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Controlling Stink Bugs Just Got Easier

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's that time of year again: unwelcome pests looking to make your home their home for winter. For those looking to fight back, controlling stink bug infestation just got a little easier.

Those little shield-shaped bugs are about as undesirable as it gets. They infiltrate homes and can cause billions of dollars in damage to farmland.

Dr. George Hamilton from Rutgers University is a pest expert and says, while there are no known predators that target stink bugs, there are new traps on the market, "They are going to help. And who knows, this is going to be the first fall that they're actually available for homeowners to use. Maybe we'll find that they do solve the problem."

It couldn't come at a better time, because the pests are causing lots of trouble.

"They are inflicting damage to numerous crops here in the middle-Atlantic area. The second issue was when they enter people's houses and buildings and so forth."

There are a number of different brands and styles of trap in the $15 dollar range.

And if you're handy, you can make your own stink-bug catcher using household items like soda bottles or cardboard(Click the links for step-by-step video instructions on how to create homemade stinkbug traps.)

Reported by Mike Dougherty, KYW Newsradio 1060

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