responsible for building the skyscrapers of the insect world.

But that's not all these little insects can do. It's no difficulty for them to fell large trees, chew up electric cables and demolish houses! Considering most of us rarely see them, termites are pretty important - in fact, despite their small size, they're some of the most important living things in many of our tropical and arid ecosystems. But at the same time they're one of the most feared of all insect pests.

Castes of thousands

Termites are called social insects because they live in complicated societies with thousands or even millions of individuals working together for the benefit of the colony. Each termite species forms its own colonies, and within a colony there are several forms of termites. These forms are called castes, and different castes have different functions.

Caption: The four castes of termites (clockwise from top left): queen, king, worker and soldier.

Ants, bees and wasps also live in colonies with castes. Most people would know that the most important individual in all these colonies is the queen. The same is true of termites, though at the start there's also a king. The future king and queen termite have wings when they're born and are sometimes called the reproductive caste. They emerge from mounds and fly around to find a mate. This is known as the colonising flight - but it's more like a death flight because very few termites survive the flight to go on and produce a colony. After they have paired up, the termites shed their wings. Each pair will then try to set up home in a suitable spot - somewhere moist and protected, such as a piece of decaying wood on the ground. They hollow out a small, cosy space in which they mate and shortly thereafter the female lays her first batch of eggs. When these hatch, the king and queen are the ideal parents, carefully feeding and caring for their offspring.

The Queen Mum

The first young grow up to become the workers of the colony, and a new society begins. The queen lays more and more eggs. However, it takes quite a while (up to a few years, depending on the species) for the colony to have enough termites to be noticeable. At first the queen helps with various tasks, but as the number of workers increases they feed her and also tend all the young. The queen is the mother of all the other termites in the colony apart from the king. She lives (sometimes for up to 50 years) while hundreds of generations of her workers and personal attendants die and are replaced.

The queen is fertilised from time to time by the smaller king. He is long-lived compared to the workers, but doesn't usually last as long as the queen. Extra 'kings' may take his place when the colony is large enough to begin producing reproductives. If so, these kings will stay in the colony and mate with their own mother!

If the queen dies the colony can still continue. Supplementary queens from the reproductive caste may take over as egg-layers. They're not usually as large or productive as the primary queen, but several of them may work together to replenish the population.

Workers and soldiers

The real hard slog of making a termite mound falls to the workers. Usually the great majority of termites belongs to this caste. Every day some leave the colony to gather food, while others build and repair any damage or feed the young or the queen.

Soldiers may have powerful jaws with which they cut or stab intruders, or a long tube on their heads from which they squirt chemical weapons - sticky stuff to trap invaders or toxic chemicals to deter them. In some species the soldiers can squirt their toxic brew with great accuracy for a distance of several centimetres.

The soldiers' job is obviously to defend the colony against invaders, which usually means ants. When workers are repairing damage on the edge of the mound, soldiers are usually present to guard them, their heads facing outward to counter any threat. The soldiers, despite being prepared to sacrifice their own lives, often simply aren't powerful enough when they're pitted against large numbers of ferocious ants, larger insects or other animals. The main defence is really the enormous mound itself. This ensures that the core of the termite society is protected from almost every conceivable threat, even though individual termites will inevitably be crushed or eaten as they leave the mound or work on its edges.

Although most termite species in Australia don't build above-ground mounds - preferring instead to nest below ground or in wood - those that do tend to produce spectacular structures. If you've ever pulled a bit off the outside of a mound, the chances are that you'd have seen a few workers and perhaps soldiers. You wouldn't have seen the millions of busy workers or the real heart of the society, which lies deep inside the mound and partly underground. Some termite species even keep farms inside to help feed their society. They lay out wet, chewed up plant matter, inoculate it with fungus, and then harvest and eat the mould. Busy workers tend these gardens and take the food for others in the colony to eat.

The giant mounds of the Cathedral Termite (Nasutitermes triodae) are among the largest in the world.

