Firebugs are relatively new in the US, and there are lots of questions about them in people’s minds, but the foremost one is: how to get rid of firebugs. We answer this in the blog below.
Nobody likes nuisance pests, and finding a new species of bugs gathering together in huge numbers in your home can be especially unnerving.
Since you’re here on this page, it is likely that there are firebugs gathering in your home, and you can’t figure out what works best to get rid of them. Don’t worry; we are here to do exactly that.
Also known as pyrrhocorid bugs, firebugs are the most common species under the insect family Pyrrhocoridae, which comprises more than 300 different insects.
They are not particularly dangerous, but they tend to gather in thousands under the base of trees, and the sight can be pretty frightening if you don’t know what you are dealing with.
Let’s find out more about these bugs and how to deal with them.
irst.
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What Are They?
Firebugs, or Pyrrhocoris apterus, are an invasive species of insects in North America.
Although you may have come across them only recently, you might be familiar with other insects that share the same order as firebugs.
Box elder bugs, elm seed bugs, and squash bugs are among them, all three of which are well-known pests.
Thankfully, firebugs aren’t a serious pest and won’t damage your garden, though they can be a nuisance in your home.
These bugs are gregarious; you may find them gathered together in one place. They don’t like to stay alone for too long.
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What Do They Look Like?
You shouldn’t have much trouble identifying firebugs, thanks to their unique appearance. They feature a red body with black dots on their red back.
Firebugs have some triangular and crescent-shaped symbols on their bodies that further add to their distinct look.
They also feature a black trapeze set on a red background around the neck.
They grow up to 0.3 inches to 0.7 inches and may or may not have wings. However, the winged firebugs are also incapable of flight; you don’t have to worry about them buzzing around your house.
Where Are They Found?
As mentioned earlier, firebugs aren’t native to North America. You’ll find most of the firebug population in Europe, where they’re originally from.
They didn’t appear in the US until 2008, and their first appearance was recorded in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Although we aren’t sure how they spread to North America, the bugs may have been shipped in with imported plant material.
Over the years, European firebugs have spread over to other parts of Utah and even Toronto.
You’ll usually find them on the trunk of host trees or the ground near them. Common hosts include linden trees, hibiscus shrubs, and horse chestnuts.
Why Are They Pests?
If you’re worried about your garden or houseplants, you can relax knowing that firebugs don’t cause any damage to plants.
They mostly feed on leaf litter and other types of plant residue by sucking out the plant sap and other liquids inside them.
Firebugs are omnivorous, as they also feed on other insects and their eggs. So they aren’t pests in the traditional sense – they don’t cause any harm.
They’re a nuisance pest species, posing a problem merely with their irritating presence, especially when they start to gather in big numbers.
They sometimes secrete an extremely stinky substance, especially when threatened.
A firebug’s secretion can also leave stains on fabrics like clothes, curtains, and upholstery. However, you should note that these bugs don’t go indoors very often.
How To Locate Them?
If you start finding firebugs in your home, it’s a good idea to locate where they are congregated and eliminate them at the source.
You’ll usually find firebug groups at the base of host trees, especially when they multiply in spring. It’s around this time that they come out after overwintering through the cold months.
Check tree trunks, stone walls, or the walls of your house – you may find them gathered together to stay warm or mate.
How To Control Them Naturally?
When it comes to eliminating firebugs, remember not to crush them as it would cause them to release a foul odor. The easiest and safest ways to control firebugs are the natural methods. Here are a few ways to go about it:
Spray them with cold water
Firstly, these bugs prefer hot and dry environments. Spraying them with cold water for a couple of days is an effective way to get rid of them.
Use a powerful jet from a garden hose to blow them out of their hiding places. Firebugs also drown easily, which is another way to get rid of them.
Spray soapy water
Although the above-mentioned method is effective, a powerful jet of water can potentially damage your plants.
If the bugs are hiding near vulnerable plants, you can use a soapy water solution instead. Put it in a spray bottle and spray it on the firebugs – that should kill them within a few minutes.
Vacuuming
In case you find red firebugs in your home, you can use a vacuum cleaner to dispose of them. This method is especially helpful when there’s a group of firebugs, and you don’t want them to escape away.
Predators of Firebugs
You might be wondering about natural ways to get rid of them, such as bringing in beneficial insects or predators of these bugs.
Thanks to their stinky secretion, firebugs have no predators in nature. Although it isn’t toxic, the secretion makes the bug completely inedible, and the smell wards off its enemies.
Predators of similar size can even get temporarily paralyzed by the secretion.
Younger animals unfamiliar with firebugs often eat them out of ignorance, but they never repeat the mistake.
Besides, the red and black color combination acts as a warning signal and helps deter most predators.
Chemical Methods
You may use narrow-spectrum chemical insecticides from specialized stores to treat a firebug infestation.
However, we wouldn’t recommend this at all due to the involved hazards and side effects.
