Invasion of the Stinkbugs (Suggestions)

[Mike&Chris]

We camped in Oregon this summer during prime Stinkbug season. Bugs were all over the exterior of the MH. Since then we have been killing anywhere from a dozen to several dozen weekly. We picked up our coach at NIRVC yesterday after leaving it a couple of weeks for service and I killed 40 or 50 of the buggers inside. So they must be nesting somewhere. Yesterday they had the aqua heat on in the shop and I'm guessing that drove them out.

This is getting old so I would like to get rid of them. I'm thinking about placing a couple of insect bombs in the basement. First, I wanted to see if anyone had a better idea or if there is a reason I should not use the bombs. Thanks all.

[Dr. Q]

Man, do I feel your pain! We got infested with those things, in Illinois, last October. We fought (killed) them throughout our 6,000 mile trip. So, here we are in January and we have almost outlasted them! We still one every once in a while, but I believe they are just about gone.

We did try some bug spray and that had no effect on them. We were told to spray them with a little soapy water and that would kill them. We didn't try that, however.

They will seek out the heat, so they migrate to the windshield for the sun, which is where they meet their Waterloo....

Good Luck in getting rid of them!

[brobox]

I have had good luck with insect bombs. They even work to get rid of mice in the basements. Don't be in the MH when you set them off even in the basement for a couple of hours. Also put a piece of cardboard or plastic on the basement ceiling where the spray of the bomb will hit. It will save any cleanup.

[Victory Blue]

Mike,

I sympathize with your problem. Our stink bugs came from Indiana and Michigan in September. I had never heard of them before that.

I did some research on stink bugs and found that they are not native to the US and they are hard to kill with standard pesticides. There's only a very few chemicals that will kill them, so if stink bugs are not listed on the label the product won't affect them. Each time we tried to buy the right pesticide the shelf was empty. We are still finding 3 or 4 a day.

[Hit_the_Rhod]

We were invaded recently with LADYBUGS! We were in Cooksville, TN and we vacuumed up over 400 of the little buggers. Every half hour or so I would see another half dozen or more crawling about in the coach. Out came the vacuum and in went the bugs! Over 400 of them, yes I kept count! On the return trip, we still had them, but in steadily decreasing numbers. Then the cold killed them off apparently. It remains to be seen whether they nested and we will have them again in the Spring. I prefer to mechanically remove them rather than bombing, but if they come back in the Spring, out come the bombs!

[tbfirm]

bugzooka. This is what my DW uses to exterminate them. Great product, sucks them right in


2009 Safari Cheetah 42' PAQ
2009 Honda CRV

[Misty123]

The little raid bombs will kill them and most other insects in your mh. I think our mh was delivered with them compliments of Indiana. I set two off upstairs and eradicated them. Something to be aware of, at least in our coach the bombs set off the c02 detector, which set off the glass breakage detector, which set off the outside alarm. So you might leave the mh unlocked instead of locking and leaving like we did. Makes for some unhappy neighbors.

[carluv]

We had them bad in our other motor home. Used bombs and killed hundreds of them the first day. Used 8 bombs, but were still finding some.
Bought a new motor home and got them again in the No. Georgia Mountains. Averaging about 3 a day when the sun is out and warm.

[Anthem46]

Bonnie heard that MOTH BALLs would work so We put them in the basement & used RAID every were. THEY ARE GONE!!!!

[CampDaven]

If you kill them inside the rig, they can't leave in the spring! Permanent residency.
They do not nest in your rig. They simply stay warm for the winter.
We leave Stinker Territory before they look for winter housing. In PA, if you are there as late as October 1, you missed your chance of missing the Curse of the Stinkers.

[waterboy10]

We got them in our Aspire a few years ago while in Gettysburg in the fall. The side of the coach was just crawling with them. Used two insect bombs and that pretty much took care of them. It did leave a bit of greasy residue on the floor and counters that we had to clean up. So far in the 16 Anthem only a few have shown up. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Saltydog44]

We get the Stinkbugs AND the Asian Ladybugs here in the foothills of NC. When the first frost hits in the mountains they look for a place to hibernate and a cedar house looks like a great big hollow log to them.

Government released the lady bug several years ago to try to eradicate the Woody Adelgid Aphids that were devastating the Hemlocks which are most of the trees in the higher elevations. "Don't worry - we radiated them so they are sterile." Worked just like many such programs so now we have billions of them and the adelgids are still munching. And OBTW - the asian variety is orange and bites unlike the cute one from "Ladybug, Ladybug..." fame.

As I understand it the stinkbugs were introduced accidentally through Philadelphia and are steadily spreading across the country.

We get them heavily in the fall for about two weeks and then again but not so bad for about two weeks in the spring and rest of the time there are "only" about 15-20 a day.

We love living in nature but these bugs not so much.

[CampDaven]

Originally Posted by waterboy10

We got them in our Aspire a few years ago while in Gettysburg in the fall. The side of the coach was just crawling with them. Used two insect bombs and that pretty much took care of them. It did leave a bit of greasy residue on the floor and counters that we had to clean up. So far in the 16 Anthem only a few have shown up. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Nobody can prevent a Stinker from entering its chosen winter warm spot.

If you fumigate them, they do die, and forever remain, in your walls and such, as well as any other critters.

[CampDaven]

Stinkers can flatten their bodies to enter through any opening wider than 1/64 of an inch, and maybe less.
https://blog.epa.gov/blog/tag/stink-bugs/