Do Stink Bugs Bite?

Do stink bugs bite? The way these critters look, one could literally imagine that they do. They look like minute reptiles due the “shield-like” appearance of their upper body that appears to have the same texture as that of a reptile. They possess two large antennae and long legs, and if you have ever seen the underbelly of one of these creatures, it might just creep out anything who possesses even a mild case of entomophobia (the fear of insects). If you were to see one of these bugs, you might not hold it past them that they are capable of biting citizen or animals.

But the fact of the matter is that stink bugs do not make it a point to bite humans or animals. They are not such that they are wont to suck the blood of any particular person or animal. They are not even carnivorous. (They are literally vegetarians. They feed primarily off of fruits and vegetables.)

stink bugs do possess a proboscis (a needle-like appendage that protrudes from the front of an insect) that serves as their mouths. The proboscis is used for piercing the skin of their food, be it an apple, a pear, a grape, or any other type of fruit for example, and then sucking the juice out of the fruit in order to consume it.

But that is all that the proboscis is used for. It is used for piercing food in order to consume it. It is not used in order to bite human beings or animals. There is a any way a great deal of conflicting data on the Internet as to either or not these bugs do literally bite or not.

On one hand, you will find that there are many citizen posting in the conference forums online that they swear by the fact that these bugs can and do bite, because they supposedly have literally been bitten by one (or at least by what they opinion was a stink bugs rely on the emanation of a repulsive stench as their self-defense mechanism against predators. There has been no evidence to indicate that they bite their predators in self-defense or that they bite any other would-be prey (they have none, since they are herbivorous creatures). Instead, they rely solely on this stench in order to drive away potential threats. (Hence, the name “stink bug.)

Of course, if you do administrate to come into close sense with a stink bug and trap it in a angle where it is unable to flee and fly away, and you were to harass it to the point where even after releasing its trademark odor, you stand your ground firm and continue to threaten it, it may very well reflexively react and seek to bite you as a last resort in order to effort to drive you away.

If you do imagine that you have been bitten by a stink bug, you should seek to treat it right away. You will know that you have been bitten by one if you start to feel irritation on the part of the skin where the stink bug had come in sense with you and the area starts to swell. While a bite from one of these bugs may not be life threatening, it is something that requires prompt attention, as any other insect bite would.

Do stink bugs bite? Not unless their foul odor is not driving away their perceived threat and they are being physically threatened. There are many easy ways to thwart their threat and kill them without ever feeling that you were under any threat of being bit. You can use a vacuum to suck them up, you can set up stink bug traps, and you can safeguard your home against the invasion of stink bugs from the outside.