Apparently they are box elder bugs. And apparently a lot of the trees behind us are elder trees. Sweet.
The good news is that they are harmless. Other than swarming disgustingly around my house and trying to break in to hang out for the winter (I'm reading about how they are sneaky little things and will just wander in through any itty bitty tiny crack or anything. Or on, you know the freaking wood we use to heat the house). And the other good news is (supposedly) you don't need pesticides to kill them. Just plain ol' soap and water. Yay! I'm not a huge bug killer, really. But I'm not a fan of swarmy creepy beetles in my bedroom either. So I'm soaping the suckers.
Looks like for the next couple of days I'll be ninja-ing around my house with a spray bottle full of dish soap. I'll sneak up on them before they can sneak in on me! Ha!
4 comments:
we have those outside our house too, not, it seems, as many as you do, and i've not seen them inside our house, but now i'll be on the lookout! I never knew what they were, thanks for the info!
ewwwww!!!! have fun bug hunting.
Can you really blame them for wanting to sneak in for the winter? :-) I used to see a lot of these guys, but now I can't remember where. It must have been Idaho. I don't think I see them here at all. I always kind of liked them--I like red and black.
We always get hit with box elder bugs once a year. They are EVERYWHERE. So much in fact, that a white house could easily look black. It's gross.
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