BROWN MARMORATED STINK BUG INFORMATION & FACTS

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Order Hemiptera / Family Pentatomidae) is a flying outdoor pest that feeds on a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, plants, and trees. They occasionally invade homes and buildings in the fall season. Their common name is ‘stink bug’ because of the stinky odour they emit when squished. The foul smell comes from their scent gland and is used as a defence mechanism to repel predators. The putrid smell lingers, making you wish you hadn’t crushed them in the first place.

What Do Stink Bugs Look Like?

Brown marmorated stink bugs are ½ to ¾ inches long with marbled brown colouring and long antennae with white bands on them. Their bodies are almost as wide as they are long and they have a distinctly shaped carapace, which looks like a shield. These insects are commonly mistaken for Western Conifer Seed Bug (Pine Seed Bugs) or the common Brown Stink Bug.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Life Cycle & Life Span

Stink bugs are active during spring and summer seasons, with populations highest in the fall season. They mate when temperatures are warm enough, and female stink bugs attach their egg clusters to the undersides of leaves where they remain until they hatch in the summer months. Egg clusters contain 20-30 eggs and nymphs often start to hatch by late June. Brown marmorated stink bugs go through five molts during a five-week period to become mature adults. Their life span is on average 8 months.

How Do Stink Bugs Get Inside?

They are overwintering insects (like pine seed bugs and boxelder bugs), so when the cooler fall weather arrives in September and October, they seek shelter in weeds, tree bark, and even cracks and crevices in the exteriors of homes and buildings. During their overwintering period they do not feed or reproduce – they simply hibernate. When late spring arrives with warmer temperatures, stink bugs wake up and seek to get back outdoors to mate and feed.

Do Stink Bugs Cause Damage?

They are considered an invasive species and a major agricultural pest here in Canada as they harm plants and seeds. When feeding on crops, they contaminate them and cause damage (dead spots, imperfections & distortion), which can be devastating on agricultural operations.

Stink bugs do not pose any harm to people or pets. They can be a tremendous nuisance for homeowners come fall when their populations are largest, and they can be seen flying around homes or buildings, basking in the warm sun on the exteriors of homes and structures, or seen entering and exiting cracks and crevices (signalling where they will likely overwinter). 

If they overwinter inside a home or business (which is not too common) and make their way into living spaces, they become a nuisance again in the spring when they awake indoors and want to get back outside. They are attracted to light, so they congregate around windows, doors, and light fixtures. They can also be found crawling on walls and draperies or flying about a home.

STINK BUG INFESTATION

When compared to other species of bugs, insects, and rodents, stink bugs are not a serious concern when found inside a home or business. They don’t bite, forage for human food, cause damage, or reproduce. They are however, an obnoxious and nuisance pest that can literally stink up your home.  Since these insects smell so awful when crushed, squashing them as a means to get rid of them is the last thing homeowners should do, or want to do.

Signs of a Stink Bug Infestation

How can you tell if you have a stink bug infestation in your home or business? By finding live insects:

• Indoors – Flying around, crawling on walls, congregating around windows, doors, light textures, draperies, etc.
• Outside – In the fall, spring and on unseasonably warm winter days you can see them entering and exiting the cracks and crevices (where they are hiding) and even congregating on the exterior walls of your home or building.

HOW TO PREVENT STINK BUGS

The best way to prevent stink bugs from becoming an issue indoors is to stop them from getting indoors in the first place. You can achieve this by making your home, property or business less appealing and habitable to these insects.

Stink Bug Prevention Tips & Advice

• Inspect around the exterior of your home for possible entrance points. Check for foundation cracks, or cracks, crevices or gaps around utility pipes, windows, doors, siding, gutters and chimneys. Seal these with high quality caulking, foam sealant, or weather stripping. In the fall season specifically, focus your efforts on the south side of your home or building that gets the most sun for the longest periods of time. This is where stink bugs are likely to congregate as it will be warm.
• Replace damaged screens or fix loose fitting screens in windows and doors.
• Keep outdoor vegetation trimmed down and back so it’s not touching your home or building.
• Only use outdoor lighting when necessary and replace outdoor lighting with yellow bulbs.
• Minimize indoor light from shining outside at night by closing blinds and curtains.
• Check for and address clogged drains, leaking pipes, puddles, and areas of pooling/collecting water inside and outside your home.
• Use a dehumidifier to help maintain a low level of humidity indoors, especially in the basement, attic, crawl spaces, and garage, which are common places for stink bugs to inhabit.
• Stink bugs are known hitchhikers and commonly make their way indoors by hitching a ride on bags, boxes, firewood, outdoor planters, and decorative ornaments. Inspect these items before bringing them into your home, garage or business.

PRO ADVICE - If stink bugs are a known issue in and around your home, business or property, consider a preventative exterior pest control treatment in the fall. 

• This is the time of year when brown marmorated stink bugs start to look for a new home to overwinter in, and will come in and out of cracks and crevices in a building’s exterior.
• A professional treatment by a licensed pest control technician is an effective means to prevent these insects from getting inside where they don’t belong.

HOW TO GET RID OF STINK BUGS

The most effective way to get rid of stink bugs is to prevent them using the professional advice we shared above.

If prevention is not possible or ineffective, and you discover a few stink bugs inside your home or business, use a vacuum cleaner to suck them up. This is a quick and effective way to get rid of stink bugs. It will also eliminate the unwelcome and unwanted smell that crushing them will cause. Once you have vacuumed them up, dispose of them outside in the garbage in a sealed bag. If numbers are low, a vacuum will continue to be the most effective way to get rid of stink bugs indoors.

If there are greater than a dozen in your home or business and more keep showing up, it's time to contact a licensed pest control expert for professional help in figuring out how they are getting inside and how to rid of brown marmorated stink bugs.

Since these insects reproduce quickly (up to four generations every year when the ideal environmental conditions are present), a stink bug infestation can quickly get out of hand. As the climate in Ontario is colder, these insects often only produce 1 to 2 a year at most.

If you discover a large stink bug infestation in your home or business, the pest control experts at Environmental Pest Control can help you get rid of them and help prevent a future issue. Contact us to learn more about our safe and effective solutions for stink bug control and management.