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Box Elder bugs

I've learned that merely squishing one may not be enough to kill it, they seem to have a remarkable ability to bounce back from what looked like certain annihilation.

And I've decided that if there is eternal life for any species, it was granted to the Box Elder bug. I certainly don't agree with God's decision there, but I wasn't consulted.

I also think I've nabbed a few of them in the act - it is not pleasant seeing one box elder bug hump another. Makes me shudder just to think about it.
 
we've got some cold air that's going to freeze your firebugs in a few days. . . . .

I can't believe they aren't frozen already.
 
bigb said:
They're like cockroaches, they survive the freezing.
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I probably don't really know. . . . I thought they die off annually after leaving their eggs or something. But yeah, I can see where they're not going to be that sensitive to cold. All I know is my observation of their late fall infestations and how after winter really sets in, I don't see them until next year. . . .
 
all I know is that I've stepped on them and squished them pretty good, then gone to get a tissue to pick them up and I get back and they've managed to get unsquished and are back crawling along the floor - maybe not back to 100% of their natural ability, but still able to creep along.

I think I am cursed. Now we have a warm spell. Last night I was on the sofa reading and one just landed on my hand, then another landed on the handle of my cup of tea. They are indestructible.

They are annoying.

I think they are a plague.
Worse than the flu.

We need the CDC to devote some resources to their eradication.
 
You've got to attack them where they live. Cut down all the Box Elder trees in your neighborhood.
 
So I finally went looking for answers. . . . .

actually, Box Elder bugs are different from Firebugs. Box elders are the ones in the OP pic, firebugs are more red but can look a lot like them. Firebugs were discovered for the first time in North America in Salt Lake City, Utah. Before that they were inhabitants across Asia and Europe from China to the Southern tier of European nations. Starting to show up in England, too. Not closely related bugs, but can be mistaken for one another. . . . and both do the mass congregating and both stink.
 
thanks Babe. with knowledge comes power... Or something like that!


And GF, I did have a small tree growing next to my house that I removed last spring, and that seemed to get rid of the bugs for quite a while. But they came back, not quite as many as before but still quite numerous. A friend who's an arborist says the nearest box elder tree that she knows of is more than a block away. But who knows, I may have to go snooping in the neighbors' yards.
 
moevillini said:
thanks Babe. with knowledge comes power... Or something like that!


And GF, I did have a small tree growing next to my house that I removed last spring, and that seemed to get rid of the bugs for quite a while. But they came back, not quite as many as before but still quite numerous. A friend who's an arborist says the nearest box elder tree that she knows of is more than a block away. But who knows, I may have to go snooping in the neighbors' yards.
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Growing up there was a huge very old box elder tree right on the fence-line between my house and my neighbors. Besides that my neighbor had all his firewood piled up right against the tree. Man, it was a firebug paradise. If I had wanted to I could have filled a 50 gallon drum by just scooping them up by the handful. Millions of them everywhere.
 
Gameface said:
Growing up there was a huge very old box elder tree right on the fence-line between my house and my neighbors. Besides that my neighbor had all his firewood piled up right against the tree. Man, it was a firebug paradise. If I had wanted to I could have filled a 50 gallon drum by just scooping them up by the handful. Millions of them everywhere.
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Just think how many you could have burned if you lit the tree on fire...
 
moevillini said:
anyone have an arsenal powerful enough to wipe out the latest infestation of these annoying critters invading my house?


I feel no remorse for squishing them to death. But it's so tedious and I can only get one at a time.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
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Just what others have said, cut down any male box elder tree. The problem is you need to not have one within like a mile of you. Next step for me was a preventative bug spray on my house to keep them from landing in the first place. I also sealed up any cracks in the house and windows door jambs so they couldn't get in.

Lastly I killed many of them in front of their family and told them to tell their friends that is what will happen to every last one of them if they come to my house.
 
franklin said:
My neighbors had a detached shed full of grains that attracted mice, who bred and built mouse heaven. It was nasty. You walk in there and see at least 50 mice in the open and hundred behind everything. We went in once armed with pool sticks and clubbed probably 100 of them.

We plotted to catch some and launch them with balloon launchers at the police station but never actually did it. If I were a kid again I doubt I would pass this opportunity up twice.
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One of my favorite things as a kid was taking eggs from our chicken farm and stock piling them near the top of this hill above a gym. The hillside was super steep and almost impossible to get up. If you drive it took about 7 minutes to get close enough to run to where we stood. About once every couple weeks a small group of us would bombard bro's leaving the gym. They would lose their **** and start screaming at us and try and climb the hill while we kept pelting them. Then we would causally walk away before they could drive around to get to us. Being a kid was great sometimes.
 
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