Stink Bugs

[Topper]

Does anyone know how to get rid of them?

[lovemyoldguy]

Oh, me too, me too - my mother's house is overrun by them.

And do they really stink when you squish 'em? Ew.

[Topper]

Yes and when you vacuum them too! :-)

Northern VA does seem to be over run by them at this point!

[Melelio]

They seem to be EVERYwhere in the MidAtlantic area right now...my neighbor thought I was crazy when I asked if she'd been overrun by them two days ago. Then yesterday, she texted "the stinkbugs are here, bleck!"

I think we have to wait for the first frost....

I also have these other more longneck bottle shaped beetles showing up like crazy, too...the spiders in the barn are having a feast time! Maybe this is "spider Thanksgiving"? Just what I need. Healthy barn spiders to create more cobwebs in the stalls :no:

[okggo]

We are in MD and completely overrun with them. I have to bang the door everytime before going in or out of the house to try and keep them from getting indoors. I don't know the trick to get rid of them, I don't think I'd have enough spray at this point, they are literally everywhere.

[Sing Mia Song]

So that's what those things are! I had to Google an image to find out.

For the other entymology-impaired: http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/hemiptera/stinkbug/brown_stink_bug_adult.html

Those little bastards BITE. They also eat wool coolers--they chomped away on a nice championship cooler I had hanging up on the barn.

I have them pretty much year-round. Nasty critters.

[lovemyoldguy]

So that's what those things are! I had to Google an image to find out.

For the other entymology-impaired: http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/hemiptera/stinkbug/brown_stink_bug_adult.html

Those little bastards BITE. They also eat wool coolers--they chomped away on a nice championship cooler I had hanging up on the barn.

I have them pretty much year-round. Nasty critters.


Shut UP - they bite?!?! And they stink???

(Sounds like some of the men I've dated...:D)

I'm hoping someone's going to pipe up with a magic "stink bug begone" formula. Because, well, yuck.

[Sing Mia Song]

Yeah, I was looking at a web site that says they don't, but I distinctly remember being bitten by one last fall. I felt a chomp, looked down, and there it was. So it's probably an unusual occurence, but it did happen. It was an itchy old welt, too.

[KnKShowmom]

They.Are.Driving.Me.Nuts!!!!!

I have the windows open and they are all over the screens - I have to clean off the back door before I can open it so they don't get in, but they still seem to find a way.

Oh, God do they stink - you don't have to kill them, just make them mad and they turn some nasty smell loose. Think insect version of a skunk :eek:

The only way to kill them is to spray their underside - good luck with that unless you know the bug code for roll over!

Someone please bring me back my ladybugs.

[pAin't_Misbehavin']

Is anyone else unable to smell them? We have them all over the place on the farm. Our first year there I asked DH why they were called stinkbugs. I've never noticed them having an odor. Maybe I've just never ticked one off?:confused:

I'm sure they do smell - I watched my border collie set one off once and she assures me they reek!:lol: But I had to take her word for it.

[KnKShowmom]

Well by all means, don't take our word for it - go give one a good squeeze and then tell me they don't stink! :D

[okggo]

I absolutely without doubt almost lost my cookies last night. This image is still haunting me....

We have an indoor/outdoor dog kennel. When we are gone for long hours the pups go in the kennel, otherwise they are with us. Like everything else on our farm, their kennel is just overrun with the stinkers, including INSIDE the kennel. Well.....we feed the barn kitty in there, he gets wet and dry food. When the dogs are in there, we have a shelf we put the cat food up on so they can't eat it. Kitty eats a whole can of wet daily so it doesn't usually sit around long. Anyway...........opened the kennel yesterday and almost barfed at the smell. Like rancid death. Nothing appeared out of the norm. I grabbed the cats bowl off the shelf to give him a new can of wet food....and then I saw it. It looked like boiling tapioca pudding. The wet food left from the day before had turned to soup and was MOVING. I can only assume stink bug larvae. OMG between the visual and the odor I BEGGED my husband to disgard of it. Just the thought of it brings up a little vomit, UGH. I hate them even more now :(

[Sing Mia Song]

I grabbed the cats bowl off the shelf to give him a new can of wet food....and then I saw it. It looked like boiling tapioca pudding. The wet food left from the day before had turned to soup and was MOVING. I can only assume stink bug larvae.

Oh, no, sweetie, that's just good ol' maggots. Mmm, mmm, good! :eek:

[VarsityHero4]

They are bad flyers too! I (being the kind animal lover that I am) was giving one a ride to freedom on a piece of paper one time and when it went to fly away, it tried to fly back inside. Not only did it try to fly back inside but it flew into my (very thick and curly) hair. Not only did it fly into my hair, but it proceeded to spray it's stink... in my hair...

Every stink bug is trapped in tp and flushed. HA!

[Ishi]

We flea bombed the house yesterday, that works very well for the ones in the house, then vacuum the dead ones up. Doesn't help the ones that are still alive outside, they still come right in. We removed out window AC unit because even on, they came through the vents!

Today I galloped at the track, was running late, so I left my helmet on, as I drove to another farm in Middleburg to do 3 steeplechase horses. Helmet was on for about 5 hours. Finally got in my car to come home and took it off. Under the sweat, stink, and more sweat was one happy little stink bug! It had been there since about 6am I was so grossed out! I always shower when getting home from galloping, but today I washed, rinsed and repeated!!!

