Here they come .....

[RL7836]

(edit: added new pics in 092510 post)(052111 - added new article in post at end & a comment at bottom of this post).
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If you don't have them yet, you probably will - brown marmorated stink bugs.

Here's a pic of one that posed for me the other day:

.... and here's an article on the beasts. Apparently we have the good fortune of being within a few miles (~30-40) of ground zero.

If you're not familiar with them - they fly somewhat like a miniature winged bowling ball and have the endearing habit of sneaking into your house en masse in the fall. If you pick one up roughly (or if it's 'in the mood') - it sprays you with a foul odor that is difficult to wash off. If you squash it, you are treated to the same odor (in a wonderful, lasting way...). Once they're in your house, they find a nice dark crevice in which to spend the winter - like your shoes, shirt pockets in your closet, inside your socks in your sock drawer ... If you have hot water baseboard heat, as we do, they love to squeeze in between the fins of the baseboard heaters. On the 1st cold day, when your furnace fires up, they get uncomfortably warm - so they spray their odorant - and just like those plug-in air fresheners - the convection currents from the baseboard heater carry that wonderful smell far & wide. Good luck with finding the critter that caused that small - and it wouldn't matter (even if you could locate him) since he's now cooked. However, these bugs are not well synchronized with their spring emergence so you can expect to see them coming out in singles & pairs all winter long. On somewhat warmer days - they'll come out to visit in the 5's & 10's...

We just brought in Christmas decorations from the garage. There were ~12 in the box with the tree stand.** I can't wait to sort through the boxes of lights & ornaments ...

I could keep going for quite some time sharing little anecdotes about our newfound 'friends' (or pets?) - but I'll stop now. For those who have the pleasure of the Asian ladybugs - these guys are over 100 times worse....


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** - saw this comment and laughed out loud. This past Christmas (Dec 2010), I took down the same treestand from the same place in the garage and had more than triple that number under each flap on the cardboard box. I stopped counting at over one hundred ...

 

[Zero]

I have seen those around here in Maine.
Never seen one inside though.
I had a HUGE centipede run across the floor the other day though!!!
By huge, I mean 5+"in. .
I killed it promptly

 

[maneatingmoo]

I've seen something like those before in Washington. Except they were green and they only lived in certain bushes in the park. Never been sprayed by one before. We got billions of ladybugs here. You would walk outside and a bunch would slam into you, and they get in the house and all over the walls. I lifted up a piece of wood and there was a huge cluster of them under it.

 

[rattler]

we have related species here....not much of a bother though, or terribly thick......however...boxelder bugs.....i would love to wipe every single one of those buggers off the face of the earth.....i spend all late winter, spring and summer babying some tropical cacti down at the shop in this huge south facing picture window.....than fall hits.....the GD boxelder bugs show up in mass......lil sap sucking SOB's take a toll on my cacti....i havent found a good insecticide yet that i can wipe them out without filling up my workspace with noxious fumes.....think i lost a couple of the cacti this fall as the boxelders were especially thick....

 

[SashaM24]

UGH! Boxelder bugs are terrible. Every fall we get them here. They are awful. At times they completely cover the sides of the house and doors. Truly an irritating insect. I don't know of a good insecticide either. It seems like a losing battle no matter what.

 

[DavyJones]

I've seen those running around before, but not in huge numbers. Our big issue here is those darned Asian Lady Beetles. They enter your house en masse and, and like to spray you with stinky stuff if you touch/kill them. The vacuum is the best cure for them.

 

[PlantAKiss]

We have those here. I really don't see them much and actually have never smelled one. Which is good from the sound of it. lol

Boxelders is another thing. One was walking around my keyboard the other day and I was trying to catch it. It kept sneaking inside through the keys.

 

[RL7836]

The vacuum is the best cure for them.

Not really. I've always been concerned that if you vacuum one up, then he'll spray inside the unit and the fan will spread the smell. While cleaning our older upstairs computer this past weekend, I vacuumed one that was hiding inside - within seconds, the room was filled with stinkbug smell ... nasty! Doing this with 5-10 of this bugs would probably make me uncontrollably nauseous.

Up until a few weeks ago, I was placing the bugs into an old Snapple bottle with IPA inside. This bottle was approximately 3/4 full of the bugs - guessing 500-1500 bugs inside (& this was nowhere near all of the ones captured...)

 

[PlantAKiss]

I find this really amazing because, of all the stink bugs I've run into over the years, I've never smelled one. I had no idea they could be so powerful. I guess I never pissed one off...like vacuuming it.

 

[lizasaur]

I'll take the Burmese Python as an invasive over any of these terrible bugs, any day!

 

[naich]

yup ive had the the past month...outside at least. and dont forget the chirping of those big black crickets in november when the get into your garage/house. thats what cats are for.

 

[Adam]

Oh lovely. I just LOVE these things.(Yes, I am being sarcastic)
No matter how many times I squash one it's never smelled.
The other species aren't so bad(in looks)

(NOT MY PIC)

 

[jimscott]

LOL! They're the "Pepe Lepew" of the insect world! How would they fare as Nep food?

 

[RL7836]

LOL! They're the "Pepe Lepew" of the insect world! How would they fare as Nep food?

Fine if you want the stench on you. If you grab one, it sprays you. If you grab it with tweezers, it'll spray you. If you squash it, it's 'innards' all smell like the stuff it sprays so now there is the stench where you squashed it (floor, wall, etc) and on whatever you used to hit it (hand, shoe, hammer, etc). The chemical that smells is resistant to being washed off - but does seem to slowly dissipate over 24 hours or so. If you carefully cover it with a cup and slide a piece of paper under the cup, it usually will not spray.

Bottom line - there are other critters to feed your plants that don't have all of the downsides of these nightmares ....

 

[chibae]

one of my larger D. adelade actually caught one

 

[RL7836]

A few days ago (a warm day after a few cooler ones), I was capturing some stinkbugs that had made it into the house and went out on the deck to get several that were lingering out there (trying to get in). After that, I wandered around to the garage and caught them for 5-10 minutes more as they crawled all over ...

Here's a pic from the top showing the mass in the cup (used flash to freeze movement):

Here's a similar pic from above without the flash - yes, this is a writhing, squirming, stinking mass of brown marmorated stinkbugs:

Side view of cup:

Silly me. I thought we might have fewer of the $&#@%$'s this year ....

 

[dashman]

We have them in Indiana. Not sure if we have the exact type as above. The smell is awful and indescribable. They aren't in quite the numbers you have though. You ocassionally see one here and there.

 

[Lucanidae]

I love bugs, but these guys are SO annoying. They sound terrible when they fly and crash into my wall, usually right above my bed at night. I'm more paranoid about rolling over onto a stinkbug at night than anything else. Luckily, I've yet to be sprayed.

 

[MyHumminbird]

My daughter lives in Pittsburgh, PA. The whole city is infested with them and bedbugs eewwww. They suggest spraying them with a mixture of dishsoap and water so you don't get sprayed. Also, suck them up with the sweeper. I did some research for her on the electronic pest controllers, too bad they don't work, that would be wonderful solution, no chemicals or traps, but most people say they just don't work. Anyone here tried them?

 

[naich]

i tried to put one on my alicia....the guices it reliesed killed the several leafs it touched. the other one found it way into the maxima....