Quote of the Day “But once in a while, you pick the right thing, the exact best thing. Every day, the moment you open your eyes and pull off your blankets, that’s what you hope for. The sunshine on your face, warm enough to make you heart sing.” ~ Sarah Ockler
Hello Friday!
Yesterday Lucy spent the morning soaking up the sun in the {soon to be } veg patch while I pulled weeds and planted rhubarb crowns. It was a lovely day. Today the goal is to get 100 strawberry starts in the ground, although I still don’t know where they’ll be going yet.
Oh, and last night, I spotted this creepy bug on the window shade just 3 feet away from my face. THE BUGS…. They are serious around here. Anyone know what kind of creepy thing this is?
Ahhh Friday…. You are going to be AWESOME.
♥ Mavis
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Linda Gabel says
It looks like an assassin beatle to me.
samantha surovec says
That’s what I was going to say but I really want to see it’s mouth parts first. Assassin bugs have that huge proboscis and I don’t think squash bugs do, and I think stink bugs are mostly gray and somewhat rounder.
Jill K. says
It looks like a stink bug.
Renee says
A Western Conifer Seed Bug. Here in Wisconsin, we refer to the as Stink bugs cause they stink when you touch them, which is their defense mechanism. This time of year we get quite a few in the house.
Lisa says
You are correct.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/468953/bgimage
Mavis Butterfield says
DING DING DING!!! That’s it! Thank you.
Cheryl says
Flush them or use a sweeper, do not crush them they smell.
Kim says
Really? Don’t kill them. They don’t cause one any problems. I live in northern Michigan and get them seasonally (usually the Spring and the Fall, but it can change). They don’t do anything, and they certainly aren’t harmful. Just let them be. If they’re frightened, they give off a celery scent, but really, they’re like lady bugs in the fact that they won’t cause you any problems or concerns. They’re just not as cute. Leave ’em alone, and eventually they’ll pass on. No biggie and no worries. Geesh…..
Katherine says
They must be killed, they destroy crops. They are an agricultural nightmare.
Peggy says
It’s a stink bug. Once you or Lucy gets ‘stunk’ by one, you’ll know why they are called stink bugs! They are an invasive species that have plagued the east for the last several years. They won’t destroy crops, but they like the sweet things, like for me, the leaves of my maple trees and sunflowers. You can buy traps for them, but I’ve found the best and most effective thing is to go out early in the morning with a pail of warm soapy water and tip them into it by tipping the leave and maybe giving them a little tap. I do it early in the morning usually before 9 am before they fully are awake and alert for the day, otherwise later in the day, they’ll either get away, stink you, or they are great at playing dead and then flying off later. They’re tough buggers. They find their way into your house, sheds, whatever is warm and will wake up early spring to get back out. Anyway, they’re a pain.
Mavis Butterfield says
Is there a way to keep them out of the house?
Mrs. C. says
Make sure to seal as many cracks as possible. If you have siding on your house, it will be tough to do unless you replace it with hardiplank. Good news: our chickens LOVE, just love to eat these bugs!
Also, they do damage crops. What they like to do in my garden is to wait until the tomatoes and peppers are just ripening, then they inject saliva into the fruit via a proboscis. This gives the tomatoes an ugly speckled appearance and sometimes they rot on the vine. This usually happens late in the season, so by that time, I’ve had plenty of tomatoes.
Eileen Stewart says
Ew.. a stink bug. Don’t pick it up with your hand, it stinks! 🙂 😉
Mim says
No, you cannot keep them out of your house. They can creep in through the smallest cracks. If you really want to freak yourself out, read this article from the March 12 New Yorker: When 26,000 Stink Bugs Invade Your Home.
The good news is that we have never had anything like that. Ladybugs, yes, and you will likely experience that explosion. Other good news is that both stink bugs and lady bugs are pretty easy to vacuum up. But DO NOT squoosh them, as they do stink.
Colleen says
It’s a Boxelder bug. Google it.
Gwenn says
If it is longish with red markings with 6 legs it is a Box Elder bug https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/occasional-invaders/boxelder-bugs/
Stink bugs are more “squarish” and have 8 legs….they can be green or brownish https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/occasional-invaders/stink-bugs/
Google really DOES know everything.
Gwenn says
Actually….capture it and take it to a local farm/feed store or extension office. They will give you the 411 on it an any other guests you will likely encounter in your new habitat.
Julie K Whitmore says
Looks like an artillary bug to me. Not sure. They have a wicked bite, so give it wide berth just in case I’m right.
LAURI COATES says
Pretty sure that shield shaped bug body labels this nasty the dreaded stink bug. They try to come indoors in the cold. Pulled this from http://www.reference.com ” Stink bugs often travel in large groups and take shelter together. They enter structures in large groups, so sealing off entry points is an effective way of preventing more bugs from entering once some have arrived. This is accomplished by sealing and caulking siding and areas near utility pipes, chimneys and fascia. Replacing or repairing screens and windows prevents additional intruders and keeps resident bugs from escaping. Stink bugs can be swept or vacuumed as they die, but it is best to not squish them with fingers or shoes because they emit foul smells when killed in this manner.
Maxine says
In DC area our stink bugs aren’t as long, more shield shaped. We have the bug you’ Showing but not in quantity (having said that I’m sure I’ll see him all the time now. Lol)
Ryan says
Stink bugs and Western Conifer Seed bugs often get mistaken for each other. What you have there, is a Western Conifer Seed Bug, don’t worry you will get your chance to meet the infamous Bug of the Stink too! Both are harmless to humans, and a minor to major annoyance depending on your house. You can look up DIY stink bug traps on google, they work surprisingly well and are made from a 2 liter soda bottle, some tape, and a led light.
http://labs.russell.wisc.edu/insectlab/2015/10/21/conifer-seed-bugs/
Angela D. says
Thanks for the information, Ryan! I live in WI and have seen this bug individually many times, never in a group. After reading through all of these comments, I am thankful for that! However, I have never noticed any smell when squishing them. Now I realize that what I’m dealing with is likely the Western Conifer Seed Bug, not the Stink Bug.