They are not as bad today in the cooler weather, I think they come inside or stick to the house when it's hotter out. On a side note, I haven't seen one single one at the Middleburg Training Center, or really at our barn. They were all over our house yesterday, and our barn is only right down the road. Wonder why?

[jazzrider]

Ugh. They're making me crazy. I've got a piece of paper by every door, so I can escort them outside without having to deal with the stink (I think they smell like crushed tarragon).

I picked up my mail from my mailbox yesterday through the window of my suburban, put it in my lap and started to drive. Felt the mail move and looked down -- there had to be at least two dozen of them crawling through the pile. I rolled down the window and threw all the mail out the window. Then I had to stop the car, jump out, get them off me, then shake each piece of mail carefully one by one and put it in my car. My neighbors must of thought I was nuts. :rolleyes: Unless they've all gone through the exact same thing!

[Meredith Clark]

oooooh! I thought it was just my house! :lol:

They are SO gross and def. bite (I googled it after I thought one of the stinkers bit me) :confused:

They're so bad in my house my cats have just accepted them and don't even bother to chase after them.

Pleeeease frost!

[Sing Mia Song]

They are not as bad today in the cooler weather, I think they come inside or stick to the house when it's hotter out. On a side note, I haven't seen one single one at the Middleburg Training Center, or really at our barn. They were all over our house yesterday, and our barn is only right down the road. Wonder why?

I was listening to Mike McGrath ("The Garden Guru") on WTOP yesterday, and he said they were known to be attracted to buildings with light-colored siding, and that they want to congregate on the south side of a building. That's as good an argument for dark siding as I've ever heard!

[SonnysMom]

I used horse fly spray to get rid of the worst off of my house side. Yes, light colored stucco on the south side. The fly spray got rid of the worst of the few thousand we had on that side of the house.
I just bought Ortho Home Defender to spray around the doorways, windows and eaves. It is supposed to form a barrier to repel them. It seems to be working.
They also go by the name soldier beetle and squash bug. The bug repellent companies seem to call them squash bug.

[wateryglen]

Yup, got 'em out here in Warrenton! Wishing I could send them back to you guys in Loudoun! Here! Take 'em!!! :winkgrin:
I live in the woods kinda and usually my fall infestation & swarm is equally smelly and annoying ladybugs. Maybe they're coming later! Oh Joy!
One thing I know for sure.....chickens like to eat them so.....I catch some and feed them to my chickens. They are easy to catch! My chickens will sit on some window sills and wait and peck. GOOD chickens!!! :D

[KnKShowmom]

I finally devised a way to get them out of my house without smelling -

Take plastic coffee can (Folgers), fill 1/4 full with water and add a splash of ammonia. When you want to catch one, put the can under the bug and take off the lid - they fall right in (must be the fumes), no stink, no mess, put the lid back on and throw it away.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep them from riding into my house on the back door every time we open it.....

[Roomfor2]

They are driving me crazy. They keep flying in the house everytime someone opens the door. They hang out on the screen of the sliding door (on the inside), so when you open that door they just fly right in. Yuk. I just catch them with tissues and release them back outside. I have never, never, seen this many.

[Bluey]

We have them also, but they are not that numerous.
Ours stay on the mesquite trees and hitch a ride on you and your horse as you go by.

They are not around the house or barn.
There are not that many of them here, although it only takes one to stink a whole house.:dead:

Maybe we are too dry for them?:confused:

I didn't realized there were so many where you are.:eek:

[Romany]

Yuck!

We don't have stink bugs, but the horses' Rubbermaid trough awash with these the other day:

http://images.whatsthatbug.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/toebiter_peru.jpg

No idea how they got there, but they're downright scary looking. :dead:

[Bezysmom]

Is anyone else unable to smell them? We have them all over the place on the farm. Our first year there I asked DH why they were called stinkbugs. I've never noticed them having an odor. Maybe I've just never ticked one off?:confused:

I'm sure they do smell - I watched my border collie set one off once and she assures me they reek!:lol: But I had to take her word for it.

I don't smell them but my DH assures me they stink. One of my boarders said the same thing. Glad I'm missing that gene.:)

[caradino]

I finally devised a way to get them out of my house without smelling -

Take plastic coffee can (Folgers), fill 1/4 full with water and add a splash of ammonia. When you want to catch one, put the can under the bug and take off the lid - they fall right in (must be the fumes), no stink, no mess, put the lid back on and throw it away.

Now if I can just figure out how to keep them from riding into my house on the back door every time we open it.....

yes! this! a friend of mine had a house infested with stinkbugs, and she used this method with a cut-in-half gallon milk jug and it worked great for her.

[Topper]

They have made the local paper!
http://www.loudountimes.com/news/2009/sep/29/stinkbugs-invade-loudoun/

[Oakstable]

We have stink bugs but no shield on their back.
They are smooth and black.

We have an occasional one. Maybe our dry heat is too much for them.

I cannot imagine what you guys are describing. Can an exterminator get rid of them?

[Bluey]

We have stink bugs but no shield on their back.
They are smooth and black.

We have an occasional one. Maybe our dry heat is too much for them.

I cannot imagine what you guys are describing. Can an exterminator get rid of them?

I guess your stink bug is not like ours, that is native here, has been known as long as people have been here.
Looks the same in the pictures and I bet smells the same, but we don't have that many around.