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+--- Thread: What pet will eat the annoying stinkbugs? (/Thread-What-pet-will-eat-the-annoying-stinkbugs)
What pet will eat the annoying stinkbugs? - ohiotom76 - 10-07-2013
Is anyone else having a problem with these lately? The past two years around here in NE Ohio we've been getting inundated with them.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/307816-stink-bugs-record-numbers-of-bugs-expected-this-year-in-parts-of-us/?photo=2
They look like mini cockroaches, fly around and bang into everything, and come into your house non-stop, no matter how much you try and keep your windows and doors closed. Honestly, I don't know how they manage to sneak in, but they do. Some days I will kill about 10-15 of them in our place.
Anyone else having trouble with these? They are definitely not something I would recommend keeping as pets, lol. I would almost like to find a house pet that would eat these and get rid of them for me.
RE: What pet will eat the annoying stinkbugs? - Happyflowerlady - 10-08-2013
Stink bugs are a terrible nuisance, and nothing much smells worse than a stink bug does.
As far as I know, other animals do not eat stink bugs . I have seen dogs playing around with them, but if they once bite into one , or even just get their nose on it, and get a whiff of that obnoxious odor, they pretty much leave them alone.
Fortunately, they seem to be a problem mainly in the fall, and then disappear once the cold weather sets in, and that seems to be arriving early this year.
As awful as it sounds, my husband actually swallowed one of the stink bugs one time ! He had prepared himself a nice tuna fish sandwich, and somehow a stink bug crawled onto it when he wasn't looking, and when he took a bite of his sandwich, he was bent over double hollering and gagging all at the same time.
When he finally was able to speak again, he said he had accidentally eaten a stink bug .
So, apparently, the stink bug does not taste any better than it smells.
RE: What pet will eat the annoying stinkbugs? - Ofnir - 04-03-2014
I would imagine the stinkbug did taste quite horrible. I believe they are mildly toxic, not dangerous to us or house pets, but correct me if I'm wrong, they are suppose to taste foul. At least I think so or maybe I'm thinking of another -true bug-, I'm not a master entomologist but I use to collect and pin them so I'm a little familiar with them.
RE: What pet will eat the annoying stinkbugs? - CatCuddler57 - 06-02-2016
Your best bet would be assassin bugs and birds to eat the stink bugs. Also, most species of stick bugs actively hunt each other. But other than that, two thing they hate are garlic and mint. My grandma used to have a planter outside each window with mint plants. Then she would cook up a couple bulbs of garlic in a huge pot of water with a couple sprigs of mint until she got a concentrated mix of the two. She would freeze half of it and use the other as a spray. It's a safe way to get rid of the bugs. You can spray the outside of your windows to keep them outside of your house if you can tolerate the smell. But if you garden, definitely used mint and garlic to protect your plants.
Another solution is to get a soapy solution. Because of the way insects breath, you can cover them is soapy film and they will suffocate. It's a horrid way to die but if you get clusters of stink bugs, it might be a way to maximize killing them and reducing their chances for reproducing more.
Third idea, less popular because there is a risk for spreading some diseases if you get a sick animal. But if you could try to encourage bats to come live by your house. Bats are natural insect predators so they should appear naturally if you have them. I'm not so sure about having them as pets but they are pretty cute.