It is a sunny afternoon in November, the heat is on, and there is a stink bug walking across the living room window. Then another one on the lampshade. The doors have been shut for weeks, so where are they coming from?
They did not come in today. They have been inside your walls or attic since the weather turned, and the warm afternoon woke them up. Here is how they got there, why they show up when they do, and what a stink bug exterminator can and cannot do about it this time of year.
Why stink bugs come inside in the fall
Stink bugs are overwintering pests. They do not die off in the cold. They look for a protected place to sit it out. Starting around the middle of September, when the overnight temperatures drop, they gather on the outside of houses and other buildings in the late afternoon to sunbathe and look for a hiding spot. The sunny south and west sides get the most of them.
They are very good at sensing the warmer air that leaks out around gaps and cracks in the outside of a house. That is how they find their way in: soffits, eaves, gable vents, the casings around windows and doors, and gaps in the siding. By the time the first freezes arrive, the ones that found a way in are settled in the attic and the wall voids for the winter. Box elder bugs, Asian lady beetles and cluster flies do the same thing, and we covered all of them in our guide to stink bugs, box elder bugs and cluster flies in the fall.
Why you see stink bugs on warm winter days
The same sense that led them in is what brings them out. When the furnace or the wood stove is running, or the sun warms a window, they feel the change in temperature, leave their hiding spots and head for it. They squeeze out through ceiling and wall vents, around recessed can lights, and through fireplaces and wood stoves that do not have a tight seal on the damper.
What they do not have is a sense of direction. They cannot remember how they got in. They feel the sunlight on the glass and think that is the way back outside, which is why you find them gathered at the windows and doors. The stink bug on your window is not moving in. It is lost and trying to leave.
They are not eating anything in your house and they are not nesting in it. They are waiting for spring. Expect another round of them on the first warm days of spring, when the rest wake up and head back outside. It is one more reason we keep saying that all the bugs do not die in the winter.
How to get rid of stink bugs in the house
For the ones that are already in the room, keep it simple.
Do not crush them. The name is earned. Pick them up with a tissue or use the vacuum, and empty the vacuum outside when you are done.
Watch where they come out. If they keep turning up in the same room, look at the can lights, the ceiling and wall vents and the fireplace. Keeping the damper shut tight when the fireplace or wood stove is not in use closes one of their favorite doors.
Know what a stink bug trap does. A trap catches the ones that have already come out into the room. It does not reach the ones still in the wall. By this point in the year it is a matter of managing them until spring.
What a stink bug exterminator does, and when
Real stink bug control happens on the outside of the house, before they get in. The stink bug treatment is a preventative barrier applied to the places they use: the soffits, eaves, gable vents, window and door casings, and the gaps and crevices in the siding. The time for it is when they start gathering on the building, from the middle of September until the hard freezes. Getting a jump on them then significantly reduces the number you see inside over the winter, and again in the spring.
So if this is the winter you found out you have stink bugs, do two things. Make a note of which rooms they show up in and which side of the house those rooms are on. Then give us a call. We can look at how they are getting in and plan the treatment for the right time next fall. At New River Pest Control LLC, stink bugs are part of our general pest control service, the same as ants and spiders.
Stink bug control in Dublin, Pulaski County and across the New River Valley
Stink bugs are not a town problem or a county problem. We find the house tells us more than the zip code does: how much sunny wall it has, and how many gaps there are around the roofline, the vents and the windows. We handle stink bug control and general pest control for homes and businesses in Dublin and the rest of Pulaski County, which we cover regularly from our home base in Radford a few minutes down the road. We also work out through Riner, Giles County, Craig County, Bland County, Carroll County and Wythe County, as well as in Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
If the stink bugs are on your windows this winter, or you want to get ahead of them and the mice that move in when it gets cold, call or text (540) 818-9375 for a free phone quote.
Have a pest problem? Call us for a free phone quote, no obligation.
(540) 818-9375