A termite colony typically lasts for 10-20 years, but some are known to be 60 years old. The mounds are built to last! And if they are damaged - by heavy rain, flooding or fire, for example - the hard-working citizens quickly repair them!

Magnetic mounds

Some of the oddest mounds are the so-called magnetic mounds in the Top End, which occur in groups, with each two-metre tall mound being the same shape and with all of them positioned accurately to face in the same direction. A collection of these mounds looks frighteningly alien at first sight. How could they all be aligned in the same way? And why?

Research suggests the alignment of the mounds is designed to help the termites avoid unfavourable temperatures. Usually, termites can withdraw into the inner galleries of a mound when conditions outside are too cold, wet, hot or dry, but the species that build the magnetic mounds live in areas that are flooded during the wet season. The ground is completely underwater for weeks, so the bottom of the mound is flooded. Temperature regulation within the above-ground portion is therefore very important. The eastern face of the mound then becomes the part of the colony that's kept at a reasonable temperature. In the early morning it's heated by the sun, but soon the sun moves and this face remains in the shade and at a reasonable temperature for the rest of the day, while the north-facing side takes the heat.

Magnetic mounds are believed to be designed to help regulate temperature.credit: Photo by David Curl

In areas where windy conditions mean the east faces of mounds take longer to warm, scientists have found the mounds may be positioned so the sun remains for longer on the eastern face. The mounds are not an exact and rigid compass, but vary in different places to benefit the termites. It seems very carefully calculated! The termites may be using the Earth's magnetic field to decide on the positioning of their mounds, but we don't yet know for sure.

Teeming with termites

CSIRO scientists estimate that there are about 350 termite species in Australia. Most species occur in the hotter parts of the country, with more than 100 species occurring in the Top End of the Northern Territory. Scientists haven't even got around to naming most of these species, but they've established that the great majority of termites fall into one of four groups: wood-eaters, soil-eaters, debris-feeders (which eat plant litter and dung) and harvesters (which cut down living grasses and herbs). Only about half a dozen or so are serious pests. Wood-eaters are quite harmless if you find them - even the soldiers' jaws don't do much to us - but their craving for wood can ruin our furniture, houses or even bridges.

There are about 350 different species of termites in Australia.

A survey of hundreds of houses in New South Wales in the 1980s showed that about one in five houses had active wood-eating termites around or had had a problem with them in the past. The results of the termites' huge appetite for wood can be very dangerous, but often go unnoticed because the workers tend to shun light and dry air. They build covered tunnels or galleries from their nest and eat wooden structures from the inside - so roof timbers and doors may seem intact when in reality they're just a thin shell with nothing but dust and termites inside. Then, suddenly, they can collapse.

Termites eat wood from the inside out, so damage can go unnoticed until it's too late.

Scientists at CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products and CSIRO Building Research have studied the problem of termite damage in detail - and they've enlisted the help of Double Helix Club members.

Vital cogs in the ecosystem

Termites are much more than just fascinating insects that live in organised colonies. They are an essential part of many arid and tropical ecosystems - in particular, those in northern Australia.

Have you ever wondered why Africa has so many large mammals while tropical Australia - with a very similar climate - does not? Where are our elephants, giraffe, wildebeeste, rhinos and zebras - or their Aussie equivalents? The answer to this question is complex, but studies of termites have recently given us a better understanding of the nature of our own ecosystems.

Ecologists have suggested that the infertile soils and the very seasonal rainfall in much of northern Australia make it too hard for the place to sustain herds of large mammals. But the lack of the big mammals has given other creatures more of a look in. Reptiles and insects are the winners.

In the Top End of the Northern Territory, termites are present everywhere. They are decomposers and important consumers of plant material. As they munch their way through wood, leaf and stem they unlock the nutrients that the plants have accumulated and store them in their nests and in their own bodies. Termite nests are 'nutrient hotspots'. As old nests decay and erode, so vital stores of nutrients from decades ago are slowly released, ready to be used again. Without the activity of the termites, nutrient cycling - on which life depends - would be greatly reduced. This is especially true during the long, hot dry season. During this time plant growth slows and most plant-feeding insects become inactive, but termites are as busy as ever, feeding on dead and dry plant material instead.

