Stink-bug season: English Wikipedia's article on the brown marmorated stink bug averaged 593 views a day in the first week of September and 2,914 a day over 11-20 October, with 9,779 on 18 October alone (Wikimedia pageviews).
Who let the lodgers in?
Every autumn, stink bugs, lady beetles, boxelder bugs and cluster flies look for a warm wall to spend the winter in. Pin each sighting in a specimen drawer, then trace how they are getting in on a six-bone fishbone - and get a short plan that uses a vacuum and a tube of caulk, never a spray.
1 What you found
2 The house
3 The specimen drawer
Count by place
The page's count: a number next to an insect word, "about 30", "x4" or "a few" (3); a line with no number counts as one.
4 The fishbone
5 Trace it
One run works through the six bones like a fishbone session: every clue weighed against your words, the evidence quoted, one to three root causes, and three to six fixes in the order to do them - today, this week, or before next autumn - plus the mistakes that make it worse.
The verdict follows a fixed order: get it identified first if you ticked a warning sign or are not sure what the insect is; otherwise seal up now if they are still arriving; otherwise wait them out.
6 Saved traces
Field notes on the usual lodgers
- Stink bugs. Shield-shaped and brown. They gather on warm, sunny walls in autumn and squeeze in through gaps; crushed, they smell.
- Lady beetles. Round, orange to red, often spotted. They cluster in upper corners, attics and around skylights; disturbed, they can leave a yellow stain.
- Boxelder bugs. Black with red-orange lines. They bask on sunny walls and slip in around windows and siding.
- Cluster flies. Slow and sluggish, often on sunny windows of rooms under the roof.
General notes, not an identification. None of these normally breeds indoors over winter - if what you find bites, is in food or bedding, damages wood or fabric, or has tiny young ones, get it identified before you treat anything.
How the free side works
Each line of the log becomes one specimen card. The place comes from the first room word in the line (kitchen, bedroom, attic, landing, outside ...), the insect from a name in the line or your choice in step 1, and the count from the number next to an insect word. Clues come from a fixed word list per bone run over the log and the house text - "screen" and "torn" go on gaps and cracks, "air conditioner" on vents and pipes, "skylight" on the roof bone, "sun" on warmth, "trees" on what's nearby, "left open" on comings and goings. A traced reply is checked against all of it: the verdict against the rule, every bone with a clue must carry a cause from your text, quoted evidence must appear in your text, and no chemical or field id may appear.
Six-Legged Lodgers is general information. It never suggests insecticides, sprays or traps - only sealing and removal by hand.