Now, these folks that claim to know what a Boxelder Bug is…..they can come visit the Southern side of my house and barn on a sunny day and find out for certain!
Joyce says
I agree with others, we call them stink/shield bugs…use your vacuum to get them…I put a cheap dryer sheet in the vacuum cleaner to keep them m stinking up the vacuum.
We are fighting them and the lady bug things, they both stink.
Good luck!
Jamie says
we call those banana bugs…..gives off a banana smell if you touch it.
Shari says
Western Conifer Seed Bug
https://www.modernpest.com/pest/occasional-invaders/western-conifer-seed-bugs/
Linda says
It’s a stink bug and I find them in my house more often than I would like to.
Diane says
Hey Mavis,
Don’t know if this is a NW thing or national, but when I got the Fred Meyer freebie Friday coupon for gum I noticed that there was also a free seed packet coupon as well.
Who couldn’t use more seeds this time of year!
Happy Werkend!
Mavis Butterfield says
AWESOME!
Robin says
It’s a stink bug. My husband’s family calls them wood bugs because they always seem to come in with the fireplace logs at their wooded lake home and log cabin. Rarely, one or two show up at our urban home and I put them back outside. Personally I think they look cool with their coloring that looks like bark or mottled stone. 🙂
Robin says
I agree with the others now – looks more like a conifer bug than a stink bug. 🙂
Natasha says
Mavis, Im shocked youve never seen those bugs before. They come out every spring here in the Pac NW…. As someone else said, its a western conifer seed bug. Lots of people say its a stink bug, but stink bugs have a shorter body.
Mavis Butterfield says
In all my years of living in high maintenance suburbia, I never saw a single one. How weird is that? Maybe the HOA didn’t allow them? Bahhhhahahaha.
Natasha says
LOL! I dunno about that! Ive seen them at every place Ive lived or worked for the past 15 years or so. They especially like to hang out on window screens. You just lucked out I suppose.
Helen in Meridian says
Har Har Har Har, the HOA didn’t allow them. Good One.
HollyG says
Down in the Willamette Valley we’ve got these too. And stink bugs. And Box Elder bugs. I really hate when, in the evening, your’ve just settled in with a great book and a cup of tea and they start buzzing around the lamp – Blah!!
Kari says
I believe it is a box elder bug. They like to come out on the sunny side of your house and hang out. Pretty harmless, I believe, but annoying.
Mrs. C. says
I think the stink bugs smell like cilantro.
KC says
Our first insect surprise on the East Coast was a camel cricket (or cave cricket). They enjoy basements, wood piles, and apparently, in our place, lower kitchen cupboards that have some sort of crack to get in from the outside by? But even though they’re harmless, they look pretty appalling to the uninitiated!
We used to get probably a half-dozen to a dozen of those Beetles of Mystery indoors per year (I don’t know whether they’re box elder, stink bugs, or something else, though), in addition to the occasional bathroom centipede and intermittent plagues of various kinds of ants (the curse of older housing: not sealed well against the outdoors).
Outdoors, one year, a chunk of my flowers were lost to a flock of Japanese beetles – those are real pests! And the mosquitoes used to eat me alive…
On the plus side, maybe you’ll get fireflies this summer! 🙂
Mavis Butterfield says
The first time I saw fireflies was at my friend Zoe’s house a few years ago!
Gwenn says
Speaking of wood piles…..Not to freak you out but snakes and other critters love wood piles so….just be aware. I’d rather see a ba-jillion creepy crawlies than one snake. I used to hit the wood pile with a stick just so that anything residing in it would know I was coming and move along.
Kim O'Dongohue says
Mrs. C is being kind about them smelling like cilantro. If you even use a tissue to crush them your fingers will stink, I technically don’t think they are a stink bug but they fall into that category. I live in Massachusetts and they rear their ugly heads ocassionally in my home. They freak my daughter out! I,don’t know how they get in but they do! Welcome to New England
Wendy says
I find those bugs in my house (Massachusetts) all the time starting just before spring. No idea how they get in and my cats don’t eat them (moths on the other hand they must find delicious).
Denise says
Hey Mavis! We miss you up here in Washington! Has anyone tried diatomaceous earth for preventing stink bugs from coming into the house? It works great for fleas and other insects so I’ll bet it will work for stinky bugs too! I watched a great movie the other night that you might enjoy. “The Visitor”, a movie about a professor who goes to New York to read his paper at a conference. He has an apartment in NY and when he goes there to sleep he finds a Somali woman and her Syrian boyfriend living there. The Professor lets them stay until they can find another place. The Professor bonds with them and he is given drumming lessons by the young man. But trouble intervenes and the Syrian man ends up in immigration detention, facing deportation. A wonderful movie on the challenges faced by illegal immigrants. I loved it!
Cecile H says
We have watched the whole Turn series and loved it, thanks to Netflix!
Kathy says
Stink Bug
Cass says
The bug is ugly and stinks when you squish it. (don’t do that if you can avoid it. I catch them in a tissue and throw them in the fire) But it is not a stink bug. It is a Western conifer seed bug, like others have said. We have them all the place right now. I hate them. I also have Asian Lady beetles. MILLIONS of them. IN THE HOUSE. Sigh.
Welcome to the Right coast.
Nichole says
Awww, just a stink bug. Only stinky if you squish it – so don’t? We live in NH and we get them often in the house for the fall/winter/never coming spring. Our kids call them “Stink Head” as though there is only ever one. Harmless visitors!