I’m a trucker that hauls dry goods and have seen my fair share of bugs throughout the U.S. while traveling. Just recently I’ve encountered these stink bugs inside my truck. At first I noticed them on the outside of my truck crawling around and now I’m finding them in my bed, in my suit case, just different places that they are popping up. I’ve killed one and was able to thump three of them out the truck window. How would I go about getting rid of them in my truck if I believe I have an infestation problem? Thanks.
Stink bugs will readily move onto and then into trucks and cars. Automobiles have a lot of gaps, seams and tight spaces making them perfect for nesting stink bugs. And once they start landing and moving around your vehicle, they’ll be leaving their pheromone “scent” everywhere which in turn will attract more stink bugs to very these same areas. This means as you travel the country, you’ll be picking up more and more stink bug “hitch hikers” from regions with active populations.
The good news is they’re easy to control when found on auto’s. You’ll want to use a product we carry called PHANTOM AEROSOL. This material is odorless and goes on “dry” making it ideal for use on metal and plastic. I have used it in my truck for an ant problem and in just three days, all the ants were dead and the problem resolved. And we’ve helped many people achieve the same results using Phantom on stink bugs and other insect pests in cars so its no doubt the best option for this kind of problem.
Now there are a couple of important things to understand about how Phantom works. First, its not a contact killer. In fact, its pretty much undetectable by insects which means they won’t notice it – even if you spray them directly. But this is by design; hence the name “Phantom” (because they don’t know its present).
So once you treat all the cracks and crevices both inside and outside your truck, let it stand for a good hour or two with the doors open so it can”air” dry. Once treated, you can go back to using it as you always have done in the past.
In the days following the treatment as the stink bugs move over the treated areas, they’ll pick up small amounts of the Phantom which will transfer to their body. Stink bugs like to “group up” when roosting meaning they’ll huddle with 5-10 others over night so just one carrying Phantom will in turn contaminate many others. This will go on for a good 2-3 days after it picks up some Phantom. This means one stink bug can affect 10 or 20 other stink bugs no problem.
The second thing to understand about Phantom is that it takes a good 2-3 days to work. This slow kill action allows the contaminated stink bugs to spread the treatment far and wide before it dies. So in theory, its quite possible for you to have stink bugs dying for a week or two depending on how many were nesting in the truck. This can happen because in some cases it takes this long for the Phantom to transfer to all the stink bugs hiding on the vehicle.
Lastly, since you’ll be on the move and no doubt going through rainy regions of the country, you’ll have to treat a lot more compared to someone that resides in one region who does very little driving. You see, the driving rain will remove and wash away the Phantom so if treat and get 3-4 dry days, great. But if you spend just 30-60 minutes in a rain, the outside residual of Phantom will no doubt wash away. And if you then move to an area with active stinkbugs, retreating the outside of the truck would be in order. Now you won’t have to retreat the inside this frequently but no doubt the engine compartment, wheel wells, door frames, etc. can all become vulnerable after the truck gets hit with a good hard rain so keep this in mind as you drive around the country.
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Phantom Aerosol: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/aerosol/pt-phantom-17-5oz
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