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Yes, that is their name. And they do smell if you squish them! Accidentally brought into the United States through the Eastern part of Pennsylvania in a shipment of products from overseas, these bugs are becoming very plentiful. They get into our homes, fly in our faces, and are just highly annoying. Yet, there isn’t much that can be done to eliminate them. Exterminators tell us they can “control” stink bugs from getting into your home, but the shells on the stink bugs will not permit any poisons from killing them quickly.

What can we do to keep them out of our homes? Cracks around windows, doors, siding, utility pipes, air conditioning units, behind chimneys (and inside them) and underneath the wooden fascia and other openings need to be sealed with silicone or caulk. Torn screens on doors and windows need to be replaced or repaired. An exterior treatment of pesticides might help keep some of the stink bugs from coming inside the home. However, this kind of treatment should be done by a licensed pest control exterminator. Once stink bugs do get inside the home you might find them crawling out from cracks in the walls, floors, baseboards, around windows, around fans and lights in the ceiling. Using a vacuum cleaner to “catch” the bugs is ok, but once you get a lot of them in the vacuum cleaner bag you will get a terrible odor emitting from the bag. Also, some bugs may find their way back out of the vacuum cleaner. If there aren’t too many stink bugs inside your home, catch each one in a tissue and then flush the bugs down the sink or the toilet. Using an insecticide inside the home for stink bugs is not advisable. If you have too many stink bugs around, call a professional exterminator.