Stink bug traps are among the most effective ways to deal with the threat of an infestation by these unwelcome little buggers. You can capture, confine, kill and dispose of stink bugs in a clean, sanitary, and safe manner. And in so doing, you can avoid (or at the very least minimize) having to deal with that foul stench that these bugs emanate in self-defense whenever they are threatened or attacked.
Now of course if you have no fear of bugs and you have no qualms about getting that stink bug smell all over your skin and your clothes in the process of coming in contact with them in order to squash and kill them, then that is another story entirely.
But for the most part, if you want to avoid all of that unnecessary hassle that ensues from coming in contact with the stink bug stench, then you will find that stink bug traps are the way to go. They can work out quite well for you, if you set things up the right way with careful and deliberate planning. Plus, depending on what type of implementation you go with, these traps can be reused and in many cases be used on “autopilot” – unattended, so that they continue to capture multiple stink bugs all day long without any human intervention or involvement (except to dispose of them once they are killed within the trap you set up for them).
There are umpteen different ways to set up stink bug traps. Volumes of instructional literature can be read and countless hours of Youtube videos can be watched on the subject. And then there are many people out there who have come up with their own variations on these other commonly practiced methods for stink bug control. You would not believe how creative some people can get, and how determined some people can be, to deal with the stink bug crisis that currently plagues North America.
Here are a few examples of stink bug traps you can create either in your home or in your yard. Of course, your mileage may vary, and we may as well offer the standard disclaimer here that you should try this at your own discretion. We make no guarantee as to whether these methods will work for you or not. There are many factors that can contribute as to the effectiveness of any one of these methods. You can, of course, take these recommendations and try them, or perhaps even come up with your own variation on these, until you find a solution that works for you.
Bug Zapper Light Traps
Those light traps that lure bugs toward them and then literally zap / electrocute the bugs on contact, are a tried and true method for killing stink bugs en masse.
The good news is that stink bugs happen to be attracted to sources of light. If you have stink bugs in your house you will notice that they generally tend to linger by the windows so that they can seek out the sunlight. (This is sadly ironic, considering that stink bugs came into your house in search of warmth, only to realize that the sunlight that they really want is outside, and so they end up wanting to head back outside again by loitering near the windows.)
This is an extremely clean and efficient means to lure and kill stink bugs in large numbers. It is most effective at night when there are no other lights around, and would not be nearly as effective during the daylight hours.
Pheromone Traps
Stink bugs are social insects. They frequently emit what is known as an aggregation pheromone into the air as a means of attracting other stink bugs to come and join them and form clusters. Therefore, you could set up a container either inside your house or in an area near your garden or your trees where you suspect that there is a population of stink bugs lurking nearby. Spray this container with stink bug pheromone, and sit back and watch as these little buggers come flying toward the container.
Once they enter the container, you have many options available to you:
- You could further entice them to stay in the container by putting from fresh fruit inside it. Since stink bugs feed on fruits, they will be less likely to want to leave the confines of that container.
- You could fill the container with dish soap. You may have read that regular dish washing soap has been proven to be lethal to stink bugs. So once they enter the container, they will become paralyzed and eventually die.
- You could line the container with fly paper so that when the stink bug enters it, it cannot escape. Fly paper is an adhesive type of paper that is virtually impossible for most insects to be able to escape from. And in many cases, the fly paper itself can be infused with or lined with a poisonous substance that can kill stink bugs in short order.
Other Miscellaneous Traps
Any one of the above traps or variations thereof which have been described above will work. You could for example just set up manual traps as well: Leave a bowl of fruit out, wait for stink bugs to come and feed upon the fruit, and then kill, capture, or trap them by the method of your choice.
Or you could use a light source as a means to lure stink bugs, if you don’t want to deal with stink bug pheromones (although these pheromones are completely odorless to human beings) and then entrap them that way.
Or you could even line your windows (or any other surface in your home) with strips of fly paper, if that is where most of the stink bugs in your house are hanging out.
Use Your Creativity
The above is by no means an exhaustive list of stink bug traps that you can set up. You can either buy traps that are commercially available at the store or online, or you can get creative and build your own, using a combination of one or more of the methods above.
Basically, it comes down to understanding what makes stink bugs tick. We know that:
- stink bugs are attracted to aggregation pheromones;
- stink bugs thrive on fruits and vegetables;
- stink bugs are attracted to sources of light and heat;
- stink bugs can become paralyzed and die when their underbelly comes in contact with dish soap.
So therefore, by employing what you know about stink bugs, you can come with a trap that suits your particular situation, depending on where your infestation problem is (indoors vs outdoors), and how many stink bugs you are dealing with (just a few here and there vs a massive colony of them).