Unless you are an avid entomologist (someone who studies insects for a living), you probably harbor nothing but disdain for stink bugs. While this particular species of insect may not be harmful to humans (they do not bite, they do not sting, and they do not suck people’s blood), they are an annoying nuisance at best, and a threat to the agricultural industry at worst. For those who suffer from entomophobia (fear of insects), they bear a striking resemblance to reptilian animals. And if you have ever tried to squash a stink bug then you most probably have regretted the experience, because:
a) they release a terribly pungent odor as a self defense mechanism to repel predators and drive them away;
b) they leave disgusting marks that are hard to clean up and remove when you squash them.
So needless to say, there are right ways to kill stink bugs, and there are also wrong ways to kill stink bugs. In my previous article, I proposed various tips on how to kill stink bugs in your garden properly without squashing them. If you also happen to be suffering from an invasion of stink bugs into your house, you may want to consider these steps for how to keep your home safe from a stink bug invasion.
Here are some tips on how NOT to kill stink bugs:
Tip #1: NEVER, EVER squash a stink bug. That is perhaps the WORST thing you can do. You might relish the initial satisfaction of knowing that in the war between man versus insect, you may have won the first round. But by squashing a stink bug, you will have inadvertently exacerbated the problem, inviting further trouble. You see, the problem is that when stink bugs give off that pungent odor of theirs, not only do other insects and animals smell it, but so do other stink bugs! So if any other stink bugs happen to be flying by and they detect the stink bug odor, that is an open invitation for other bugs of the same species to come on over. This is because stink bugs figure that if another stink bug is nearby, that means there must be food and shelter there. So quite naturally, other stink bugs will flock to wherever they detect the odor from the other bugs. So what is the moral of the story? If you squash one stink bug, you could end up with more stink bugs taking its place. So the right way how to kill stink bugs should involve some other means of trapping and dispose of them that doesn’t trigger this reaction.
Tip #2: Do not nudge them or frighten them, as this can trigger the release of that foul stench as well. While obviously any attempt to come near them or entrap them can prompt them to release that odor, it is best to use methods of stealth, such as a trap to trick them into getting them stuck on or in something that you can then easily use to dispose of them later. A good example would be a hand-held vacuum. Chances are that you can sneak up on a stink bug and suck it up, before it releases the odor, and when and if it does, the odor will be confined to the area inside the vacuum.
Tip #3: Do not leave their deceased remains lying around. Aside from the fact that it is just plain disgusting to leave dead stink bug corpses lying around without cleaning them up, doing so is tantamount to extending an open invitation to other stink bugs to come and invade that same territory where the dead stink bug happens to be. It is inevitable that other stink bugs will follow the trail of the stink bug scent and will come to occupy the same place where its predecessors once were.
Tip #4: Do not bother with using harmful insecticides to try to kill stink bugs. While they may work, they really should only be used as a last resort, under the most extreme of circumstances. Insecticides are harmful and toxic to plant life as well as to other animals and even to humans. You might be able to get rid of your stink bug problem, but you are inevitably trading in one problem for another, when you use insecticides to deal with the stink bug problem. No matter how much a pesticide manufacturer or an extermination company claims that their products are safe, that is never 100% true. Why do you think they always warn you to keep children and pets away from insecticide treated areas for some time after they are applied? There are plenty of ways how to kill stink bugs without having to resort to this extreme. Read about how using insecticides to stop stink bugs is a form of the “scorched earth policy”. You can get some tips on how to get rid of stink bugs here.
When it comes to killing stink bugs, it is important to realize that there is a right way and there is indeed a wrong way how to deal with them.