Why Are There So Many Boxelder Bugs Around My Home?

Boxelder bug crawling on a rocky terrain - Keep Boxelder bugs away from your home with Griffin Pest Solutions

Boxelder bugs congregate near homes to stay warm, seek shelter, and remain close to food. They’re attracted to sunny, heat-reflecting surfaces like windows, concrete, and homes with southern or western exposure. Boxelders also tend to stay close to their food sources: acer trees such as boxelder, maple, and ash trees.

If you feel like you’re seeing boxelders constantly this summer, it’s probably not just you. Boxelder bugs really are more attracted to some homes than others. Unfortunately, the more attracted boxelders are to your home, the more likely you’ll have to deal with them all year. Unless you do something about it! Here’s what you should know about the boxelders attracted to your home, including how to keep them away. 

What are boxelder bugs?

Boxelder bugs, or Boisea trivittata, are a species of true bug native to North America. They’re ½” long with black bodies, dark red eyes, and distinctive red markings on their abdomens and wings. Seeds from trees in the acer genus, including maple, ash, and boxelder trees are boxelder bug’s primary food source.

Boxelder bugs are considered “nuisance pests” because they’re not dangerous and can’t inflict serious damage to the plants they feed on. Boxelder bugs typically annoy or disturb homeowners by congregating near or on homes in large numbers. They may also secrete a foul-smelling, yellowish liquid when frightened or crushed. If they secrete a large amount of this liquid, it could stain nearby surfaces. 

Boxelder seeds on a boxelder tree

Why are boxelder bugs here now?

Starting in mid-spring, boxelder bugs re-emerge from their overwintering sites. Boxelder bugs are very temperature sensitive, and upon awakening, they’re usually lethargic and cold. To order to warm themselves up and regain their energy, boxelders seek out heat-reflective surfaces. During spring, you may see large concentrations of boxelders congregating around sunny places such as windows or porches.

By summer, boxelders are seeking mates and food. To find both, they’ll seek out other boxelders around food sources such as acer trees. When boxelders congregate, they release a pheromone that attracts more boxelders to their location. These boxelders eat, mate, and lay eggs on or near their food sources.

What do boxelder bugs want?

During the summer, boxelder bugs are primarily looking for mates and food. They’ll typically leave their usual sunning places in favor of food sources. During summer, you may find congregations of boxelder bugs clustered around the lower trunks of acer trees. These bugs feed on the seeds falling from the branches and lay eggs on the trunk and leaves.

Boxelders are slightly less common around homes during the summer, but they’re not unheard of. You may continue to see boxelder congregations around your home all summer, especially if there are acer trees nearby. Boxelders also like to sun themselves to warm back up after cloudy weather or rainfall. The more you see boxelders during summer, the more likely they’ll attempt to overwinter near you in fall.

Boxelder bug on a hardwood floor

Why are boxelder bugs around my home?

If you’re seeing boxelders around your home constantly, it’s probably because they’re getting food nearby. Boxelders feed almost exclusively on the seeds of boxelder, maple, and ash trees. Once they find a good food source, they’ll spend all summer feeding off of it and mating nearby. Boxelders lay eggs near food sources, usually on trunks, branches, and leaves.

Boxelder bugs are also naturally attracted to warm, sheltered areas, which may bring them closer to you. Homes with southern or western exposure tend to deal with more boxelders than most, because the sun shines on those homes longer every day. Tall buildings and structures with many large glass windows also tend to attract boxelders. If you find boxelders near your home, you’ll probably see them on garden level windows, porches, decks, or sidewalks.

What can I do about all of these boxelders?

The most effective way to avoid dealing with boxelders is to remove the boxelder tree from your property. You probably don’t want to do that, however, so follow these alternative tips instead. First, don’t crush the boxelders you find. Smashing the bugs will only release the foul-smelling liquid they also release when threatened. This liquid contains pheromones other boxelders find attractive. In other words, killing boxelders will only attract more boxelders to you.

Instead of killing them, vacuum up the boxelders you find and throw out the bag when you’re finished. Wipe down the surfaces where boxelders congregate with soapy water to remove the pheromone they secrete. Mow your lawn frequently to pick up fallen acer seeds as much as possible and deprive the bugs of their food source. To prepare for fall, you should also look for signs of gaps or cracks near areas where the bugs congregate. Patch up any gaps you find with weatherproofing or caulk.

