Illinois’ Box Elder Bugs Are Back–Here’s What To Know About Them

As I sit in my office writing this, I'm being watched.

Not by coworkers, management, or surveillance cameras, but by 3 small, black and red colored bugs that are hanging around the ceiling light fixtures. Normally, we find them in abundance on the west side of our building where they can bask in the warm sun, but these three, along with several dozen others have already come inside to...I don't know...annoy us.

So, what exactly are box elder bugs, and what do you do about them if you find that they're hanging around your place, too?

Why Are They Hanging Around? What Do They Eat? Are They Venomous? Do They Bite? Should I Squish Them? Why Do I Have Them If I've Got No Box Elder Trees?

Wow. You've got lots of questions (I guess I'm actually the one with questions, since I wrote that), so let's get to some of the pertinent answers:

• They're hanging around because when temperatures begin to cool in the fall, they will start to seek out warmer areas. They are most often attracted to buildings with large southern or western exposures because they are warmer than the surrounding area. They are looking cracks and other spaces to squeeze into, and will occasionally make their way indoors until warm weather returns.
• You don't have to have a box elder tree to have box elder bugs. For food, they sometimes feed on maple or ash trees, too. So, no box elder tree---no problem for the bugs.

• They're not venomous at all. A couple of sources I checked said that they can bite "defensively," but other sources say they do not bite at all. The biggest problem box elder bugs can give you is that their poop can stain light-colored surfaces.
• Don't squish them, because they will emit a foul odor, and cause a big stain on whatever you've smashed them on. Your best move is to vacuum them up.
• Once boxelder bugs are in your house, they're relatively good guests, as they don't eat anything, and they don't reproduce inside your home (which is a lot more than I can say about many houseguests we've had over the years).