COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – As temperatures drop in Ohio and insects seek shelter from the cold, many residents end up hosting unwelcome house guests.
Joe Boggs, an assistant professor with the Ohio State University Department of Entomology, said boxelder bugs, brown marmorated stink bugs, Asian lady beetles and western conifer seed bugs are among “fall home invaders.”
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“What they’re looking for is basically to get to a place in our homes where it is just warm, not frozen, and not too hot,” Boggs told NBC4. “That would be like, for example, in between the walls, or around window casings, or door jambs, sometimes in attics.”
Boggs said when the pests end up inside a home, it is a “total accident,” which can result in them dying of starvation. The bugs feed heavily in the fall to build up fat for the winter. Their metabolism is tied directly to the temperature, so the colder it is, the slower they burn fat and the warmer it is, the faster they burn fat, according to Boggs…