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Are Stink Bugs Worse Than Bedbugs?
By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Jan 31, 2010
Modified Jan 31, 2010
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By
Sabrina Jaszi
Published Jan 31, 2010
Modified Jan 31, 2010
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Brooklyn’s newest invasive species carries with it a unique threat: unlike bedbugs Pentatomoidae don’t bite and don’t carry a health risk, but they do stink! Commonly referred to as stink bugs, they smell a bit like rotting or sweaty feet, if you will. In your tub-in-the-kitchen studio, maybe that’s worse.
Like bedbugs, stink bugs know how to couch-surf from one apartment to the next. "They're good hitchhikers," entomologist George Hamilton told the Post. "They get into clothes and suitcases and spread." Hailing originally from China, Japan and Korea each little guy is just the size of a dime, but has the capacity to lay up to 30 eggs per go-round and create a stench way out of whack with its diminutive physique. The stink bugs—which are a type of beetle—first landed in Pennsylvania in 1998, and have since spread like the plague.
On Brooklynian one sufferer wrote “We are midway through our seasonal stinkbug parade that's been going on every winter for the past few years. We name them Stinky #1,2 etc. I think we're up to Stinky #12 or so. The kids use a bug vacuum to suck them up and deposit them outside, where they can fend for themselves. All you can do is just get ride of them before they can create more Stinkys.” She’s right, as much as you may just want to crush their little heads, one exterminator warned against it. Robert Macri, a pest-control specialist, advises, "If you smash them, the odor comes out. The best is to pick them up and flush them. The problem is they're hard to catch because they fly."
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bed bug
brooklyn
insect
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park slope
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stinkbug
Sabrina Jaszi
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