tons of Stink bugs in the attic (house, living)

[tranceFusion]

After continuing to get tons of stink bugs in the house well into January, I checked the attic where I found probably quadruple digits of them between the insulation and the ceiling drywall.

I've looked around and can't see any obvious places they are coming in, although it's tough for me to see if they could be coming in at the soffit vents. Is there someone I can call that will be knowledgeable in going around and sealing cracks or openings? Is this something an exterminator should be used to tackling? Basically, anybody got any advice for me here?

Thank you!

[MeinGlanzendMotorrad]

They're magic.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by tranceFusion

Basically, anybody got any advice for me here?

A good exterminator?

[Hopes]

I've heard that the results from an exterminator are only temporary and the stink bugs move back into the house within a few weeks. Pesticides aren't very effective. They're in the process of doing research. There is a wasp that is the stink bugs' natural predator. After research and quarantine, the wasp will be released in the United States to help keep the stink bug population under control.

In the meantime, the best you can do is seal the cracks in your home to prevent them from getting inside. Some exterminators do this type of pest control prevention. Make sure you ask an exterminator before you waste the money. You don't want to bother with pesticide-only treatment. You need the cracks between your doors and windows and any other small cracks to be sealed. That's the only way to ensure they won't come back. The ones that are already inside your house can be flushed down the toilet.

[greg42]

Actually, you don't want to mess with sealing at all in the winter, is my understanding. They sort of hibernate or similar in your house. In the spring they'll go out. So in the SUMMER, once they're out, you should try to close off any openings they might be getting in. These may not be obvious. I mean, it could be that the standard vents at the ridge of the roof or under the eaves just don't have small enough screen on them to keep them out. They can fit a very narrow space, like most bugs.

Now, you could try to have them removed in the winter, but this could be costly. Here's the thing: apart from the stink when you crush them the bugs are otherwise harmless. Ugly, annoying, but harmless. The ones that do make it into the living space I catch in some little dixie cups and flush down the toilet (no stink). So again, if you wait them out until late spring when they should be gone, then you can take action. They leave a path so they can get back to your house, so the key is to disrupt that by treating the outside of the house in late summer not long before they're due to come back. The combination of attempting to seal up small holes plus a treatment of the outside of the house should be somewhat effective. I can't tell you how effective because I haven't tried it yet. Three years at least they've been coming here.

If you google for stink bug control I think you'll find the web site where I read most of that info. They're tough to get with typical sprays and such.

[IlonaG]

They come into your house in the Winter to Hibernate. Sometimes they wake up when your house is warm. They are harmless but not the nicest to look at. Very destructive to Fruit and Veggie crops.
Also, if you squish them not only will they stink, but the smell will only attract more stink bugs.

[XRiteMA98]

Another way to get rid of them once you cacth the is to dump them in a glass of water and soap/detergent. This is in order to save whater. You don;t want to watse a gall/bug flushing them down if you have that many. They infestated my house too and they do show up in the kicthen. I guess because it's warm when I cook.

[tranceFusion]

Most of you guys are not getting it. They are crawling all over the house. I regularly have to dump out my clothes drawers and I find probably 10 in each drawer sandwiched between my clothes. At any given time there are probably 5 of them in my immediate field of vision.

I'm not just complaining about picking up a few a day, I am talking about probably hundreds crawling and fluttering around the house at any given time, and thousands in the attic.

Is everyone else's house this bad? I mean it seems pretty ridiculous to me that everyone else would just be living with this.

I realize that pesticides don't work.. that's why I want someone that can diagnose the problem and help me seal them out. a handful a day would be a huge improvement!

[fleetiebelle]

Is everyone else's house this bad? I mean it seems pretty ridiculous to me that everyone else would just be living with this.

People keep talking about what a menace all these stink bugs are, but in the past year I've probably seen a grand total of three in my house. I just caught them and let them outside.

[BrianTH]

Other people have had it that bad, although fortunately not us.

The problem is that right now the ones you are seeing are staying warm somewhere inside your house, and sealing the house will just trap them inside when it gets warm outside. What you want to do is kill as many as possible, not trap them in your house, but the ordinary ways of doing that don't work well.

I wish I had a great solution for you, but basically you will just have to keep trying to kill the ones you can see with drowning and such, while waiting for warmer weather. Once it gets warm and you are no longer seeing them all over the house, you can try bringing in someone to seal the house better.