In addition, the termites are a useful food source for other creatures. Ants, spiders and lizards are especially partial to a termite feast, which can be had at any time of the year. In this way, feeding chains are built up. Scientists have discovered that in areas of the Top End with plenty of termites there is more variety in the ant and reptile fauna.

Tonnes of termites

In many parts of tropical and sub-tropical Australia there are grassy grazing lands with a few trees remaining. Here farmers run cattle but, because of the dryness and poor nutritional quality of the grasses, one cow needs about 25 hectares to graze on. On average, the weight of cattle flesh (the 'biomass') works out at about 24 kg per ha. CSIRO scientists have surveyed the termite presence in these areas and have calculated that the weight of termites ranges from 40 kg to a staggering 120kg per hectare. That's a lot of termite flesh - and makes these little insects much more important as converters of plant material than the cattle.

Termites could be serious competitors with the cattle - but the good news is that the termite activity, by eventually putting nutrients back into the soil, takes the place of fungi and earthworms in wetter environments, so they have an important place in the ecosystem.

^{Canberra Double Helix member Paul Britton showing tree damage caused by termites.}

So what are they?

Termites are sometimes called 'white ants', but they're not ants at all - in fact, they're not even closely related to ants. So what are they?

Entomologists have worked out that termites are really a type of specialised cockroach! But you won't find them scuttling under your fridge looking for food scraps. They diverged from cockroaches on the evolutionary tree many millions of years ago, and have successfully pursued their own plant-eating life ever since.

Termites are small (their size can range from about 3 to 10 mm long), pale or transparent, and have thin skins. Unlike ants they don't have a thin waist, they are usually blind (there isn't much need for vision in the dark tunnels they inhabit) and they cannot tolerate dry conditions. But they are similar to ants in that they occur in large numbers and look busy! Ants and termites also both have castes that include sterile workers and soldiers, and a single large queen. Both insects can live in large, complex colonies and both have produced fungus-cultivating species - one of the more amazing examples of convergent evolution, where two species begin from a different point and end up quite similar in the way they live.

Termite tidbits

termites are major pests in Africa, Asia and the Americas as well as Australia
there are about 12 000 trillion termites on Earth
the mass of termites is about 10 times greater than that of all the people in the world
termites are thought to be responsible for about 40 per cent of the global release of methane, a greenhouse gas
termites chomp their way through about 7 billion tonnes of plant material each year

(Statistics from RMIT Openline.)

Measuring the gases emitted by termites - they're thought to contribute about 40 per cent of the world's methane.

And one for all

Faced with complicated societies in which an individual will lay down its life for the good of the group - such as ants, bees, wasps and termites - biologists have asked how such behaviour has come to be. Giving up an advantage for the good of others, with no immediate reward in return, is called altruism. It's often highly valued in our own society, but why should it occur in insects? If an altruistic individual dies, why does anyone bother volunteering?

Part of the answer lies in the fact that most individuals in insect societies cannot reproduce. The only way for their genes to be passed on is to help the society as a whole, because the entire colony is composed of their siblings. If they protect the young and the queen (who's their mother), the workers and soldiers are ensuring that at least some of their own genes survive. In the same way, many animals that don't live in societies show parental behaviour - working hard or sacrificing themselves to protect their young in order that their genes will continue in the next generation.

Another way of looking at social insects' selfless behaviour is to view the entire colony as one creature. In this case, each individual termite is merely a cell. Just as a single cell in our body will die for the good of the entire body - for example, if you cut your skin or to fight infectious germs - so too will a termite. An individual termite is easily replaced. Hundreds of foraging termites are destroyed or lost every day but the colony survives, just as millions of our own cells die every day but are replaced with new ones. In this sense the entire colony is one animal, and the giant mound is just a shell that it makes for itself. The control of this 'creature' comes from the queen, because the chemical signals she releases control the behaviour of the other termites, just as nerves and hormones - many coming from the brain - control the cells in a body like ours.

