Knowledgebase
Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs #304645
Asked March 03, 2016, 7:05 PM EST
Multnomah County Oregon
Expert Response
Stink bugs apparently aren’t poisonous to pets but, if dogs eat them, they’re likely to drool excessively and vomit. (Although the dog’s discomfort will clear on its own, contact your vet if concerned.) See “Are Stink Bugs Poisonous?” http://animals.mom.me/stink-bugs-poisonous-7670.html
If the insects are coming indoors, caulk and seal any entries in your interior spaces now. (Wait until July or so to seal any exterior entries.) And whenever you see a BMSB indoors, either flick it into soapy water or suck the beasts into a wet-dry shop vac that has soapy water in it. The more you destroy, the fewer will survive to mate in the spring.
You can rig an efficient trap indoors with a foil roasting pan to which you add about an inch of water plus a small amount of dish detergent; put in a dark room and shine a desk lamp onto the water. In the morning, empty the trap and repeat. See “Indoor Traps for BMSB” http://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/content/indoor-traps-bmsb
Don’t waste any effort trying to locate an effective spray; none are effective.
Please ask if you have additional questions.
I'm still curious though about the use of predators, as that would really be my ideal situation (vs having a big load of dead bugs to clean out of traps). Do you know if praying matises (manti?) will eat them? Even if I had to have a contained terrarium set up for the praying mantis to ensure the stink bugs were actually eaten, that would be preferable to setting up the traps around the house for me.
Additionally, we are also planning on adding native tree frogs to our pond this year, and I'm curious if they would also eat them.
Thanks,
C
I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore that part of your question. Yes, some naturally occurring beneficial insects have been reported seen feeding on brown marmorated stink bugs (BMSB) but, as far as I am aware, no mantids or frogs. Unfortunately, none of those have been effective in limiting BMSB to date. Examples include predators of eggs: ants, earwigs, lacewings; and of nymphs & adults: assassin bugs, predatory stink bugs, spiders, birds (starlings, chickens, geese) – see the first 8 slides of a file at http://neipm.cce.cornell.edu/neipm/assets/File/BMSB%20Resources/ESA-Eastern-Branch-2011/13-Natural-Enemies-of-the-Brown-Marmorated-Stink-Bug.pdf.
More promising is that a parasitoid of BMSB in Asia, Trissolcus japonicus, has been found in several different states, one in a public park in nearby Vancouver. That same parasitoid and two other species of the genus have been collected from BMSB’s native lands and are being evaluated in a number of university laboratories across the country. (A brief video with a research update is at http://www.stopbmsb.org/more-resources/video-series/)
