You may already know that boxelder bug is one of the North American species of true bugs.
Primarily, they are found on the boxelder trees, and also on the ash trees & maple trees.
But, what about baby boxelder bugs?
What do they look like?
Are they similar to the adult bugs or not?
In this article, I’ll try to answer such questions.
So, let’s get started.
Identifying a Baby Boxelder Bug
When these bugs grow fully, they are about ½ inches long, and nearly 1/3 inches wide.
These adult bugs have three red lines on the thorax and some fine red lines on their every wing.
They are mostly black in color, while the abdomen is red.
When the bug is at rest, then the wings will lie flat on its back.
Initially, their eggs are yellow in color, but the color changes to red when the nymphs start to develop inside of the egg.
After the eggs hatch, the baby box elder bugs or the nymphs are bright red in color, and when the approach to the adulthood they gain black color with markings on their wings as well.
What Do Baby Boxelder Bugs Look Like
The adult bugs lay their eggs on the leaves or inside the host trees.
The eggs are red or reddish brown in color and oval shaped. The reddish color of the eggs gives them an advantage, and these eggs look similar to the trees, and they just blend in. This gives them protection against their predators.
After a few days, their eggs hatch, and bright red colored nymphs come out. These are baby boxelder bugs.
These baby boxelder bugs are similar to the adults. The only difference between the baby and adult boxelder bug is of their size.
During the summer, these baby bugs turn into adults.
When it comes to eating, they feed on the plant tissues like leaves, fresh twigs, and flowers. They also have the ability to extract the liquids from the host trees.
Extracting liquid from the host plants by the box elder bugs doesn’t cause any major damage to the plants and trees, but if a large population of these bugs attacks, then they’re able to cause severe damage to the trees.
How to Control Baby Boxelder Bugs
There can be several techniques that can be used to control baby boxelder bugs and the adults.
A few of them are listed below.
- Seal the window frames, keep the doors shut, fill the cracks and crevices in your house. Also, make sure that the doors are weather stripped and doesn’t leave any space at the bottom of where they can enter your house.
- Repair the nearby trees like any loose bark of a tree.
- Eliminate the debris, wood piles, and other things that can help them to hide and survive the winter.
- Generally, you can find these bugs in clusters on the sunny side of the trees or houses. By spraying them hard with a garden hose can be signal to them that they should find a different place to rest.
- You can also use some commercial insecticides for killing these pests.
- Hot water of around 160 to 180-degree Fahrenheit can kill these bugs but while using such hot temperature you have to be very careful. This high temperature can also burn your garden sprayer.
Dealing with Pests in Corona Virus Pandemic
If the pest infestation is severe in your home, then it’s wise to take the help of Pest Control Companies because due to Corona Virus pandemic all the major retailers are focusing on delivering essential household things.
Therefore, if you’re thinking about buying a pesticide online, then it may take a much longer time to arrive than expected.
Hiring a Pest Control company is not expensive every time. By filling this form, you’ll get the exact free quotes from the top local exterminators.
Believe me, it’s not that expensive.
At least, you’ll know, how cost-effective it can be to hire a Pest Control company for your little home.
The choice is yours.
Getting quotes from multiple Pest Control Companies (which is free), then decide, hire one or not.
Or, buy a pesticide, and wait for the next many days under the pest infestation, frustrating about the late delivery because they can’t deliver your product in the next one or two days.
So, this was the information about the baby boxelder bugs.
You can find these baby box elder bugs on the box elder trees where they were feeding and growing big.
I hope that you had found some helpful information in this article.