# What is this bug? My firewood is infested.



## Highbeam (Jan 23, 2013)

I have very dry wood but it all comes from wet areas so it is alder, willow, red cedar, and the occasional fir or cottonwood.

I only have one bug that I can't seem to kill. It lives in cracks and in the bark of my firewood. I never see it burrowing, flying, biting, or crawling around except under the bark of my firewood. When I bring in an armload to burn, one or two of them will always fall off and scurry around. These bugs are not active. The colony has been in my stacks for years and I never see them on new wood.

What the heck is it? They are only about 3/8" long.

For your help, a homebrew red ale.


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## Ehouse (Jan 23, 2013)

Take a closer pic.  Can't tell if its hymenoptera, hemiptera, or coleoptera.


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## Highbeam (Jan 23, 2013)

That's as close as my technology would allow, about 4 inches. Lots of photos were deleted to get that one. The bottom left bug is a smashed and twisted character so you can see his belly. They don't fly, no wings when I smash them.

I'll research those three names. Oh, those are orders. I'm thinking coleoptera (beetle)


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## Highbeam (Jan 23, 2013)

Here's closer but slightly blurred. At the limit of the lense.


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## Ehouse (Jan 23, 2013)

Hymenoptera=bees, wasps, ants. Hemiptera=true bugs. The one on the left looks waspish or antish (head, thorax, abdomen clearly visible). The one in the middle looks buggy (does it have an x on its back or a shell?). The one on the right looks like Bugs Bunny (Eeah...., what's up wit dat, Doc?).  If really no wings I'd say ants.


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## JustWood (Jan 23, 2013)

Stink bugs .


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## Highbeam (Jan 23, 2013)

Totally un-antlike. Non-segmented and more like a cockroach with a huge butt section. All bugs in the photo are the same and the left one was smashed as I opened the crack so he's not a very good representation, in fact in the first photo he's fully twited so what looks like the top of his butt is really his belly. They don't have a hangy face like a grasshopper and certainly don't crawl like ants.

I'll smash one better and try and pry the butt into wings.


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## bmblank (Jan 23, 2013)

I would have said sink bug also, but they have huge horse faces, so i would call that hangy face..


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## Beetle-Kill (Jan 23, 2013)

Cover them in chocolate and store until Halloween.


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## Hearth Mistress (Jan 23, 2013)

I can't tell from your photos but This is a stink bug. You will know right away if it is indeed a stink bug, if you touch it or squash it stinks, really, stench like no other smell, and it will only attract more. They sell traps if you want to control them.


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## Mrs. Krabappel (Jan 24, 2013)

It's a wood borer (a beetle).   There are many different species.


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## Ehouse (Jan 24, 2013)

Notice the (X) on the back of the stink bug.  Beetle will have 2 wing covers (elytra) with a dividing line down the middle.


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## Highbeam (Jan 24, 2013)

I regularly smash them with my palm and have never noticed a smell. The bugs are also not wide like that stink bug photo but narrow and long. My eyes don't work so well up really close like this.

Are wood borer beetles a risk for my home?


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## Ehouse (Jan 24, 2013)

Google "old house borer" and you'll get a wiki and some pics.  Maybe not a good critter to have in your house.


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## Highbeam (Jan 25, 2013)

The color makes it different than the "old house borer", it is not black or shiny but generally looks similar to that critter. I found one of the bugs last night and tried to nicely kill it and take it apart. It has no obvious segments to its body like an ant. I don't think it even has a neck or waist. The face is not long or horselike, eyes are so small that I can't see them. Antennaes bent and segmented. I was able to peel off a winglike layer from the back that covered half of his back. Looked more like a split shell than a wing.

I am pretty willing to call it a wood borer of some sort. Any recommendations on extermination methods?


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## semipro (Jan 25, 2013)

Highbeam said:


> I regularly smash them with my palm and have never noticed a smell. The bugs are also not wide like that stink bug photo but narrow and long.


Yeah, what you show is not the stink bug that's invading the U.S. (brown marmorated).  Unfortunately, I can recognize those things instantly.


