Edited because I don't mean your toothbrush (ew, sorry), I mean like aphids on your houseplants or something?

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
The less comforting thing to say, which I only say because I've never heard of the annual ladybugfest, is if they're there in quantity is it because they have a food source?

Edited because I don't mean your toothbrush (ew, sorry), I mean like aphids on your houseplants or something?

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We don't actually HAVE any houseplants, because we promptly kill any that we buy... I think they might be coming in from the plants that are right outside the windows and trying to hide from the cold.

First - let me say - I'm not a bug hater.
I've completely adjusted to the nice little spider that lives on the ceiling in the entranceway. We've made peace. We have a deal. He stays over there and I don't kill him.

However - I have to draw a line at any pest that enters the kitchen - like yesterday.
I was making chocolate chip cookies to freeze and had just finished up the dough and had moved on to brown bread (very industrious day). I pulled the bag of flour from the cupboard (different flour than I'd used for cookies thankfully) and there were all these teeny tiny little beige-ish bugs on the bag of flour. Barely bigger than a speck of flour- in fact, if they hadn't moved - I never would have known they WEREN'T flour.
Hubby, who I made come upstairs to tell me if I was seeing things - said they were also IN the bag. So we chucked the whole bag. I also chucked the other bag of flour (the cookie flour came from a glass jar - no signs of bug-ness there).

Now - I went & bought new flour today - and came home to find another bag of flour in the cupboard - breadmachine flour. It had this THING in it. Kind of like an inchworm - although much smaller & FAR less cute. (although I doubt an inchworm in my food would be cute).

So - I've put all the new flour in tupperware or glass containers. But - this has me very worried. My parents had these bugs a few years ago that invaded their starch and they had to destroy all of it (pasta, flour, cereal- the works) and freeze everything I think.
Do I have to do that? The offending bags have been removed, as has the garbage bag containing the offending bags of flour.

What ARE these bugs?? They small speck like ones & then the nasty inchwormy thing..

[This message has been edited by breana (edited 10-20-2003).]

I used to see them all the time in Michigan, but not out here, and he had never seen one before.

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Originally posted by pixiestyx:
Is there a new stink bug infestation in Massachusetts or something?? Last weekend my boy & I ran across 4 of these things at his house (including one that somehow made its way inside his rear projection tv to cast a shadow on the screen :P ). Then today I found one in my kitchen.

I used to see them all the time in Michigan, but not out here, and he had never seen one before.

Any suggestions on why they might be coming in & how to get rid them?

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Ack!!! They're everywhere in CT, too! My work is infested with them, and at first I thought it was just that building, but now I'm seeing them **everywhere**! I stopped at the park today, and had to flick 3 off my car before I left. Then I stopped at Subway, and had to flick off two more. Insane!!

ETA that I, like pixiestyx, have never seen stink bugs around these parts before (even though it obviously gets cold every year)...I wonder what's different about this year?

I just saw my first roach ever here at work. Ew.

Okay, here's a question for Breana or anyone else in the know.

In the last few days we've come across several unfamiliar bugs in our house. They're black, and their body is sort of triangle-shaped. They have an orange-red stripe down their back. I don't know if they can fly... I haven't seen them do so, but I don't know that they can't.

What are they?

Edited to add that they are about 3/4" long and maybe 3/8" wide across at the base of the triangle.

The only positive is that there are fewer this time. I really woudn't care if they wanted live in the yard, but they apparently did not get the memo that my house is strictly off limits.

My roommate at the time and I were a bit tipsy when we first noticed it, though, so we named him Sylvester. After that, we'd say hi to him when walking by the frame. Tipsy, sober, didn't matter.

But the ants may have returned. I was making toast this morning & there was an ant crawling on my food processor. It must be a confused ant because the canister of sugar was untouched. So I smushed the stupid ant but then I got all panicked again. I sprayed the house last year, had traps in the house, scoured the cupboards & threw out a lot of questionable items. We've since painted the kitchen etc. I really thought we'd be done with this. And I have NO idea where these ants are coming in from.

Bad bug experience at 4:45 AM this morning. The early return of the dreaded Philly "waterbug" (cockroach). Just sitting there near the bottom hinge of the boy's bathroom door. I made him get up and slay it with his soccer shoe. Strong little bugger actually made a break for it down the hall after the first swat.