Stinging Insects You’ll Find in Florida

With the summer months approaching, more of us will take the opportunity to enjoy the longer days. But along with the excitement of spending additional time outdoors, is the threat of stinging insects like Africanized honeybees, wasps, hornets, carpenter bees, and yellow jackets, among the usual summer insects like mosquitoes.

Stinging insects can find their way to your property no matter how careful you are. Some attack if they perceive that they are in danger and will harm both humans and animals within the area. Others can do significant damage to a wooden building’s structure.

Watch Out for These Stinging Pests

Their stings can not only be dangerous for anyone with allergies, but they can be a severe issue for a property infestation. A misstep can lead to a significant attack by the most common stinging insects in Florida without the proper steps in removing them.

Variations of Paper Wasps

These tiny terrors may be as small as ½” or as large as 1.5″ with a varying color of reddish-brown, dark red, orange, or the well-known bright stripes of red and yellow, depending on the species.

Their nest dramatically differs from a common honeybee. Instead, it is round and attached by a single stalk to a horizontal surface in a protected location. These aggressive insects will attack if provoked.

Bald-Faced and European Hornets

Although commonly classified as a hornet, the bald-faced hornet is an aerial yellowjacket found in trees, shrubbery, and large bushes. The bald-faced hornet is the species most common to Florida.

European hornets create small aerial paper nests made from bits of wood scraped from logs, bark, and even the wood found on decks and houses. It’s common to find nests built in attics, chimneys, structure voids, and on sides of buildings.

Both are aggressive to perceived threats to their colony. They will sting nearby people and pets if aggravated by someone attempting to remove them or from loud vibrating noises such as lawn mowers and leaf blowers.

Bee Removal Services

Bees, along with their stinging counterparts, should be removed by professionals. Without the proper removal expertise, protective clothing, and equipment required, you run the risk of the painful, if not dangerous, after-effects of stings.

Africanized Honey Bee vs. Domestic Honey Bee

Also known as a “killer bee”, the Africanized honeybee is a hybrid of the western honeybee crossbred with the East African lowland honeybee with various European honeybee subspecies.

Smaller than the domestic honeybee, this type of bee is dangerous because of its aggressiveness. Also, unlike honeybees, Africanized honey bees will chase and attack people and animals who disturb their territory.

Damage by Carpenter Bees

While they’re not necessarily a danger to people or pets who cross their paths, carpenter bees can do severe damage to homes and other property made of wood. Once a carpenter bee makes a nest on your property, others will soon join the area, primarily if settled in a location made from unfinished wood.

Any structure made from unfinished wood can quickly become a thriving community and ruin wooden outdoor furniture, eaves, overhangs, siding, and boards of homes, businesses, and garages made of wood.

Locations of Yellow Jackets

All too often it’s difficult to know where yellow jackets are hiding. Sometimes they go as far as building their colonies inside the walls of buildings or in burrows created by rodents.

Stay away from nests once you discover the location. If you notice yellow jackets entering your property, you should not plug the hole. This will force them to eat through the interior wall.

Taking Away the Danger of Stinging Insects from Your Property

Stinging insects can be dangerous to both people and animals. Turn to Hometown’s trained professionals to find where the pests are residing, how they entered, what attracted them, and most importantly, how to remove them entirely so you can go back to enjoying the outdoors. Call 561-907-8643 or contact us online to request service.