# Box elder bugs



## msaeger (Mar 1, 2011)

Any good way to get rid of box elder bugs? I smash about two a day. There isn't any kind bait type thing for these like there is for ants is there?


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

No to the bait---if they get into the house--they are lost--catch them and toss them outside---

They are absolutely harmless --stupid as an opossum and kind of creepy when they walk across you ---


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## gobug (Jul 13, 2012)

You are too late this year. You will not be able to get them until they emerge - they already hidden in you walls.

I suggest that now you use a vacuum cleaner to suck them up rather than squashing them. Since you are not seeing a lot, just suck up a 1/2 tsp of boric acid after you get the bugs. 

This is not a one time problem. It will happen every year, unless you close their doors. These bugs see the heat escaping from your abode in the fall. They follow the heat and get into the walls. The heat comes from the inside, so they follow it. Either close the gaps on the outside of the structure, or spray the outside of the structure with a repellant pesticide. Spraying is not an easy DIY job since a power sprayer and a lot of gallons are required.

Since this bug will fly a few miles to find it's winter abode, you will not be able to impact their population. Closing their doors will save you money on the cost to heat your home. Since they emerge in the spring, mate, then lay eggs, they may like some of your trees. That would be boxelder, maple, scrub oak, and probably other plants. You can treat those next year if they are in your own yard. You will see larvae on the ground at the base of their selected trees in the spring.


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## msaeger (Mar 1, 2011)

oh'mike said:


> No to the bait---if they get into the house--they are lost--catch them and toss them outside---
> 
> They are absolutely harmless --stupid as an opossum and kind of creepy when they walk across you ---


Not worried about them hurting anything but I am sure our one year old would try and eat them if he sees one


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## msaeger (Mar 1, 2011)

gobug said:


> You are too late this year. You will not be able to get them until they emerge - they already hidden in you walls.
> 
> I suggest that now you use a vacuum cleaner to suck them up rather than squashing them. Since you are not seeing a lot, just suck up a 1/2 tsp of boric acid after you get the bugs.
> 
> ...


Why don't I ever see any in the spring? I didn't know they survived the winter. I see tons of them outside in the fall and a few in the house early winter then they are gone until next fall. 

I wish we had trees we are in the barren prairie can't hardly even grow grass.


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## Fix'n it (Mar 12, 2012)

i had to deal with 1000's of these. south wall outside was COVERED with them.

get a garden sprayer. fill it with water and put a little soap in it, shake. then spray them. you will then watch them die. 
after a few years of this, you will see nearly none of them return. 
been there, done that.


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## gobug (Jul 13, 2012)

The larvae emerge in the spring and they are mostly red - no wings yet. You find them at the base of the trees they infest.

The south wall is their landing site. Soap may kill those it hits, but it is gone quickly. So tomorrow's box elders will not be deterred. They migrate from their summer home to a hibernation spot for about a month. That is why I suggest a good repellant pesticide. They land and leave.

This is the standard way to handle hibernaters, like cluster flies also. I say, stay away from pesticides to solve this problem. It is a temporary repititious approach. Close their doors. That may take a while and cost a bit more, but it will save you a lot in the long run.


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