CLOSED: Please ID & tell how to get rid of

Hi everyone,

I hope you can help me. I've seen these bugs before and only ever heard them called "Halloween bugs," because they're orange & black and are usually around in the autumn. Last autumn, I had a pumpkin vine growing and they were all over. I mean TONS of them. They didn't seem to harm any plants (they were mostly on already decaying material, like the compost heap and dead logs), but there were just SO MANY of them. I hate bugs and am afraid of them. Well, I thought they'd die off in the winter. They did, but now they're back and covering my garage! My main flower bed is next to the garage and I'm afraid to garden in it, with all these hoards of bugs around, HELP! What are they and how do I get rid of them?! Any insecticide I'd spray on them would run off into the soil and I'm afraid that might harm the plants. What can I do to get rid of them?!

I thought they might be either the Small Milkweed Bugs Lygaeus kalmii or the Large Milkweed Bugs Oncopeltus fasciatus, but now I'm not so sure. There are no milkweeds around me, anyway. I think they're from the Order Hemiptera, that's all I can tell so far. It's odd because they change colors & markings as they mature. I'll post pix of 3 stages of development. I may not need to know what they are in order to get rid of them, but I'm curious. Help?

~Kristy

Here's what the look like when they're mature and heard them referred to as "Halloween bugs."

And here is one in the in-between, teenager stage.

And this is what the babies look like.

I think it's an Eastern Boxelder Bug, a scent-less plant bug.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/3598

There are an awful lot of similar looking bugs, but this one has a distinctive short stripe between the shoulders, and its Latin name Boisea trivittata means three striped. It's not a serious pest, so I agree about the pesticide, I wouldn't bother.

And here's his Bug Files page:

http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/614/

It would be great if you added your pictures, they're sharp and show a few different stages.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 7:57 PM

Thanks so much, claypa, I think you nailed it! I agree that there are many that look very similar, but the pix on that bug guide link you gave me had some great close-ups. And I'm positive that's what they are now. Especially cause it says they lay eggs in rotting logs and the crevices of buildings. Well, since they don't harm anything, I guess I can spray them off the garage with water or something. Thanks again!

~Kristy... off to put her pix in BugFiles.

Alright, YW! Did you notice that link even compares them to what you thought they might be? So you were pretty close. I was thinking that if I had hundreds of bugs all over the house or one tree, I'd get out the shop vac and use it as a blower. Some vacs reverse that way pretty easily.

When I used to live out in Iowa, a warm spring day would bring out enough boxelder beetles to cover the side of the house I lived in. I didn't mind that, but the landlord hadn't bothered replacing the windows in decades and there were many crevices for them to work their way into the house. Once inside, they were harmless till they'd die, then they'd stink like nobody's business. We learned that the hard way after vacuuming up a bunch.

Anyhow, best non-toxic way we found to get rid of them was to mix about 1/4 dish soap with 3/4 water and spray them when they're swarming. Ends up making a good excuse to clean the windows after the winter (and the box elder beetle mess), too.