As you know, chemical pesticides can be toxic to pets and children. Besides the firebugs, the pesticide would also kill bumblebees and other beneficial insects.
These firebugs don’t pose much of a threat to humans, so there’s no need to get desperate and use chemical insecticides.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What do you do for firebugs?
The easiest way to get rid of firebugs is to shoot them with a jet of cold water if they’re outdoors. You may also spray them with soapy water using a commercially available spray bottle instead.
For firebugs that make it to your home, use a vacuum cleaner. Seal up wall cracks and openings through which they can make their way indoors.
How do I permanently get rid of boxelder bugs?
The only way to get rid of boxelder bugs permanently is to remove or replace seed-bearing boxelder trees.
This is because the seeds are their most preferred food source and attract them to your property.
Other methods of box elder bug control include spraying them with soapy water and treating the perimeter of your home with diatomaceous earth or residual insecticides.
What attracts box elder bugs?
As their name indicates, box elders are primarily drawn to box elder trees.
They feed mostly on the seeds, although they also like soft twigs, flowers, and newly grown leaves of box elder trees. These bugs prefer cool but sunny environments.
Do firebugs damage plants?
Firebugs do not damage living plants in any way. They feed mostly on decaying plant residue, such as leaf litter.
Hence, they don’t pose a threat to your garden or houseplants. It’s only their foul odor, the stains they leave, and their tendency to congregate in large numbers that make them a nuisance.
Are firebugs invasive?
They are invasive in North America, but they are not particularly fond of coming indoors into houses.
While they are a well-known species in many parts of the world, they have only started to be found here after 2008, when they were first spotted in Salt Lake County, Utah.
Wrap Up
Since firebugs don’t damage plants, pose a threat, or cause any structural damage, you need not worry much about them.
Just get rid of the ones that get inside your home since they can leave behind foul odors and stains. Still, if their numbers grow too much for your liking, you now know how to deal with them.
Thank you for reading!
96 Comments. Leave new
I just googled these bugs, and they might be called boxelder bugs that feed on seeds and weeds, I guess. I recently saw one with its head under the business end of an outdoor cockroach, which it seems had its rear propped up for convenience. I want to know if this was some sort of mating exercise or a territorial killing. I intend to ask whatsthatbug about the behavior of these strange little critters.
I found one here in bakersfield.
I have these in my back yard in Bakersfield also…
We have these in the back yard in Bakersfield south side. They are not aggressive or biting but there are a lot of them.
I have many on my window, im in maryland
I have fund huge aggregations of these in Santa Ynez, and have reported it to the Center for Invasive Species along with a picture, so they can update the range of these bugs:
http://cisr.ucr.edu/red_bug.html
I have fund huge aggregations of these in Santa Ynez, and have reported it to the Center for Invasive Species along with a picture, so they can update the range of these bugs:
http://cisr.ucr.edu/red_bug.html
Thanks for reporting your infestation.
This invasive bug breeds very quickly – sort of like aphids. It doesn’t belong in Californiaand should be eradicated. They are in my father’s backyard in Chula Vista and within a year the population as exploded. There are so many of them it is really gross. Everywhere you look you see the bug in it’s various stages of development, climbing fences – up onto the patio, etc. They arefast breeding all year long and very invasive. His property is on a greenbelt area. I would expect they will destroy all the milkweed in the surrounding area. This is probably destroying the areas where Monarch butterfly caterpillers can thrive and contributes to the Monarch butterfly decline that is being observed. Since we are in a drought – this Lygaeidae will be thriving in the dry conditions all year long. If you see one, eradicate it and all others you find. I am not sure what to do about my Dad’s yard. I don’t like to use pesticides but am not sure what else can be done, aside from maybe lizards eating them.
This is a nonnative species, and in our mind, the eradication of invasive, exotic species that compete with native wildlife for resources does not constitute Unnecessary Carnage.
How do we get rid of these pests? Our soil is covered in red there are so many. Please help!!!
We do not provide extermination advice.
Are the ones you have causing any damage? I have quite a few, but they’re just there. They don’t come in the house, or mess with my fruit or flowers. Of course you don’t see termite causing any damage either. Just curious in Bakersfield.
We also have them by the hundreds and may be even by thousands. They came down on us after the owner of the empty lot above us mowed their field. It took couple of weeks of research for us to figure out what they were. They come out around 9-10 am or later in the afternoons when it is not too hot to sun bathe on anything above the ground, especially on the walls of structure. They don’t seem to like the painted things like my wooden garden box but they seem to like the non-painted ones. Perhaps because they can’t stick to them as well because they seem to fall off very easily from the walls or any corner they are on. Non toxic bug spray doesn’t seem to work on them, but the soapy water drowns them. I am thinking of using “Skin So Soft”. For some reason my chickens don’t eat the bugs either. Leaving the carcasses of their friends doesn’t seem to discourage others from sun bathing in the same place. Since the temperature has been cooled they seems to be less active.
Appreciate your thoughts on this.
Seems like these Old World Red Bugs are in Southern California to stay.
