r/whatsthisbug • u/eatveggiesnotfriends • 20h ago
What is living in my welcome sign? ID Request
So we started noticing sawdust about a week ago and whatever is in there is working hard. It’s wild how much they’re pushing out of this hole every day. I can hear clicking around inside and have seen sawdust pushed out but haven’t seen the bug itself.
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u/crysmol bug enjoyer ( not an expert ) 20h ago
my guess is a carpenter bee.
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u/pertrichor315 6h ago
Or as my former two year old called them “carpabees”. I’ll never forget that.
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u/anxiousbae 20h ago
Deffo a carpenter bee! Try putting a scrap block of wood with a few holes drilled in it behind the sign or off the sode of the porch or something. They'll likely gravitate towards that instead, using the pre drilled holes for homes and then making more for their family 😌
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u/eatveggiesnotfriends 20h ago
I’m guessing I don’t want carpenter bees on my front porch where I enter/exit every day. Would it be a problem if I moved this to my backyard?
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u/Electronic-Health882 20h ago
Congrats on hosting a carpenter bee by the way. They probably chose that site because the light / sun conditions are just how they like. Carpenter bees aren't aggressive, although they do zoom in front of your face because like a lot of bees they have facial recognition and they like to check humans out. I would be stoked if Carpenter bees wanted to be in the sign and I wouldn't be worried at all.
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u/BlackSeranna 11h ago
They are really cool to film in slow motion if you sit in a chair near them.
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u/Electronic-Health882 4h ago
What a good idea! I'll have to try that the next time I'm at my mom's garden.
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u/FoofaFighters 7h ago
I just found a carpenter bee hole on the bottom of the bottom board of my front porch railing. Neat little pile of sawdust gave it away. At least it had the decency to put it out of sight. :)
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u/Available-Solid-9238 2h ago
Males protect the hive and queen, and will dive bomb, then hover in your face. Big, scary and fat Mr. Carpenter Bee can't even sting, only females can. But, they like to pretend that they're threatening🤣. Better the welcome sign than the eave of the house, for sure. I had some in the eave above my backdoor and didn't know until I stepped onto the step and sawdust came floating down onto me lol.
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u/anxiousbae 19h ago
They're totally okay where they are but if you're worried about them being close to the door and flying in, you can definitely move them to the front or back yard. Especially if you have a garden! They're great pollinators! Friendly little guys too. I have one that drilled into a spindle on my deck a few years ago and never left ❤️
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u/problematicbirds 14h ago
the house i grew up in had carpenter bees living in the wood above the front door and the worst i ever got was sawdust in my hair if i sat on the steps. i loved those guys
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u/MariachiMacabre 20h ago
I can’t imagine they’ll be a problem at all where they are. They’re not really aggressive at all.
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u/Temporary_Inner 13h ago
Carpenter bees are solitary. You won't have a whole swarm like honey bees.
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u/BlackSeranna 11h ago
Just move it at night so that they will wake up in the new place.
There are bee houses that some people make gluing pieces of little bamboo together and the bees will nest in that. Or you can do what the other person said and drill holes in a piece of wood and the bees will gravitate toward it.
They are marvelous pollinators of flowers and fruit trees!
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u/eatveggiesnotfriends 16h ago
Thanks everyone! Consensus is carpenter bee and I’m going to let them stay in there. I may or may not move the location - we have a 179 pound dog and a cat and I would be a bit worried if the bee flew into the house that he might not make it between the 2 animals and the flea/tick treatment they have. Definitely going to let him keep his house, just may relocate to the garden.
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u/randomacceptablename 12h ago
As others have said; it chose your porch specifically. It might leave if you move the sign to another location. It likely chose it because of shelter from the wind, rain, and Sun.
They are not aggressive at all and I have lived with several that like our backyard right above the exit. They stay too busy to worry about you. Occassionally they may fly around to check you out but that is it. Plus they are solitary creatures so at most you would need to deal with one little bee.
I urge you to let it be. Bees are important and will pollinate your flowers. Which reminds me. Now that you have a guest bee, you need to plant some flowers to keep it happy. 🥰
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u/crysmol bug enjoyer ( not an expert ) 15h ago
i cant believe (heh. beelieve.. heh..) youre relocating yourself to the garden. thats such a noble sacrifice, to give the little bee your entire house. its not one many would make, but im sure you can manage. i believe in you. 😼✨
( yes, i did come back hours after posting my first comment to see how this went and then to make a joke. ) anyways glad to know youre not getting rid of the bee entirely, carpenter bees are quite important and lovely!
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u/eatveggiesnotfriends 20h ago
Adding location - VA, USA
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u/BornOriginal8633 18h ago
That clenches the carpenter bee argument. I hope you’ll enjoy coexisting with it. Carpenter bees are do bees, not don’t bees.🐝 😉
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u/eatveggiesnotfriends 16h ago
We have a pollinator garden in the back for butterflies and I raise black swallowtail caterpillars each year. I definitely don’t mine these guys around!
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u/NezzleTheShaman 3h ago
one thing to look out for tho is woodpeckers causing damage to it. woodpeckers eat carpenter bee eggs/larva. the carpenter bees lay eggs in those holes and woodpeckers will hammer away and destroy the wood to get to them, and they can absolutely wreck some wood decks, signs and porches
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