Ya, that black rubber mat is ,surgeons mats at the operation table,so its safe and flexible enough ,that's the best we could think of, for that type entrance in that tree,what do ya think iddee,home owner didn't want us to get all the bees,so we're hoping we can get 1 box then remove cone, the problem is we're not sure how many bee's are in the tree,it's been there for 6 to 7 yrs. ,and their small bee's, I know you will probably move this to trap outs post, but would like any suggestions, this tree is about a mile from Carthage N.C., and we'll install hole cover,and leave open, but when do we install cone as far as trying to keep bees in the tree(owner's request) do we need to do this before they swarm, not knowing when that will be, and being 40 miles from here, we have to take home owners word about what's happening ? ?