 

If you’ve tried all of this and still have a boxelder bug problem, don’t give up hope! You can always get in touch with Griffin Pest Solutions. Our experts have the tools and know how to remove your boxelder problem this summer… before they move in with you this fall!

4 Fall Projects for Keeping Boxelder Bugs Away

Swarm of boxelder bugs on wood

Fall is prime time for boxelder bugs, as they try to sneak into your home to escape the winter. Every year, they show up in literal droves, congregating on warm surfaces and sneaking through tiny gaps. Unfortunately, their prevalence, tiny size, and flat bodies make boxelders a particularly common indoor infiltrator. Fortunately, they’re not nearly as difficult to keep out if you know how.

Boxelders use the same old tricks to get inside homes every year. They rely on worn-out defenses, tiny gaps, and neglected weatherproofing. If you can brush up on your home’s anti-pest defenses this fall, you’ll deprive boxelders of these tired tricks. Here are four easy projects that will seriously help keep boxelders–and other pests!–away this fall.

Install Door Sweeps

A door sweep is a long strip of rubber or plastic that’s attached to a thin metal plank. Door sweeps essentially block the small gap between a door and its threshold without impeding the door’s function. When you shut the door, the long strip pushes into the threshold gap. As you open the door, you push the strip away from the gap. Installing door sweeps helps keep doors energy efficient. They also help with pests like boxelders.

Boxelder bugs are surprisingly flat insects. They can fit through or (in this case) under smaller gaps than you’d expect. Often, boxelders squeeze beneath the threshold of exterior doors to get into your home. Installing door sweeps on exterior doors is a particularly easy way to prevent that. All you have to do is measure the width of each door and buy sweeps in corresponding sizes. Installing your sweeps is easy too; all you’ll need is a drill and the sweep’s instructions.

Weatherstripping

Replace Weatherstripping

Weatherstripping is material (rubber, plastic, vinyl, tape, etc.) used to seal gaps between windows or doors and their frames. All of your home’s window and door frames probably have it, even if you don’t know it’s there. Weatherstripping compresses when the window or door closes, sealing off the gap between the moving parts and the frames. If it’s working correctly, weatherstripping completely seals the window or door when closed, leaving no gap whatsoever.

Over time, weatherstripping naturally wears away. Weather and cold beat it down, and opening and shutting doors can damage it. When weatherstripping wears out, it can no longer create a perfect seal around windows or doors. Boxelders can use openings between weatherstripping and frames to get inside. Check on the weatherstripping around your doors and windows. If it comes off easily or looks worn, replace it. Sealing your window and door frames is one of the best ways you can keep all pests out.

Seal Off Utility Lines

By utility lines, we mean plumbing pipes, gas lines, electrical wiring–any infrastructure that enters your home from outside. There are small openings all around your home where these important utility lines enter it. Unfortunately, sometimes those openings aren’t small enough. Often, pests like boxelder bugs will follow a pipe or electrical wire straight through these small gaps. From there, they could end up in the walls, the insulation, or even in your basement or attic.

It’s a good idea to know where all of your utilities enter your home. Look for plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling, and gas lines both inside and outside. If the gap between a pipe or wire and the wall looks too wide, it is. Remember: boxelders can fit through the tiniest gaps you can see. Use some heavy-duty caulk to seal up gaps around your utility lines. Rodents and other pests love following pipes inside, too, so you’ll be pest-proofing for more than just boxelders.

Garage door seal

Replace the Garage Door Seal

A garage door seal is basically weatherstripping for your garage door. The seals are long strips of (usually) rubber that fit across the entire underside of the door. When you close the garage door, they compress into the ground, forming a complete seal between the door and ground. There are also seals on the sides and top of most garage doors. When it’s working correctly, garage door seals prevent pests from sliding beneath the door and into your garage.

Garage door seals wear out about as quickly as other weatherstripping, and for the same reasons. Luckily, they’re also about as easy to replace. If you have your garage door’s instruction manual, look up info on the seal inside of it. If you don’t, just measure the length and width of your door. You can install garage door seals yourself, or have a professional garage door installer put it on for you.

It’s tough to keep from seeing boxelder bugs this fall. If there’s an acer tree near your property, it’s hard not to see them everywhere. Just because they’re everywhere doesn’t mean they have to be in your home, however. By performing a little maintenance like the projects listed here, you can keep boxelders out this fall and beyond.

