Stinky Plague

We have an Asian invader. Supposedly they came from Japan in some packing material or something. We'd like to send them back. :) They are stinkbugs-- and they really do stink if you smash them. Thankfully, they are usually slow-moving so they are easy to catch, but then we don't like to smash them. Back when we were getting a few a day, we would flush them in the toilet. But, then when we'd have a couple hundred in the house a day, and we were in the middle of a drought, we didn't think flushing the toilet that many times would be a good idea. So Chad hit on the idea of putting them in an empty milk jug.

They were esp bad the week before last. It was everyone's main topic of discussion with friends and neighbors. :) They love to crawl in crevices, so they crawl in at doors and window. Esp our deck door, and esp on sunny afternoons. We would open that door for 10 sec and 12 of them would fall onto the kitchen floor.

The disgusting noodle pic is from one supper time... the stinkbugs are attracted to light above our table. One must have fallen in the noodle pot some time during supper. I don't mind them so much as long as they aren't on me (they make me feel very creepy-crawly) or my food.

Some of our friends would talk of having them just cover the side of their house. Someone else mentioned going into a house that had been vacant for a couple weeks-- stinkbugs were everywhere-- in closets, all over clothes, etc. One friend has dogs that like to eat them (and then have very bad breath later), but I guess they have no natural predators here in the West. Look out-- you'll have them in another year or two!