How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs in the Home
Like a cursed item that reappears in your home after you’ve tossed it in the quarry, stink bugs always come back with their stanky vengeance. Break the stink bug curse by sticking to our handy bug busting guide to get rid of them and keep them away for good.
If They’re Already in Your Home
If there are stink bug invaders in your home right now, hopefully you’ve read to never crush them and haven’t smashed a few already! If you did, you’ll know by now that stink bugs, true to their name, smell something fierce when mushed. Call it a defense mechanism if you want, we’ll call it a failure of evolution. What organism evolves to taste bad after they’ve already been munched on? Anyways, avoid crushing them if you don’t want the stink bug stank wafting through your home like that new incense you bought at the dollar store last week.
Knowing not to crush them, it’s time to get rid of them, the whole point you’re here. Know that though stinky and seemingly capable of getting anywhere, stink bugs are huge pushovers when handled properly.
If Stink Bugs are on a Vertical Surface
If your stink bugs are on a door, wall, window or any other vertical surface, the easiest way to get them down is with a cup. Simply take the cup and put it over them carefully so as to not bump them. Even the smallest of nudges when they’re holding on to a vertical surface will cause them to drop, so make sure they’re going to be caught if you bump them. Once the cup is over them, just slide it up or down while flush with the wall so once they’re nudged, they’ll fall right into the cup. At this point you can just take them outside and dump the cup or send them flying. Either way, do it away from your home or like we said, they’ll come back like some cursed thrift store item.
Another quick and easy method is just vacuuming them up. Once trapped in the vacuum debris, you can dump them out with the rest of the trash, just make sure to seal the bag. Vacuuming should be delicate enough not to cause them to release their stink while keeping your hands free of them if they do.
If Stink Bugs are on a Horizontal Surface
If you have stink bugs that are crawling around the floor, there’s a couple ways to get them picked up. Vacuuming is one of the easiest methods here, but should one not be available we recommend using a piece of paper and a cup again. Carpeted floors can be a bit challenging which is where the vacuum excels, but with a piece of paper and a cup, whether on a carpeted floor, uncarpeted floor, desk, dresser or any other flat surface, simply scoop or scooch the stink bug into the cup with the piece of paper. Once in the cup, take them outside far enough away from your home and release them.
Important Bits to Know About Stink Bugs
Getting rid of them is the first half of the battle, the second being knowing how to keep them away, and also knowing about them in general for comfortability when dealing with them in the future. You might be surprised to hear a pest control company say this, but pests always find a way in, no matter who is treating your home, or how thoroughly, you’ll just see less of them!
Why are They Attracted to Your Home in the First Place
Stink bugs are like any living creature in that they just want to thrive, be merry and multiply. Simply put, stink bugs are attracted to your home because it provides warmth, light, food, water and shelter.
No different than any other bug, stink bugs will pretty much eat any kind of food, past its expiration date or not. They do have a taste for ripe fruits though, so if you’re the kind of person who enjoys leaving an open bowl of fruit out with the windows open on a nice day, don’t be too surprised when you find yourself with a stink bug or two crawling around. Note that stink bugs aren’t the only ones attracted to your fruit – see fruit flies and quite a few other pests! Regardless, if you have a garden with fruits or veggies or food that is otherwise unprotected from bugs, they most certainly will find it, so deny them the satisfaction.
The case is no different with water sources for pests and stink bugs. Homes are a wonderful source of water all over the household and stink bugs will make right for it if they sense it which usually ends up drawing them into your home. While it’s harder to prevent moisture build up outside, you can easily run a dehumidifier at home where humidity tends to gather in an effort to not just reduce stink bug activity, but all kinds of pests and even mold. A win-win-win in other words where the only winner is you.
While you can deprive stink bugs of food and water in various ways, it’s a bit harder to prevent your home’s insulation from doing its job to keep your home warm at night. Which is just one more reason for stink bugs to be attracted to your house. Combined with any lights used at night, your house becomes a shining beacon for pests unfortunately. At this point, the best we can do is prevent them now that we know what attracts them.
Preventing Stink Bugs From Entering
Like we said, stink bugs and pests alike always find a way in, so the best we can do is mitigate how well they do to limit their numbers and our run-ins with them. In many cases we can outright stop them with our efforts, we just won’t know it, but that’s all the more reason to do the little things that add up.
First step is sealing your home of any unplanned exterior entry points, then doubling checking your interior for any entry points. By entry points we mean foundation cracks, vents, windows, doors, thresholds, screens, chimneys, grates, doggy doors, etc. Stink bugs are about the circumference of a penny and not too much wider than one either, so you can imagine they can get into tight places pretty easily. If there’s a cranny fill it, if there’s a nook, jam it up! Tear in a screen on a window or the screen door, repair or replace the screen. Door threshold not sealed properly? Reseal it. That’ll help big time with not only pests, but your heating bill during the winter too!
Similarly, and this is where we normally come in, you can use pesticides if you’re comfortable. There are quite a few well known brands out there that act as a general pesticide designed to work on all pests, but generally speaking, it only lasts so long and if properly applied at that. Typically if you’re experiencing an infestation or an otherwise abnormal amount of stink bugs, there’s a larger problem in the works that needs to be handled, and better done by professionals.
Why You Should Trust Us At Fenix
We’ve been in the pest industry for over 20 years. Combined, our team has been doing pest control for stink bugs and all kinds of pests for more decades than we can count with both hands. Our mission is to get you pest free, and to keep you that way all year long, no matter the season. If our initial treatment doesn’t show a fast reduction, we’ll come out again and again, free of charge to ensure our application is taking proper hold and that you have no additional concerns. We use the most up to date techniques and equipment, of which we’re happy to explain any aspect of during our visits. We highly recommend reviewing your local Fenix branch reviews to get a good feel of how our customers feel about us too. We guarantee after you’ve used Fenix, you’ll have no want to go to another pest company in the future.