If it turns out you need a little help keeping boxelders at bay this fall, give Griffin a call. We can make sure boxelders–or any other pests, for that matter–don’t bug you this fall.

Boxelder Bugs in Spring

Boxelder bugs in spring

When is it not boxelder season? It seems like these gross red-and-black bugs are everywhere, all the time. Around this time of year, however, you may notice they’re around even more than usual. Boxelders wake up and start moving around starting in early spring. Unfortunately, they often wake up and start moving around in your home.

But why are boxelders around your home so much this spring? Where are they coming from? What do they want? Most importantly, how can you get them to go away? Here’s everything you need to know about boxelder bugs in spring.

What they are

What boxelders bugs areEven if you don’t know boxelder bugs by name, you almost certainly know them by sight. These bugs are extremely common in the fall and spring, when they swarm around windows, porches, and door frames. Boxelder bugs are a type of “true bug” in the Hemiptera order, similar to stink bugs. Like stink bugs, they can also release a foul-smelling scent if threatened or crushed. Despite these similarities, however, boxelder bugs are not considered stink bugs.

Boxelder bugs have .5 inch long black bodies with distinctive bright red or orange ‘X’-shaped markings on their backs. They tend to congregate on warm, heat-reflecting surfaces such as windows or porches in large groups. Boxelder bugs feed almost exclusively on the flowers, leaves, and seeds of boxelder trees. These bugs enter reproductive season in mid-spring or early summer, shortly after re-emerging from winter hiding places. Homes with southern or western exposure might be particularly attractive to boxelder bugs.

Why they’re back

why boxelders return in springLike stink bugs, boxelder bugs never really leave Michigan. Instead, they overwinter in hidden, secluded places where they can survive the cold. Boxelders survive winter temperatures by bunching together and squeezing into tight nooks and crannies. They seek out warm, dark places where they can remain unnoticed and dormant for months at a time. Unlike stink bugs, they don’t fully enter diapause. During warm enough winter days, boxelders may temporarily re-emerge.

Boxelder bugs re-emerge from their winter hiding places as soon as they can survive outdoor temperatures. In other words, the boxelders you find in your home in spring were probably there all winter. Boxelders are very temperature-sensitive and crave warmth, so they’re commonly found around sunny windows and reflective surfaces. The bugs congregate in large swarms in order to keep one another warm and exchange information via pheromones. These swarms may sometimes get trapped or lost inside homes as they try to find their way out.  

What they want

what boxelder bugs wantWhen boxelder bugs re-emerge from the overwintering sites, their top priority is food. Remaining inactive for long periods is very taxing to boxelder bugs, so they need to recharge quickly. During this period, adult boxelders are usually encountered on the ground, where they eat low vegetation and fallen seeds. Boxelders seek out female acer trees for their plentiful fallen seeds and flowers. Boxelders don’t begin mating until they’ve acquired enough energy from feeding, which can take weeks.

Once boxelder bugs find their way outside and acquire sufficient energy, they usually move to a nearby acer tree outside. From there, they lay eggs, eat, and prepare to begin the whole cycle again. Like stink bugs, boxelder bugs do not eat, mate, or reproduce indoors. They only enter buildings in order to stay warm, and they’re only interested in leaving come spring. Boxelders aren’t dangerous, but their stench and sheer number can make them a serious nuisance.

What you can do

what you can do to prevent boxelder bugsThe most important thing to remember about boxelders control is that when they die, their bodies attract other pests. Don’t kill the boxelders you encounter in your home, especially if they’re in your walls. Instead, vacuum or sweep up the boxelders you encounter and dispose of them outdoors. You could also use soapy water to kill the boxelders, as long as you remove the bodies after they die. Scrub down any areas where boxelders congregated with soapy water, too.

After you’ve cleared out the existing boxelders, you have some time to make sure they don’t come back. Boxelders won’t try getting back into your home until early fall, when they need to overwinter again. Before this happens, try to find and seal off the ways they get in. Boxelders usually find cracks and crevices near window sills, door frames, and baseboards. Use caulk to re-seal these openings, and you should be able to keep boxelders from getting in next season.

 

Don’t beat yourself up for having boxelders in your home this spring. Those little pests are as tricky and resourceful as they are smelly. There’s a reason there are so many of them.

If you need a little help beating back your black-and-red nemesis, don’t hesitate to give Griffin a call today. We can drive the bugs out, seal up your home, and make sure you get back to enjoying your spring.