Cleaning your yard, ensuring that there is no wood, leaf, or vegetation litter helps eliminate potential insect harboring locations, as well as drive assassin bugs away. Turning off the lights at night, especially in patios or outside, is the most excellent approach to keep Assassin Bugs away.
Assassin bugs are a type of insect that has slowly grown in popularity in homes and businesses. According to the species, they have various appearances, but they all have an elongated head, long skinny legs, and a piercing mouthpart that they use to attack their victims.
They are frequently seen in gardens, where they eat a variety of insects. On the other hand, Assassin Bugs may easily penetrate a home in quest of dark, hidden regions that are cool. They may establish up camp in your yard if insects are abundant, and due to their love for lights, they may enter your home.
Assassin Bugs can cause allergic reactions with their venomous bites. In addition, kissing Bugs, a type of Assassin Bug, have been linked to the transmission of a parasite that causes Chagas disease, a potentially fatal sickness in humans. As a result, if you’ve detected Assassin Bugs in or around your home, it’s critical to implement a control program.
What Are Assassin Bugs?
Contents
- 1 What Are Assassin Bugs?
- 2 How To Identify Assassin Bugs?
- 3 Life Cycle
- 4 How To Get Rid Of Assassin Bugs Naturally?
- 5 How To Prevent Assassin Bugs From Reinvesting Your Property?
- 6 Can Assassin Bugs Fly?
- 7 Are Assassin Bugs And Kissing Bugs The Same?
- 8 Are Assassin Bugs Harmful To Humans?
- 9 What Plants Do Assassin Bugs Eat?
- 10 Are Assassin Bugs Good For A Garden?
- 11 Final Words
The predatory insects known as assassin bugs (family Reduviidae) are beneficial to gardeners. They are capable of catching and eating a wide range of prey, including other bugs, bees, flies, and caterpillars. With a swift stab of the assassin bug’s long mouthparts, prey is seized. The prey’s body fluids are sucked via the assassin bug’s soda straw-like mouthparts after being paralyzed by a paralyzing toxin.
How To Identify Assassin Bugs?
The beak is curved and rests in a groove between the front legs, a distinguishing feature of the family. While most assassin bugs are black or dark brown, several species are vividly colored.
Life Cycle
Assassin bugs, like other Hemipterans, go through three phases of development: nymph, egg, adult on plants, the female deposits clusters of eggs. Then, in around two months, wingless nymphs hatch from the eggs and molt many times before reaching adulthood.
How To Get Rid Of Assassin Bugs Naturally?
To avoid being bitten, try this all-natural repellent that you can apply to your clothing and skin.
Insect Repellent With Lemon Eucalyptus
Ingredients:
- One organic lemon eucalyptus essential oil bottle.
- One bottle of sunflower oil (organic).
- One spray bottle in cobalt blue or amber glass.
Instructions:
- Pour the organic sunflower oil into the glass bottle. The carrier oil dilutes the essential oil to make it non-irritating to the skin.
- Then, depending on the size of your bottle, add 10-25 drops of Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil. For every 8 ounces of sunflower carrier oil, use ten drops. Add more droplets if you want to make a larger batch. One part Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil to 10 parts sunflower oil is the ideal ratio.
- To blend the oils, carefully close the bottle and shake it well.
- The insect repellent can now be sprayed on clothing and skin.
Also Read: How to Get Rid of Bugs On Hibiscus Naturally
How To Prevent Assassin Bugs From Reinvesting Your Property?
Most of the time, preventing these bugs from entering the house falls under routine home maintenance. You keep them at bay the same way you keep other bugs and domestic pests at bay: by sealing up your home as much as possible:
- Seal any cracks or crevices in the house to prevent pests from entering.
- Remove any leaves from the perimeter of your home and burn any rodent nests.
- Ensure that there are no gaps beneath your outside doors.
- Replace conventional light bulbs with yellow bug-resistant bulbs.
- If you notice assassin bugs in or around your home, call a pest control company to spray insecticide.
Can Assassin Bugs Fly?
Although assassin bugs may fly, and they are generally poor flyers with a few notable exceptions. Assassin bugs most professional killer bugs are sluggish and non-forceful; they will utilize their platform in self-preservation whenever misused.
Are Assassin Bugs And Kissing Bugs The Same?
The Reduviidae family of insects includes the kissing bug. Assassin bugs are another name for this family. In its feces, it can contain a parasite that causes kissing bug disease. They’re called kissing bugs because they generally bite humans around the mouth and face.
Are Assassin Bugs Harmful To Humans?
Assassin bugs can be hazardous to people, and in rare cases, lethal. They spit venom that is irritating to humans, and their excrement may contain parasites that can cause serious diseases. But, most of the time, these bugs don’t attack humans unless they’ve been provoked severely.
What Plants Do Assassin Bugs Eat?
Destructive aphids, leafhoppers, and caterpillars are among the insects they eat, and they can even eat insects more significant than themselves. Kissing bugs are also active predators, patrolling trees, bushes, and other vegetation for prey.
Are Assassin Bugs Good For A Garden?
Assassin bugs are good predators along with universal feeders, which mean they eat a wide range of insect pests in the garden with the landscape, such as flies, mosquitoes, beetles, and giant caterpillars. Assassin bugs, as their name suggests, hide in plain sight and ambush their prey.
Final Words
Kissing bugs can irritate a lot of people. They bite the face and other body parts, and an infestation in the house could mean that the residents are bitten regularly. Chagas disease can also be contracted through kissing bugs infected with the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite. However, this parasite is not found in every bug, and not everyone who is bitten will develop Chagas disease. Anyone who has had a severe reaction to a kissing bug bite has had multiple bites or has flu-like symptoms following a bite should visit a doctor for a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment.
The Reduviidae family of insects poses a significant hazard to human and pet health. If you reside in a region where the insects are known to live, you should take precautions to keep them away from your home at all costs. Without using chemical pesticides, It is an excellent approach to use assassin bugs for controlling damaging insects.