# Box Elder Bugs?!



## Toller (Jan 2, 2013)

We bought a 6 year old house in upstate NY on a lake last summer.
It is only 40 miles from where we have lived for 35 years, but the new house is inundated with box elder bugs; which we have never seen before. In fact, our first house had a large box elder, but no bugs. 
They were all over the place last fall, and come out now whenever it is over 40 degrees.
We have had a couple dozen in the house, which I don't care about because they seem perfectly harmless, but they are driving my wife crazy.

There is are two large sugar maples on our lot, but no other large trees and no box elders. We used to own a property on the other side of the lake in the woods with lots of sugar maples (though also no box elders) and we never had any bugs.

So, 
Why do we have so darned many bugs?
Can they really be safely ignored?
Can anything be done to get rid of them?


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Toller said:


> We bought a 6 year old house in upstate NY on a lake last summer.
> It is only 40 miles from where we have lived for 35 years, but the new house is inundated with box elder bugs; which we have never seen before. In fact, our first house had a large box elder, but no bugs.
> They were all over the place last fall, and come out now whenever it is over 40 degrees.
> We have had a couple dozen in the house, which I don't care about because they seem perfectly harmless, but they are driving my wife crazy.
> ...


 
yes, they are harmless
the other 2 questions, I cannot answer


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/boxelder.htm


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## TheBobmanNH (Oct 23, 2012)

We have a similar problem. The link above is the best you're going to do, unfortunately. They are harmless but super annoying.


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

"there aren't a lot of treatment options. There are not a lot of recommended chemical measures at this point. "

TOTAL BS !!! 

i had tons of them at my last home. get a garden sprayer. put some soap in it, laundry/dish doesn't matter, and you don't need a lot = like you are washing dishes or cloths. fill sprayer with water and shake it up. then spray the bugs. you will then watch them die right before your eyes. you will not get all of them on the first try. you will have to keep at it. but after a little while, they will all be gone for the vast most part. the ones inside, just vac em up. with none outside, to get inside, the inside ones will soon be gone.

been there, done that...


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## gobug (Jul 13, 2012)

There are a few things about the boxelder bug I would like to add. I did not look at the link, so sorry if I repeat what is there. My perspective is as an exterminator in CO.

Since the bug is a hibernator, they seek warm spaces for the winter. That implies that if you are getting them your abode is leaking warm air. Close the leaks. These leaks can be right at ground level all the way to the upper floors. If your siding is lap, you have a real challenge. Regardless, closing the leaks will save you money on heating. 

Closing the leaks will also eliminate the repititous spraying of pesticides. I suggest not spraying indoors. If you must spray you will need to get at all the places that are leaking.

The south side gets warmed on the outside by the sun. This attracts them. This would be a good place to put a repellant pesticide.

This bug mates and lays its eggs in the spring on trees like the box elder and maple with helicoptery pods. Here in CO I have seen them on scrub oak. The immature stage will be in the tree and around the base. Unfortunately, the adults can fly more than a mile. While spraying the tree(s) may reduce the population around that tree, you cannot treat all the possible sites within a mile radius. 

Hence, spraying a pesticide won't solve the problem. Stop them by stopping the leaks.
Good luck, Gary


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

when i was doing research on them, years ago. i found that they like to eat dead wood. there was a bunch of mulch where i had them. 

spray the soap, and be happy.


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## Two60zCowboy (Mar 22, 2013)

I had a problem with these bugs last year. I went on an all out war with them and studied them for a whole day last summer and then got on the internet and did some research. I know what their eggs look like / I know what the larva stage is / I know what the adults look like and how long they live. This is what I know about getting rid of them. First thing first - these bugs have a nervous system. Soapy water does soak into this nervous system and temporarily completely paralyzes them. So, they fall to the ground and completely stop moving and look as dead as a door knob, and you're all happy thinking you've solved the problem. That doesn't work. Eventually the soap wears off and these things come back to life. I've put them in a bucket and watched them with my own eyes come back to life. The solution for me was to go to the "do your own pest control dot com" and buy a sprayer and buy Mikron Transport and spray the south side of the house like they show you in their videos. Put a four foot barrier up the wall and across the ground. This stuff doesn't wear off like soap does but it does the same thing - paralyzes the bug. That's all you can do is paralyze these things, there isn't a spray that can kill them. Ultimately, you got this 8 ft barrier that just keeps them immobile. Then you go spray the tree trunks and anywhere else you want them dead. Been there - Done that.


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## Two60zCowboy (Mar 22, 2013)

And I should add that this barriers stays around for months, so you will not have these bugs crawling around. It works great. Its actually really interesting science when get into it.


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

Two60zCowboy said:


> Soapy water does soak into this nervous system and temporarily completely paralyzes them. So, they fall to the ground and completely stop moving and look as dead as a door knob, and you're all happy thinking you've solved the problem. That doesn't work. Eventually the soap wears off and these things come back to life.



ymmv. but for me IT DID WORK, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT. i went out there a week later and saw them still dead.


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## jbjones (Apr 7, 2011)

I had a really bad boxelder problem. Originally, when we bought our house there some.... not what I would say as a lot outside. Every year for 3-4 it got worse and worse. Finally it got so bad there would be clusters of them everywhere outside my house. All over the siding, sidewalk everywhere. A few inside here and there. I cut down the boxelder tree and had terminex come and spray. They used the spray they use outside for a whole assortment of bugs......ants, spiders,etc. that was a couple of years ago, and I haven't seen one since. A good investment.


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