Stink Bug Pest Control West Chester PA

Repulsive smell resembles decaying garbage

Can lay up to 30 eggs per year

Few of us ever come to terms with the idea of bed bugs infesting their house and home. But now a new threat is on the rise that is markedly worse – stink bugs. Sightings of the brown marmorated stink bug have been spotted in more than 33 states so far and the number is rising. The pest appears to be proliferating from its traditional home in the mid-Atlantic coast throughout America, experts said. The only areas to escape the epidemic are the Rockies and the Plains but everywhere else homeowners have found thousands of the dime-sized creatures infesting their homes in beds and in sofas. Stink bugs are named after the smell they give off whenever they are smashed or crushed.

Like bed bugs they do not transmit disease and are not toxic. They do however bite you, eat your plants and vegetables and emit an appalling stench when they are squeezed that resembles decaying garbage. They are also almost impossible to eradicate and have wings which means they fly off when you try to catch them. The bugs have been seen as far west as California, in Minnesota to the North and Florida in the South. According to USA Today the eight states recently infected are Arizona, Iowa, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Hailing originally from China, Japan and Korea each stink bug has the capacity to lay up to 30 eggs per nesting session. They are carried long distances by cargo containers or from garden to garden simply by the wind when it is strong enough to carry them. Entomologist David Rider of North Dakota State University said there were 4,700 species of stink bugs in the world and 250 of them were in the USA and Canada. The brown marmorated one in the America is causing all the problems – they were first accidentally introduced to Pennsylvania in 1987 and have spread since. In the recent past, there was a hugely damaging infestation in the mid-Atlantic states where people found ‘thousands in their homes’.

Stink bugs pose a serious threat to agriculture and they can cause millions of dollars worth of damage and {decimate|ruin} entire fields of crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent $10 million trying to find a way to {eradicate|exterminate} them but has so far had been unsuccessful. The pest feeds on and can obliterate crops like sweet corn ‘I would say people now regard them as an out-of-control pest,’ said Kim Hoelmer, a research entomologist at the USDA. ‘They feed on a wide range of important food crops. Crops such as sweet corn, apples, pears, grapes, berries, peaches, tomatoes and peppers appear to be the most vulnerable. ‘Some growers have lost their entire crop to stink bug infestations. This adds up to many millions of dollars of losses in crop values. It’s a serious economic loss to some growers.’

Homeowners who discover stink bugs in their home are advised to contact a professional exterminator. Typically they will emerge from cracks under or behind baseboards, around window and door trims and around exhaust fans or lights in ceilings. According to guidelines from Penn State College of Etymology, you should: ‘Seal these openings with caulk or other suitable materials to prevent the insects from crawling out. ‘Both live and dead stink bugs can be removed from interior areas with the aid of a vacuum cleaner – however, the vacuum may acquire odor of stink bugs for a period of time.’ Penn advises that if you simply put down poison they will retreat until the environment is safe and then return.

If you do decide to put your stink bug problem into the hands of professionals, contact Absolute Pest Services for top-rate service.