The distinction between what is one animal and what is many is very hard to make. Your own body, for example, houses thousands of millions of other organisms in your intestines; as well as this, mammals such as us may well harbour ticks, fleas, lice and worms. Looked at this way, every animal is a sort of mini-zoo. Inside an individual termite's digestive system are millions of tiny microbes. They produce enzymes that can digest cellulose, the main chemical in termite foodstuffs. Without them a termite would die of starvation because its own body is unable to make the enzymes it needs.

Big and destructive Mastotermes darwiniensis - which, as its name suggests, was first noticed around Darwin - is one of the largest termites in the world. It is also incredibly destructive. As well as wood it can chew up electric cables, leather, wool or rubber. It can also eat many plants in your farmyard or garden! Trees don't stand a chance - Mastotermes enter them through the soil and, when they reach the inner bark, they create deep grooves right around the trunk, quickly ring-barking (and thus killing) the tree.

Termites can eat the floor right out from under your feet!

Medical mounds and musical mounds

If you're ever feeling crook when you're in an isolated part of the Top End, head for the nearest termite mound. Aboriginal people use soil from termite mounds as a medicine for various ailments. You can eat the soil (no-one said medicine's supposed to be nice), mix it up into a watery paste and eat it, drink it, or put it on your skin. Termite mound soil is used to cure diarrhoea and stomach pains, to prevent bleeding and to stop some infections.

Scientists haven't studied in detail why termite soil should be a medicine, but it could be that the clay in the soil acts to 'bind up' loose faeces (similar to the effects of kaolin, a clayey material that's used in western medicine). Termite mounds are also known to be rich in many nutrients and minerals.

Termites aren't just handy for medicines. Without them you couldn't make a decent didgeridoo. These beautiful musical instruments are always made from hollow branches. And who hollows them out? You guessed it: the hard-working little termites. They get into a tree and eat the wood on the inside. Perhaps it's bad news for the tree, but good news for lovers of that unique Australian sound.

caption: While termites' ability to hollow wood out is bad for houses and trees, it helps produce didgeridoos.

US Declares War on Bed Bugs

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -1000

US declares war on pesky enemy -- bed bugs

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US officials are on the warpath against a new plague pouncing on unsuspecting Americans from cellphones, keyboards and mattresses -- the humble bed bug now staging a comeback after two decades.

The tiny blood-suckers had all but vanished over the past 20 years, but now pose "the most difficult, challenging pest problem of our generation," entomologist Mike Potter from the University of Kentucky told a conference.

"In my opinion, we are not going to get out of this thing" until we "allow the pest-control industry to go to war," he warned.

The two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, dubbed the first National Bed Bug Summit by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), heard the insects are spreading rapidly, infesting all kinds of public buildings and spaces.

"We've never seen anything like this," agreed Mike Deutsch, an entomologist with Arrow Exterminating, saying bed bug colonies were being found in lamp bases, clock radios, televisions as well as snuggled up in the pages of books.

"We certainly know that bed bugs are not restricted to beds and upholstered furniture, but now we're finding them in places even we never thought possible."

The talks aim to "identify ideas and options for bed bug prevention, control, and management; create strategies for outreach and education; and develop recommendations for action," the EPA said in a statement.

Infestations are being recorded in hotels and restaurants, and are now considered a major problem around the United States.

As their name suggests, bed bugs are primarily found in mattresses and become active at night when they gorge on the blood of sleeping humans who are blissfully unaware that they are providing an impromptu midnight feast.

Until the next morning that is, when red welts show up on the victim's skin.

According to the American Medical Association, the flat, oval, brownish-red creatures, which measure about five millimeters, do not transmit any diseases.

