A "stink bug" sounds like an insult from a fifth-grader, but it's a real insect posing a real problem to homeowners across the country.
Stink bugs don't sting, bite or carry disease. But they do, um, stink. Badly. And once you notice them in your home — and trust us, you'll notice — it's too late to do a whole lot about them.
Peter Jentsch, an entomologist from Cornell University, gave TODAY Home the scoop on where these smelly pests come from, how they operate and what we can do about them (including a do-it-yourself booby trap for stink-free capture!).
Here to stink up your home!
Jentsch explained that the BMSB (brown marmorated stink bug), which is native to Asia but common across the U.S., goes through population cycles every couple of years. Fluctuations between warm temperatures and plummeting cold in 2015 left stink bug populations unprepared for freezing winter temperatures, causing the population to dwindle.
Now, the survivors are rebounding — hard — particularly in moist, temperate climates like those on the Eastern seaboard and in the Pacific Northwest. After spending spring and summer feasting outdoors, stink bugs seek shelter from the elements — by making their way into homes through cracks, open windows and air-conditioning vents.
They tend to gravitate toward homes with a heavy tree canopy, and hang out on the upper floors. So if you spot flat brown bugs crawling along your bedroom ceiling or flitting around your attic — or catch a whiff of something fruity and foul — it's officially time to panic.