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## Highbeam (Jan 25, 2013)

semipro said:


> Yeah, what you show is not the stink bug that's invading the U.S. (brown marmorated). Unfortunately, I can recognize those things instantly.


 
You know I about inhaled the bug last night after smashing it to be sure that it had no stink.

You read about these wood borers and they can be grubs for 30 years eating your wood before emerging as adult beetles where they die within a couple of weeks. All I see are beetles.

I plan to agressively poison the woodpile since I do not want to encourage such an animal to take up residence in my home!


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## semipro (Jan 25, 2013)

You might want to consider trying diatomaceous earth or boric acid for treatment.


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## Dtunes (Jan 26, 2013)

I think it's "*dirt-colored seed bug - *_*Rhyparochromus vulgaris"  *_They're found in WA.

Check out: http://bugguide.net/node/view/58997 

If it doesn't look quite the same, try backing out to a higher level of order and clicking around until you find the right species. It's a pretty cool web page for identifying insects. I know nothing about the bug though or if it should cause concern.


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## Highbeam (Jan 26, 2013)

Dtunes said:


> I think it's "*dirt-colored seed bug - *_*Rhyparochromus vulgaris" *_They're found in WA.
> 
> Check out: http://bugguide.net/node/view/58997
> 
> If it doesn't look quite the same, try backing out to a higher level of order and clicking around until you find the right species. It's a pretty cool web page for identifying insects. I know nothing about the bug though or if it should cause concern.


 

Wow! I think that's it. I'll have to find another and compare to the photos. I did enough clicking around to find that it is supposed to br 7-7.5mm which is just right for size.

I would very much prefer a seed bug to a wood borer around my old wooden home!


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## JoeyD (Jan 27, 2013)

The more homebrews you drink the better those little buggers will look you know, you may even see them more clearly. I just bottled a Belgian harvest ale today.


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## Highbeam (Jan 28, 2013)

I thought it was just the beer at first but then they kept showing up. So happy to get this mystery solved. Nobody likes the idea of their home being eaten.


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## Retired Guy (Jan 28, 2013)

Good site for pest ID


http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Questions/What is this pest.htm#.UQazb2cpf3w


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## save$ (Jan 28, 2013)

Put a few in a plastic zip lock bag and take them to your extension service.  They will tell you what you are dealing with.


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## Dtunes (Jan 28, 2013)

Retired Guy said:


> Good site for pest ID
> 
> 
> http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Questions/What is this pest.htm#.UQazb2cpf3w


 
Just spent an hour looking at the pest id requests. I'm probably just a nerd but I found it very interesting.  I saw some bugs I've seen my whole life and always wondered what they were called.


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## loadstarken (Jan 29, 2013)

We have them up here also on the wood pile and I never knew what they were either but I fogged the crap out of my wood stacks with diatomaceous earth.
I bought a 50lb bag of it at the local feed store to control bugs in the garden and hop beds so I figured i'd give it a try on the wood stacks!

I have seen a bunch of dead ones here and there but as slow as they move they might just be sleeping.

Sweet Manny's glass BTW!


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## StihlHead (Jan 29, 2013)

Those are _boxelder bugs _(Boisea trivittata). In the winter they cling to house siding, wood piles, and just about anything to ride out the cold weather. They occur in lower numbers around many species of maples and ash, but around box elder maple trees they thrive in very high numbers. My ex has a stand of box elders on her property and the bugs are always piled high and deep on and around her house in the fall and winter months. They were also common on the vine and big leaf maples there. I had them on my native California maple trees in the SF Bay Area, and they are here on my Japanese maples as well (but in low numbers). They eat mainly maple seeds. They do not bore into wood or eat wood, and are not a threat to your house. They can be a PITA though, and pile up around windows and under eves and gutters. I sucked them up with a shop vac on cold days when they were inactive in winter.


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## Highbeam (Jan 29, 2013)

http://www.cirrusimage.com/bugs_box_elder.htm

I don't think that these bugs are boxelder. Not red at all.

Good eye seeing the manny's label. One of my favorite breweries.


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