Just made this meme to express my frustration at Boxelder bugs. No matter how many times I carry them out they find a way back in my house in Spring and Fall.
Note because I guess some folks need it: I don’t kill them, I pick them up and put them back outside!
Hot take: These guys never bothered me. I know some people are strongly bothered and annoyed by Boxelder bugs but they don’t annoy me.
Same here. I think they’re kinda cute tbh. They are just a very mild inconvenience in the house just because I gotta go find a piece of paper for it to crawl on and put it outside, lol.
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I have no idea where you got this idea but it’s wrong.
https://npic.orst.edu/pest/boxelder.html
Are you perhaps thinking of kissing bugs???
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No they’re not lol
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/kissing-bugs/
The boxelder bug (Boisea trivittata) is often mistaken for a kissing bug due to its red and black coloration. However, while the kissing bug has six red-orange stripes along the side of its abdomen, the boxelder bug has red along the edges of the front wings.
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Speaking of horses, did you know that house flies and horse flies can look almost identical, but are different species?
The possum is not the same species as the opossum. A rabbit and a hare are different species. A buzzard and vulture are different species.
It’s all about DNA. If two bugs (or any organism) can mate and produce viable, fertile offspring - that’s a species. If they can’t, then they are different species.
Interesting argument, mind backing it up with a source?
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These are not the same bug
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At least box elders are distinct looking. I’ve been getting elm bugs after moving to a different state and from afar they look like cockroaches. Eughgggghhhhh
Remind me what the bug is that carries the “makes your heart fall apart slowly” disease that was popular last year.
I think I kept mistaking these for those.
Triatoma infestans is the primary vector for Chagas’ disease, but it can be transmitted by other triatomines. Fun fact, they shit on your face and the infection comes from you rubbing their infected shit into the fresh open wound. It’s not from the bite itself. Thanks to climate change they’re migrating northward. Sleep tight!
Kissing bugs cause chagas, and they do look very similar
I thought they were all kissing bugs. How do you tell them apart.
The biggest tell is the missing sucker tube. Though boxelder bugs are fairly vibrant in color, and generally are numerous/you know about them majority of your life.
Around me they’ve become far less common due to climate change sadly. Love the little guys, even if they used to easily overwhelm any house in the woods.
if you’re in south american countries. they are similar looking to assassin bugs which are predators instead of bloodsuckers.
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Soapy water kills them quickly if you need to exterminate them. Just don’t squish them.
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You can get an attachment for your garden hose that would let you spray soapy water over a large area very quickly.
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They’re related to stinkbugs right? Smell bad when squished? I’ve never intentionally squished one.
Supposedly the release pheromones when squished, which then attracts more of them. Not sure if they are related to stinkbugs!
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That brings me back to my childhood. We had lots of these in the backyard when I was a kid, but I haven’t seen one for decades now.
This is me but with stink bugs.
They’re my friends
They are friendly little bugs.
tell me your house is badly insulated without telling me your house is badly insulated
Yeah it’s over 100 years old and has been through countless owners and tenants lol
Last summer we had thousands on the south facing wall of our house. Will be interesting to see what happens this year.
There’s a Boxelder tree in the neighbors yard and our garage, table and tarps get absolutely covered in them every summer and fall. They’re cute lil bugs but not in those numbers, lol!
Seems like this is your own fault then
Leave them alone already.
I’d prefer let them back outside rather than see them getting squished or drown themselves in the washing machine or be eaten by the cats 🤗
