By Shirlee Grabko
Yes, we had stink bugs last summer and fall. Seems as though many people did. We were also visited by Asian beetles. Both seem to appear out of nowhere. Doors and windows were closed most of the time. All cracks are sealed. How they got in was a mystery.
It is not unusual for stink bugs and Asian beetles to find their way into the house in the fall. I understand that the poor things are getting cold and looking for a warm place to winter over. They are not welcome here, however, and are now greeted by being flicked into a small bottle of alcohol. Their demise is quick and neat. My husband repeatedly told me about how badly they smelled. Since I never had a problem with that, I just figured he was exaggerating the odor he thought he smelled.
I had picked up and relocated many of these creepy-crawlies, and I had never detected a smell. It wasn’t until many other people corroborated his story that I began to wonder. I’ve always had a really good sense of smell, yet never detected one when disposing of these bugs.
After relocating one of these critters to the garbage disposal, he stuck his finger under my nose and said “smell!” Since I believed that he was exaggerating, I took a deep, long whiff and almost hurled. It was, by far, the worse smell I had ever experienced in a life full of occasions of odious odors. No wonder the poor man was complaining.
I started researching stink bugs and ways to prevent them from getting into your home. By now it was early winter and the population of insurgents had diminished greatly. But I had read several articles about devices you could plug into your wall outlet that would repel all bugs and small creatures with ultrasonic emissions. Way to go! I ordered several!! Plugged them in all over the house. We would be ready for these little buggers when next summer/fall came around.
I was feeling pretty self-satisfied. Found a problem. Found a solution. Dealt with it. Doesn’t get any better than that. And then, in December and January, the stink bug population exploded. We were drowning over a dozen or more in the alcohol jar on some days. Was the ultrasonic gizmo nothing more than a homing call? They were crawling up walls, across cabinets and tables, on fruit and food, in the shower and (ick) occasionally in bed. Cats were chasing and killing (but not eating) the stinky things. Stinkbugs had never been this bad. Where were they coming from? How did they get here? And then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone. Have not seen one for several days now. I was not feeling very positive about my purchase of these ultrasonic devices when my grandson (who is young and knows everything) informed me he had read several articles saying that these devices were bunk.
Hmm. Back to researching.