She said she came home and the house had just exploded with them!We got them by the billions (no, I never counted but believe me....it was close) in the past few years with last fall being THE WORST. I did some research and found out they are called box-elder bugs and come from the box-elder tree.
Unfortunately we had 3 of those trees on the side of our house. My DH ended up cutting them down and burning them about a month ago. We then had an exterminator friend of ours spray around our house & shed.
Until today (when the hot weather came back) we didn't have but a handful around the property. Today I could probably see maybe 20. I have read online that a good way to get rid of them is to get rid of the source (the trees) Since then, we have seen a MAJOR difference.
!Oh gross! I haven't seen them today. We never really had an issue with them until last fall. Man the "Biblical proportions" thing just makes me want to put on a hazmat suit. Where in NJ are you guys anyway?
Stink Bugs and Box Elder Bugs are 2 different things. Stink Bugs are an invasive species that came into the country (via Pennsylvania) in the late 1990 from Asia. There is no treatment recommended to get rid of them at this point. They have no known enemies in the U.S. and their population is expected to explode. In Frederick County, Maryland, so far this year, they have destroyed about 20% of the apple population. Google Stink Bug and the state you live in for more information.
http://www.hgic.umd.edu/content/documents/Stink_Bug_Pest_Alert.pdf