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!
48 Comments
Suck_on_my_Presence@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 176d
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
Draconic_NEO@mander.xyz · 9 pts · 176d
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.
Blackfeathr@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 176d
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.
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -9 pts · 176d
They're only cute until they give you that nasty heart disease that makes your heart fall apart slowly...
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -15 pts · 176d
They give you a nasty disease that makes your heart fall apart. I hope you like being dead dumbass, your love of gross bugs will be the death of you!
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net · 11 pts · 176d
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???
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -6 pts · 176d
They are the same bug!
LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net · 8 pts · 176d
No they're not lol
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/kissing-bugs/
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -5 pts · 175d
That seems like horse shit
MerryJaneDoe@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 174d
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.
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -3 pts · 173d
You're a different species dumbass!
Draconic_NEO@mander.xyz · 8 pts · 176d
Interesting argument, mind backing it up with a source?
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -4 pts · 176d
https://www.cdc.gov/chagas/spreads/index.html
glimse@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 176d
Not the same bug
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -3 pts · 175d
They ARE the same!
glimse@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 175d
They aren't. Boxelder is different than kissing bug
Weirdly I just learned all about boxelders the other day when one appeared on my desk. There's a Reddit thread really similar to this one with people trying to explain that boxelders aren't the same bug lol
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -1 pts · 175d
Whatever you say bud. I'm not taking any chances with that shitty heart disease. I choose life, thank you very much.
variablenine@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 5 pts · 176d
These are not the same bug
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -4 pts · 175d
They don't look much different to me...
etchinghillside@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 176d
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.
deranger@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 176d
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!
FoxyFerengi@startrek.website · 5 pts · 176d
Kissing bugs cause chagas, and they do look very similar
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 175d
if you're in south american countries. they are similar looking to assassin bugs which are predators instead of bloodsuckers.
TheseusNow@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 176d
I thought they were all kissing bugs. How do you tell them apart.
Zoot@reddthat.com · 4 pts · 176d
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.
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · -6 pts · 176d
I feel like they are the same.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 176d
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.
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 176d
Same, but school playground. Do they turn into the jumpy/flying guys of the same color? I suppose I can look that up since I now know the name of them thanks to this post... lol.
Looks like no, the jumpy bois at least aren't in the pics when you search boxelder bugs. So still I have that mystery! They literally look like the boxelder's next evolution, they get sleek and shaped like a B-2 Stealth Bomber, the colorway/shader is "boxelder" apparently, and they can jump like a son of a bitch, and fly short distances kind of like a chicken.
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 176d
Could it be a kissing bug? I'd never heard of them before, but they were mentioned in this thread and do look a lot like boxelders!
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 176d
Naw, definitely not. They're almost leaf bug shaped but flatter, less long than a boxelder ('bout leaf bug length), black, and a couple red stripes.
Kissing bugs like that one above are longer like the boxelders and still the wrong non-B-2-Bomber shape, too many red stripes in the wrong pattern, and I'm still unclear on their propensity to jump into a short flight like a chicken with pneumatic legs. Still the exact right colors though!
BenLeMan@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 176d
This is me but with stink bugs.
KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 176d
Soapy water kills them quickly if you need to exterminate them. Just don't squish them.
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · 3 pts · 176d
There are so many it's impossible to kill them all that way. My house becomes absolutely caked in them in the spring and fall, and some of them even come into the house.
blackbrook@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 176d
You can get an attachment for your garden hose that would let you spray soapy water over a large area very quickly.
TheSaltyArdvark@feddit.online · 2 pts · 175d
Huh, nice.
Blackfeathr@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 176d
They're related to stinkbugs right? Smell bad when squished? I've never intentionally squished one.
bitchkat@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 176d
My old house got tons of box elders and asian beetles. The side with the most sun would be absolutely caked on sunny fall and spring days. When they got inside, I'd use the vacuum with long extension hoses to suck them up. They have a smell but I would call it stinky -- just kind of old and musty.
KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 176d
Supposedly the release pheromones when squished, which then attracts more of them. Not sure if they are related to stinkbugs!
samus12345@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 176d
bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 176d
They're my friends
Draconic_NEO@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 176d
They are friendly little bugs.
Sv443@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 176d
tell me your house is badly insulated without telling me your house is badly insulated
Blackfeathr@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 176d
Yeah it's over 100 years old and has been through countless owners and tenants lol
Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 176d
Last summer we had thousands on the south facing wall of our house. Will be interesting to see what happens this year.
Blackfeathr@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 176d
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!
BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 176d
Seems like this is your own fault then
starlinguk@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 176d
Leave them alone already.
Blackfeathr@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 176d
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 🤗