Last fall, I told you guys about our little problem with Stink Bugs. The little stinkers (no pun intended) were popping up all over the place and just grossing us out. Then the winter came and they went into hiding.
Fast forward to spring and the reunion began, this time in even greater numbers. We were seeing about 5 or 6 Stink Bugs a day easy. Good thing they’re super slow once they land so they’re easy to kill. But even so, this infestation was getting out of hand. Allie decided to take matters into her own hands and truly fight these guys tooth and nail. So she turned to Amazon.com for help.
No, she didn’t buy any “How to Get Rid of Stink Bugs” books. Instead, she bought, well… Praying Mantis Egg Cases. On Amazon. Yep, you can apparently purchase anything on Amazon from tiny Hellman’s Mayonnaise Packets to genuine Praying Mantis Egg Cases. See, the Praying Mantis will eat just about every bug, except ladybugs (which are good for your garden!). But they especially love them some Stink Bugs!
The kids freaked out when the Egg Cases showed up, despite being in a sealed bag and looking kind of like a brownish cotton ball. To be honest, I was kinda freaked out myself. But the animal lover I married had no qualms about placing these guys all around the yard, in hopes that they’d birth some hungry praying mantis’ just dying to get their jaws on some juicy stinky bugs.
So we waited. And waited. And waited. And… well, nothing happened. We never saw any baby Praying Mantis’ running around, enjoying a Stink Bug Buffet.
And then recently, we both started noticing that the house was rather quiet. We were no longer getting half a dozen Stink Bugs flying around. Maybe 1 or 2 every few days and that was it. Interesting.
This week, Allie was outside waiting for Ryan to come home from camp when she spotted this guy on the rocking chair on our deck!
Success! A baby Praying Mantis!
And then today, I was sitting in my home office just doing some work. I happened to look over by the window and saw this huge bugger right above it!
That picture doesn’t do it justice. (Especially since it’s so insanely blurry.) On an unrelated note, are Praying Mantises creepy or what?
I knew I had to get him outside, but how?!?
My Batman-like reflexes kicked into high gear. I emptied my small wastebasket, grabbed a magazine and gently nudged him into the can. Then I casually sauntered ran like a 6-year-old girl screaming down the stairs, kicked the screen door open and set him free on our deck! He immediately ran to the side and started climbing up our gutter. Whew.
I saved his life and now he can return the favor by eating my body weight in Stink Bugs.
That’s amazing that you could get the mantis from Amazon to take care of your stink bugs.
I’m not to fond of them stink bugs either but they invaded my garden last year. This year they are worse and all over. On a side not I love praying mantis and freaked out by them at the same time.
Personally I really don’t like bugs of any kind. You guys are brave for even buy egg cases I don’t think I could handle them.
We have problems with them too. I did not know the mantises would go after them. Good to know.
Yeah, I didn’t believe it’d work but it really seems to have worked so far. We’ve seen like 1 stink bug in the past few weeks!
Ok, hold on, let me stop laughing 🙂 Very descriptive post, I’m glad that you’re winning the battle (or at least your tiny green minions are), we don’t have a stink bug issue where I live but we do have Praying Mantis and one time on a mountain bike ride one flew right into my mouth. Lucky for the mantis (and me) I didn’t crunch it and safely extracted it. I then proceeded to have the heebie jeebies for days. I feel your pain and hope the summer continues to keep getting better!
The baby praying mantis was so cute! It kept moving its head from side to side. I know they bite so I stayed away. I am so happy my egg cases actually hatched. Too bad I didn’t get to see the big one in Andrew’s office.
I sure loved this blog post and how to get rid of stink bugs. I do not have these where I live. But that is so awesome that you got the Praying Mantis and they are eating the Stink bugs. I hate bugs of any sort!