Don't let stinging insects keep you from enjoying your outside living space today. With Ransford Pest Control, if you are in our immediate service area and call before noon, we can come the same day to promptly and professionally treat your bee, wasp, or yellow jacket problems. Don't wait until you or your loved ones get stung—call Ransford today!
Stinging Insect Control Service in Central Massachusetts
Though bees and wasps start foraging and exploring in March and April and are active throughout the summer, their activity peaks in August and September. While these insects are often part of the natural environment, they can pose serious risks to your family and pets, especially when their nests are disturbed. In Central Massachusetts, Yellow Jackets are among the most common stinging insects, building nests in high, hard-to-reach places like tree branches or the top of your porch. Their painful stings can trigger allergic reactions, making prompt action essential.
Our team of wasp exterminators specializes in safely managing stinging insect infestations, including:
- Yellow Jackets
- White-faced Hornets
- European Hornets
- Non-solitary Wasps
- And Carpenter Bees (Reduction)
Our expert technicians are trained to get rid of wasps and protect your home from these dangerous pests, ensuring peace of mind for you and safety for your loved ones and pets. Let us help you enjoy your outdoor spaces without the worry of painful stings.
What Does Our Stinging Insect Treatment Include?
Here's how we make the wasp extermination process simple and hassle-free for you:
- Detailed Inspection: Our technician, equipped with a bee suit, will inspect the affected area to locate the nest(s). If necessary, the technician will use a thermal camera to detect nests hidden in wall voids.
- Targeted Applications: Once the nest is located, the technician will inject a dust with residual effects into the nest to eliminate all wasps. A liquid treatment may also be used to provide fast-acting results.
- Treating Hard to Reach Areas: Our technicians use a 20-25 foot pole to treat nests that are high up, but we do not send technicians up ladders.
- Free Retreatment: If live wasps are seen in the nest 3 days after treatment, we will return to re-treat at no additional charge until the problem is resolved.
- Ongoing Protection: If you're enrolled in our Premier or Insect Plan, you can contact us for free, same-day treatment of any new common nests, as social nest-forming wasps are covered on these plans.
Wasp Nest Treatment
At Ransford Pest Control, we treat wasp nests but do not physically remove them. Our technicians focus on eliminating the wasps by treating the nest, ensuring that the wasps die at the source. If the nest is removed without treatment, wasps that are outside the nest may return and rebuild a new one. After our treatment, if no activity is observed within 3 days, customers may choose to remove the nest if they wish, though nests usually deteriorate if left alone and unmaintained. We recommend not handling the nest alone until then to ensure complete elimination of the wasps.
Is It a Bumble Bee or a Carpenter Bee?
While often mistaken for harmless bumble bees, unlike Bumble Bees which are typically found in ground nests or sheltered areas like flowering bushes, compost piles, or under decks, Carpenter Bees bore unsightly and weakening tunnels into your wooden structures, from decks and siding to fascia boards and railings, causing potential damage to your property. Here's how to tell the difference visually:
- Carpenter bees have a distinct, shiny, hairless, and often black abdomen.
- Carpenter bees, while they don't have stingers, can also be more aggressive.
- Bumble bees are fuzzy all over their bodies, including their abdomens, which often display yellow banding.
- Bumbles are typically social insects and rarely sting.
Carpenter Bees and Termites can be a real challenge! Don't let wood-destroying insects threaten your investment and lower your property value! Our Carpenter Bee reduction treatments offer targeted, practical solutions to help keep carpenter bee infestations under control and help prevent future damage. Contact us today for a consultation and let us safeguard your wood from damage.
Why is Professional Stinging Insect Treatment Necessary?
Bees and wasps remain active well into the fall, and hives can quickly expand in size, posing increased risks to your family and pets. Attempting to handle the issue yourself can be dangerous, as DIY products often only kill on contact or repel the insects, driving them deeper into structures and making the problem harder to eliminate. A provoked nest can lead to aggressive behavior, putting you at risk of painful stings and allergic reactions. A professional exterminator has the expertise and proper equipment to safely and effectively treat the nest, ensuring complete eradication without further danger to you or your property.
Let a Professional Wasp and Bee Exterminator Help
At Ransford Pest Control, we have over 128 years of local experience providing in safe and effective treatment of stinging insects, including wasps and bees. Our experienced technicians are trained to handle infestations with precision, ensuring the complete elimination of nests while prioritizing the safety of your family and pets. We use environmentally responsible methods that are both effective and considerate of your surroundings.
We understand the urgency of dealing with active nests, which is why we offer quick, same-day service for wasp nest treatments. Whether it's an emergency or a routine treatment, you can count on us to respond promptly and efficiently, ensuring peace of mind and protection from dangerous stings. Trust Ransford to take care of your wasp and carpenter bee problems with professionalism and speed.
The Most Common Stinging Insects in Central Massachusetts
Cicada Killers
Cicada killers are another large species of wasp, but these ones are not social. They each live individually in holes in the ground. You may see a large number of holes, commonly in sandy soil, or sometimes in retaining walls.
European Hornets
European hornets look similar to yellow jackets, but have a red/brown tinge. They grow up to twice as large as regular yellow jackets, at 1.5 inches long. Despite their size, european hornets are typically only aggressive in defense of their nests.
Honey Bees
Honey bees are a vitally important part of our ecosystem, pollinating plants that provide us food and oxygen. In fact, bees (not just honey bees, but all bees) are so important that, without them, humans would struggle to survive. Out of all the bee species, it is the honey bee that receives the most special treatment, though. These bees are smaller and have slimmer bodies than their counterparts. They live in hives that can number in the tens of thousands. While there are some wild colonies out there, most hives are under the care of a beekeeper. Honey bees are not typically considered a nuisance, as they are not destructive and wild colonies are not usually found near homes. If you suspect you have a honey bee nest on your property, do not use any pesticide! It is best to contact a beekeeper and see if they can come and remove the bees for you.
Mud Daubers
Mud Dauber is a name given to a variety of wasps that build their nests from mud. You may see their nests stuck on the side of a structure, under the eaves, or in an attic. The nature of their nest means that it must be kept dry, so they usually construct it in an out-of-the-way place that can be difficult to access. Mud Daubers look like your typical wasp but tend to be black in color.
White-Faced Hornets
Also known as ‘bald-faced hornets’ or ‘bull wasps. They are large and black with white markings. They tend to have very large nests with a single queen and female sterile workers. They produce new queens and males late in the season. The queens will find a safe place for the winter and a new nest starts the following spring. White-faced hornets are widely considered to be the most aggressive species of wasp in Massachusetts.
Yellow Jackets
Chances are good you’ve seen them at barbecues in the summer and fall. They have a thin, bright yellow and black appearance. Yellow jackets are so common at picnics that they have a nickname: “meat bees.” Make no mistake, though. Yellow jackets are wasps. Where bees can only sting you once, wasps can latch on and sting you multiple times. That’s a bad combination, and yellow jackets are some of the most aggressive wasps.
If you see them outdoors at a picnic, don’t swat at them. This will aggravate them and they’ll become aggressive. Not only this, but if you crush a wasp, it releases a chemical that draws other wasps to its location. This is a survival mechanism that signals wasps to investigate a threat.
Aside from being an eye-catching yellow, particularly aggressive, and way too interested in your plate of food, one other thing makes yellow jackets unique. They live underground.
Looking for Wasp Treatment Near You?
Ransford Pest Control has certified stinging insect exterminators on staff providing service to several areas throughout the state of Massachusetts. These include:
