The office chatter this morning again surrounded our favorite and not-so-favorite topic: stinkbugs.
If you don't have a problem with them, consider yourself lucky. If you do and you want some ideas on how to get rid of them without using a costly exterminator, read on.
From my cubicle sharer, Joan, online editor: She catches them with tissues and flushes them down the toilet. She is not looking forward to her water bill. Her husband, Chris, our sports editor, catches them and puts them outside. "He recycles them," Joan's mom describes Chris' efforts. "They just come back in the house."
From Susan, metro editor: She catches them in a plastic cup with a lid and lets them die a slow death. "They are so dumb, you just put the cup near them and they jump in."
Susan's important tip for stinkbug carcass disposal: "Open the cup away from your face so you don't smell them, and then you dump them. Just like popcorn from the microwave, open it away from your face."
From Teresa, a copy editor: She catches them in a container and puts them in the freezer, then she dumps them after they are dead. One of our most humane ways of killing them.
From Caryn, a copy editor: She uses Bug Barrier. The spray is less than $10 and you can get it at Walmart, Giant, etc. You spray a border of it around your door; it keeps the bugs from coming in. As an extra bonus, "It also kills on contact," she said.
My method? Dawn dish detergent. I get a spray bottle, fill it up with a couple cups of water and about a quarter-cup of Dawn. When I see a stinkbug, I literally douse the bugger with the Dawn spray mix. Make sure you get the underside; it's the part of them that is the most vulnerable.
Have any tips to share?
Seeing them clinging by the multitudes on your window screens -- it's like a horror movie.
Diet coke kills them instantly! I found out by accident, the other day I had half a cup of diet coke from a fast food restaurant and I was so freaked out by the bugs crawling all over my dining room ceiling that I could not drink or eat anymore, so took the lid off my drink and started flicking them in my cup with my straw. I was closing the lid after I flicked each one in there-assuming they would not die, I was just keeping them contained until I could take the entire cup outside and dump it, but to my surprise when I looked in everyone of them were dead-I watched the next one and sure enough-as soon as I got him in there he died! So water doesn't kill them, paint doesn't kill them but diet coke does!!
I will have to test the diet coke one. I won't waste the soda, but if I have any leftover that I don't want I will plop in the stinkbug.
Great bug killer. Can you imagine what it is doing to your gut?
I use windex glass cleaner, spray bottom of bug and they die instantly
I put duct tape on their back and then fold them up in it. Then just toss them in the garbage.
@Jo: I can only imagine what a multitude of food and drink that I eat is doing to my insides
@Sandy: I'm going to have to try the Windex. I did notice that my Dawn/water solution does kind of stain the walls if you don't wipe it off.
@Diann: Duct tape? Genius idea.
Back when I was working on cars, the best solution for rusted bolts was Coca Cola. When penetrating oil failed, and using a blowtorch failed, pour some Coke on it, wait ten minutes and it comes right off. Which is why I don't drink any kind of soft drink to this day.
Bill, soda seems to be a popular product, and not just for drinking.
We've had an issue with them here of lately and one thing is, when they are laying on their back, don't assume their dead because they're not!! Bugs give me the willies and the fastest I can get them out of site,the better. O good ole shoe works wonders, just them them a good smack or grab some toliet paper and scoop them up and flush them. They don't move too fast so you have time but they do fly alittle,yuck!! Good luck!!
My mother, who lives in the Wahington DC area suggested vacuuming up the stink bugs and then empty them in the trash, outside of course.
@Melissa, with using your shoe, aren't you afraid of the smell? That's the reason I don't just squish them.
THIS is how you kill a stinkbug:
http://bigmosays.posterous.com/this-is-how-you-kill-a-stinkbug
vacuum cleaner works just as well!!!!
I can't take it anymore!! I hate these things, I have tried wd40, air freshener, beach in a bottle,none of these work, WINDEX WORKS, I spray them on my screen and they drop and die, sometimes they freeze right on the screen and die.
We would eliminate 4 bugs from our patio screen by scooping them into a jar filled with soap and within a few minutes notice 4 more. We eventually found that they had taken up residence in the hollow part of our sliding screen. After we pulled that off and kept shaking and banging it, we finally got rid of them. We also used a portable vacuum which was very effective. Mouthwash sprayed onto them is also an effective agent to eliminate them.
We would eliminate 4 bugs from our patio screen by scooping them into a jar filled with soap and within a few minutes notice 4 more. We eventually found that they had taken up residence in the hollow part of our sliding screen. After we pulled that off and kept shaking and banging it, we finally got rid of them. We also used a portable vacuum which was very effective. Mouthwash sprayed onto them is also an effective agent to eliminate them.
We would scoop 4 bugs into a jar filled with soap from our screen and immediately see 4 more. We eventually found that they had taken up residence in the hollow portion of the patio screen. After we removed this and banged it on the patio for a while we got rid of them. We also vacuumed them up and sprayed them with mouth wash which was effective. Ugghhhh!!!
Smash them. The smell is nothing. I'm nosey about checking this kind of stuff out and they smell like a type of herb. I think we think stink and we expect a "big" stink. Ain't there.
We've used 91% rubbing alcohol, but the Dawn mixture works best. Although our porch is unsightly it's doing the trick. We also put some Dawn and water in the bottom of a shop vaccum and cleaned off the porch. One reason for NOT squishing them is that they smell. That smell attracts or draws others to the area. Inside the house we put the Dawn and water onto a paper towel, carefully wrap it up, so as NOT to squish them, and put them in the garbage. Have heard of the toilet flush trick, but not at the high cost of water and sewer!