But they leave traces of blood and feces on the pillows and sheets, and an infested room can have a unpleasant, pungent smell.

Now though the tiny vampires are swarming out of the bedroom and into other places including pictures and cuddly toys. And no one can escape, with bed bugs as likely to invade luxury hotels as shelters for the homeless.

"Five million dollar homes on the north shore of Long Island to homeless shelters in New York City are experiencing problems," said Deutsch.

Frequent international travel and hotel stays have helped bed bugs stage their comeback after near extinction in the US, hitching a ride back into the country in suitcases.

The bugs' dramatic reappearance also coincides with the withdrawal from the market of powerful chemicals such as DDT, which killed the insects but were harmful for the environment.

Few of the remaining chemicals have proved as effective against the tiny invaders, and some kinds have even developed a resistance to them.

One Democratic lawmaker now plans to throw the full force of the Congress against the itchy little pests, with plans to reintroduce the "Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008."

That bill failed to get passed last year, but it aims to provide funding for public housing authorities to exterminate the unwanted visitors hidden in their midst.

Flying & Swarming Termites or Ants?

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -1000

Spring & Summer is the season for termites.

We get many calls at this time of year, when the termites commence their social swarming.

In order to create a social swarm, the colony has probably been in the ground for at least three years.

However just remember that termites are active 365 days & nights a year!

The damage that termites do is gradual and methodical.

The flying termite is the short-lived reproductive stage and cannot harm your home. If you see "flying ants" in the home, look for a dark-black body with four clear wings of equal length. A flying ant is similar to a termite, but is red or brown in color and has smaller wings.

The best strategy is to maintain annual termite inspections from a qualified and experienced Pest Management Technician.

If you do see alot of flying insects under these climatic conditions have a good look around the building & yard to see if you can find out where they are coming from as it might mean you have a nest of termites nearby. We recommend marking the spot & contact us at Redlands Pest Control.

Bee & Wasp Control

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -1000

MANAGING BEES and WASPS

The most important element of wasp and bee control is to destroy the nest.

Aerosol "wasp and hornet" sprays can be used to knock down bees/wasps around the nest.

Small amounts of pesticides (dust and wettable powder formulations work well) applied into the nests.

Nests of mud daubers also can be treated this way or by simply scraping them off structures.

To prevent reinfestation, finishes (paint, etc.) can be applied to unfinished wood to discourage carpenter bees.

In some cases, attempting to destroy a nest becomes a greater health risk than simply tolerating and avoiding it. But nests, especially those of social species, should be destroyed if they are close enough to humans to pose a stinging threat. The nests of honey bees, bumble bees, yellowjackets and hornets should always be approached with caution, preferably at night when most of the workers are present but reluctant to fly. Try not to carry a light, as wasps and bees may fly toward it. Instead, set the light aside or cover it with red cellophane (insects cannot see red light). If there is direct access to the nest, a fast-acting dust or wettable powder formulation can be applied. If possible, inject the material into the nest. If you must approach these nests during daytime, a quick knockdown aerosol can be used to keep the bees/wasps at bay, while you treat the nest as above. Heavy clothing or a "bee suit" can be worn for added protection.

Sometimes, yellowjacket and honey bee nests occur in voids such as vents, crawlspaces or hollow walls. Destroying nests in these locations can be difficult, often requiring the services of pest management professionals.

Honey bee nests contain honey that must be removed after the bees are eliminated because it will rot and attract secondary pests. Also, be mindful that nests may be located several metres away from the point at which the bees/wasps are entering the structure. Simply applying pesticides into the entrance holes may not be sufficient. It may be necessary to drill into the structure to enable injection of pesticides directly into the nest. Entrance holes should never be plugged, even after treatment, because the bees/wasps will look for other ways to get out of the nest and have been known to chew their way into living quarters, endangering persons inside. Also, use extreme caution when performing bee/wasp control from a ladder.