Die, Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, Die.

The BBQ Pit
1

Here in Maryland, we’ve got these little fuckers. The Brown Marmorated Stinkbug, scourge of the countryside.

An invasive species from China or Japan, they were first spotted in 1998 in Pennsylvania. Now they’re all over this area. Nothing eats them. Nothing kills them. Hell, to poison the damn things, you have to spray them directly- unlike a lot of other bugs, you can’t just spray a barrier around your house. And they like to stink up the place with a godawful stench- especially if you irritate them by, well, being around 'em. They can get into anywhere, and when they’re feeling particularly feisty, they fly around the room, bumping into everything.

I’ve been in the area for two winters now. The first fall, I saw a few around my house- mostly on the back porch. I ignored 'em- hey, they didn’t bother me, so I didn’t bother them. That winter, they came into the house- a few at a time, so I just carefully scooped 'em up and tossed them back outside.

This last fall, though, the side of my house had hundreds. The entire area smelled of stinkbug. I eventually got freaked out enough to start killing them, when I found out that there’s really not much you can about 'em. Short of nuking my entire house with poison, nothing worked. And then this winter, they decided to come inside to get away from the cold. The only way to keep them out is to hermetically seal your house, and my rental is anything but sealed.

The only way I’ve found to get rid of them is to pick each one up individually with a doubled-over paper towel and then to crush it or flush it. And I’m seeing at least ten a day now, usually more. What’s worse, they like warm places… like, say the vent above my stove. Twice now I’ve had to fish a stinkbug out of my dinner. :eek:

I’m really dreading this next fall. Supposedly 20% of crop losses in the area this last year can be directly blamed on stinkbugs, and I can only imagine it’s going to be worse this year. I can’t bear to think how bad the infestation in my house will be next winter. I grew up in Houston, so bugs in the house don’t bother me too much- but roaches, at least, have the decency to try to hide from you. These assholes dare you to do anything about 'em.

2

I had three the other night, which was unusual. At least, I think they’re the stinkbugs. I’ve never actually had them “stink”. I grab them with a thickness of paper towel and crush them utterly, and never catch a whiff of anything bad.

3

Do NOT crush them – then you release the stench. Supposedly, there’s a spray you can make with Dawn…let me look it up.

21 Ways to Kill Stink Bugs

Here’s the recipe.

Good luck! I hate those things!

4

I suggest you take off and nuke them from orbit.

5

We vacuum them up with the DustBuster, then flush them down. One week we were catching nearly 100 a day. Now we see them only occasionally, but we seem to be collecting carcasses between our windows and storm windows. That, I welcome.

This spring, I’m going to have to make an extra special effort to seal the windows and screens. I’ll be investing in Mortite, I think. Damn stinkbugs can squeeze through tiny cracks.

6

Yeah, I just killed one in my office. Little bastards refuse to go away.

7

We have a stunk bug stuck to the brick wall outside our house. It froze to death in the sub-zero weather we had a few weeks ago. I leave it there to serve as a warning to others.

8

OK, until this paragraph I was thinking–what a wuss! I’ve been known to stomp Tree Roaches with my bare feet! (Although the smaller Cockroaches are really the ones that can infest your kitchen down here.)

Then I read up on the Stink Bugs. They are new to the USA & just haven’t reached Texas yet. Should I be afraid or just wonder how they will interact with theTexas Noxious Pests?

9

Yes, this. We have a minor infestation, and I don’t smell them at all, nor does my boyfriend. I don’t know if there are different subspecies around or if different people have different sensitivities to the odor.

10

get a few guinea fowl, they will eat pretty much any bug they can get their greedy little beaks on. Totally took care of the lovebug infestation, and the lady bug infestation and I haven’t seen a tick on the outside doggie since getting them.

And before you peta wannabees bitch me out, she is a husky and refuses to come into the house because it is too warm. If brought into the house, she will snarf up the doggie treat, surf the litter pan for kitteh snacks and then bounce at the back door until she is back outside. She does not sleep in her dog house, she curls up in the snow bank.

11

Could be you have a totally different bug. There are a zillion true bugs with that same general shape, some stinky, others stink-free.

12

I suppose that’s possible, but the ones we have show the exact same coloration pattern as the wikipedia picture of stink bugs - including the darker brown diamond at the rear and the little white triangles up the sides. Since they’re totally unafraid of humans and take their own sweet fucking time crawling around, I can get very detailed looks at their patterning.

With emphasis on the “clumsily” part. The damn things can’t navigate at all and they hit HARD.

13

Stink bugs aren’t that bad, as these things go. They don’t bite, aren’t poisonous, don’t eat your food and don’t breed indoors. They’re just fucking annoying because there are so damn many of them and because they stink. If you crush one, the stink acts as some sort of signal for others to invade, so you can’t crush them. The best you can do is flush 'em.

14

They smell like a combination of vomit/parmesan and dirty gym socks. One friend was cursing her husband and bought him a bunch of silver-lined socks before she figured out it was the bugs making the stink.

15

I’ve always wondered, with all these Asian species invading the US and causing big problems 'cause they have no natural predators here, are there any North American species invading and wreaking havoc in say, China? Or are all our bugs total wusses by comparison?

16

I’m finding 3 or 4 in my house every day now, here in Maryland. I think they are kind of cute, as far as insects go, singularly. But, they get annoying in their abundance. I’ve taken to collecting them in a little Tupperware container that I empty of the dead carcasses periodically. They are too cute to crush or flush.

17

That’s kind of what I thought, two years ago. I got really creeped out the day that I came home and found *hundreds *lining the side of my house, though. And then when I opened up our lawn umbrella and a flood of them poured out…

18

Blame it on Walmart. We never had any till hey moved in.

19

Cute? My sweet patootie! I’d take a flamethrower to them if it wouldn’t damage the furniture.

20

I thought that winter would make them go away. But no. They’re still here. And I hate them so much. Doesn’t anything eat them? Why are there so damn many of them?