Sick to death of stinkbugs

12 years ago

Over the last couple of years in this area (and in much of the mid-atlantic region) we have been inundated with stinkbugs. I believe they are native to China and were accidentally "introduced" to the area three or four years ago, and they really seem to love it here.

They don't really "do" anything they just somehow get into the house and "hangout". Walking along a window, sitting motionless on the wall for days, just going wherever they please without fear, because nobody wants to squash them.

You have to watch where you are walking because they walk slowly across the floor, and it you step on one the room will stink. You have to look carefully when you set something on the kitchen counter, which because it is tropical brown granite is prefect camouflage for them. I've discovered them clinging to the bottom of the wire rack in the kitchen sink when I've drained pasta, when the boiling water hits them them fill them room with their stink. I've found one just hanging out on the handle of the refrigerator. I've had one crawl inside the smoke detector and set it off. And at one point my wife grabbed a raincoat from the hook inside the front door, put it on and discovered 50 or so of them hiding inside the coat.

Just yesterday I captured 45 of them here and there around the main floor of our house, and just an hour or so later still more were buzzing noisily across the room.

And outside, if you go to put on work gloves you have to check to make sure they haven't crawled down into the fingertips. If you open a folding chair or a box stored in the garage, you can expect to find dozens inside, and if you pull out a tarp, literally hundreds will be lurking inside it.

Last fall there was a large garden spider web just outside our front door and I would take particular glee in flinging a stink bug into the web and watching the spider wrap the bug up and suck it dry.

About the only place I never find them is inside the stink bug trap that I purchased. I really wish they would all just go away.

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Comments (18)

pudgeder
12 years ago
That's awful!
I think I'd call an exterminator to see if they could keep them out of the house.
What a mess.
Lee
12 years ago
I was amazed at the number of websites that popped up after entering a query in my favorite search engine on getting rid of stink bugs.

So, here's just one of them; I found the reader's posts at end of article interesting as well.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: eHOW Tips on Getting Rid of Stink Bugs
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
Bob, you are most likely speaking of the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug, a pest that has made a big impression since being introduced from Asia. It's infamous for finding ways to enter homes and becoming a nuisance.

Honestly, your first line of defense is to do all you can to block their access. This means getting out the caulk gun and going to work inside and out, sealing up all possible cracks and openings. Examine the weather stripping around your doors, too.

I never recommend the use of pesticides inside the house. First of all, they won't solve the problem! Spray today....see more insects tomorrow.

If I had this problem (they haven't shown up here, yet) , I'd buy an insect vacuum. Yep, you heard me.....they are inexpensive little devices dedicated to sucking up critters. They work. You don't want to use your household vacuum!

Also, Google 'stinkbug traps ' to see all kinds of contraptions, homemade and store bought. From what I have heard and seen from videos, these traps can really work inside the home.

I remember one man who posted videos of his plastic bottle trap.....wow! That was several years ago, as the BMS started to invade us.
Jasdip
12 years ago
Bob that's awful!!! I've never heard of them in our region of Canada, and am hoping they don't find out where I live!
Hopefully the cold winters would kill them off if they try to migrate here.
dedtired
12 years ago
I get one or two once in awhile, although others near me have real infestations. I absolutely never let one just walk on by. I pick them up with a tissue and flush them. I have been in bed at night and heard one flying across the room. It sounds like a B-52 coming in for a landing . I search the room until I find it and give it a "burial at sea". Who knows, they are probably down in the sewer pipes breeding like crazy, but I hope not.

I do see ads for exterminators who say they will get rid of them.
katlan
12 years ago
Oh man am I with you on this. They are EVERYWHERE. And I have bought every kind of bug spray there is. Honestly, caulking is not going to get rid of the type of infestation some of us have. It's like a horror movie.

And the ladybugs! Or whatever their official name is. Freaking Swarms.

We have a dedicated dust buster used only for bugs. And it stinks when we use it. We use it everyday, several times a day, and it's February!!! It will be Hell on Earth this spring. They seem to go away when it gets really hot out, then back in the fall when it starts to cool down again. A pox on whoever did this to us.

Whoever figures out a way to get rid of them will be an instant multi-millionaire.
wanda_va
12 years ago
They also like to hide out in printers.... I hate these darn things.
monica_pa Grieves
12 years ago
I never saw or heard of a stinkbug until about 5 years ago, and I live in Eastern Pa.
We get 1 or 2 a year, and Just handle them carefully and flush down the toilet.
But then, we do keep doors closed, and vacuum rugs often.
bob_cville
Original Author
12 years ago
Just last night as I was making a stir fry one came flying across the counter right over the stove, circling the frying pan. It tried to land on the vent fan and fell to the cooktop 6 inches from landing in the frying pan which would have ruined dinner. Then just minutes later, even though I checked the sink before draining the ramen noodles there was one on the unsderside of the grate in the sink, and when I dumped the noodles into the colander, the bug stinkbug "perfumed" the whole sink.

I thought I had read that Eastern PA was the initial location where these bug were introduced, weird that they are so much more of a problem here.
nicole__
12 years ago
They show up every August here in Colorado. They stick all over the siding of the house. Then we find them, one at a time inside the house until November.
ont_gal
12 years ago
Same up here Bob-they are everywhere come late summer-inundating everything/everywhere
Jasdip
12 years ago
Ont_gal.......you've seen them????
Oh, I've never heard of them around here!!! Now I'll be watching for them. I thought we'd escaped them. Major yuck.
Lee
12 years ago
At the link, photos of male and female adult stink bugs:

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of Stinkbugs
nicole__
12 years ago
I just googled the stink bugs we have: Western conifer Seed bug

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of stink bugs we have...
bob_cville
Original Author
12 years ago
I've heard of the Western Conifer Seed Bug over in the plumbing forum. See this post As bad as it is to have annoying bugs that stink if you smash them, I think annoying bugs that can and will drill holes in your water pipes is worse.

You have my sympathies, nicole.
ont_gal
12 years ago
Seen them? We've been battling the buggers for 15 years.
Linda
12 years ago
OMG, it certainly sounds like you are infested. I see a few here and there. I've heard "never to squish them". Once they let off their stink, that is their calling for all their relatives to come! When I find one, I also bury them at sea with a good flush down the toilet! I have never smelled what their stink is, and I pray that I dont. I fear the stink will make more come! I think they are pretty resistant to pesticides. I know the cold doesnt seem to bother them. I kept my eye on one outside my front door for four days. It stayed pretty much in the same spot and it was -8 degrees. I think i would absolutely freak out if I found 50 or so in one of my coats! OMG! They are taking over your house! GOOD LUCK, I HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO GET RID OF THEM!
Lee
12 years ago
Headline to article dated February 26, 2014 indicates the brutal winter is killing off much higher numbers of stinkbugs than 'normal average'.

Here is a link that might be useful: National Geographic

Sick to death of stinkbugs

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