We also have them by the hundreds and may be even by thousands. They came down on us after the owner of the empty lot above us mowed their field. It took couple of weeks of research for us to figure out what they were. They come out around 9-10 am or later in the afternoons when it is not too hot to sun bathe on anything above the ground, especially on the walls of structure. They don’t seem to like the painted things like my wooden garden box but they seem to like the non-painted ones. Perhaps because they can’t stick to them as well because they seem to fall off very easily from the walls or any corner they are on. Non toxic bug spray doesn’t seem to work on them, but the soapy water drowns them. I am thinking of using “Skin So Soft”. For some reason my chickens don’t eat the bugs either. Leaving the carcasses of their friends doesn’t seem to discourage others from sun bathing in the same place. Since the temperature has been cooled they seems to be less active.
Appreciate your thoughts on this.
HOW do you get rid of them?
They started showing up in my yard in Valley Center. They are everywhere!!
HOW do you get rid of them?
They started showing up in my yard in Valley Center. They are everywhere!!
I’m in Ontario Canada and I have these bugs or well something very similar to them..I’m just wondering if they are poisonous and or harmful? Its winter and I’m finding them throughout and periodically inside my house. I have animals and I’m also wondering if they bite.? Thank you
Many related species like the Eastern Boxelder Bug will hibernate indoors, and though they are a nuisance, they are not harmful.
We saw a bunch of them here in San Diego last weekend, Coronado Cays to be specific.
We took pictures of them because we wanted to find out what they were, but we didn’t find anything in our insect book. The closest one by the look was milkweed bugs, and we finally found your article here:) We said, “that’s totally them!!”
Great to know that they are not poisonous.
Most of them were mating I guess, because they were walking around with their butts connected.
We saw a bunch of them here in San Diego last weekend, Coronado Cays to be specific.
We took pictures of them because we wanted to find out what they were, but we didn’t find anything in our insect book. The closest one by the look was milkweed bugs, and we finally found your article here:) We said, “that’s totally them!!”
Great to know that they are not poisonous.
Most of them were mating I guess, because they were walking around with their butts connected.
Thanks for the info. Look like they have made a homestead in our backyard in Goleta. Hoping chickens would eat them, but sounds like that is not true… Any other ways to get rid of these little guys?
We just purchased a home in West Palmdale and I’ve recently discovered quite a few in my patio area nearby some grape vines a few minutes ago. From a distance, I initially panicked as I thought they were baby black widows, but got a closer look and they seemed to move much quicker than a spider. I’m glad to know they are not harmful. That means i can leave them in peace. They are quite beautiful to me. Thanks for sharing this info!
Tijuana BC. Mex. About 2 years ago I found quite a few, in my back yard, I’m glad to know they are not dangerous . But I would like to know how long do they live .
Hiking in the hills behind San Clemente, California on Memorial Day we came across thousands, maybe tens of thousands of these beetles. Mostly tiny babies and hundreds of adults breeding, scattered along the ground. Very similar to ladybugs hatching.
If these are new to this area, they are here to stay!
Everyone, both people and invasive, exotic insects, love the climate in Southern California.
Hiking in the hills behind San Clemente, California on Memorial Day we came across thousands, maybe tens of thousands of these beetles. Mostly tiny babies and hundreds of adults breeding, scattered along the ground. Very similar to ladybugs hatching.
If these are new to this area, they are here to stay!
We have them in California City . We have lived here for 10 years but this is this first year seeing these bugs. I have stepped on a few and hours later there is a whole bunch all over the dead ones.
We have thousands and thousands of them near Atascadero. I would like them gone!
Try soapy water.
Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County! Ground is covered with them on horse ranch. They came in droves after fire-preparedness cutting of all growth around the barn. They styaed for about 3 weeks in huge numbers – the ground was moving…! They are beginning to subside, although still around in great numbers.
We have them on our property in Lakeside, CA. Love that the internet makes it so easy to figure out what they are. Large nest in the ground!
I also live in Lakeside and have them everywhere. They became very noticeable after the heavy rains we received in mid July. As long as they are not a threat, they can live in my yard. They are a little creepy though walking around attached like that.
We have found many in our backyard – Ventura, California!
Also in Ventura and my yard is covered in the right now!
They are attacking my sons dogs, carrying them off to …
Goodness gracious. The Old World Red Bugs are carrying off your son’s dogs to points unknown.
I live in Encanto, east of Downtown San Diego, CA. The back yard over half an acre is covered with these bugs. Never seen anything like them in the 35 years living in this house. Seem to only be eating? the weeds. Glad to know they are not toxic, but not happy about seeing so many of them.
We are beginning to wonder if last year’s warmer than typical California winter is partially responsible for numerous outbreaks in the Southwest.
So glad I found your website!! I found a huge number of these in my backyard this morning. They really freaked me out a bit. I have no grass and very hard, dry soil in my backyard. But, in my front yard, I have a few trees, grass and nutrient rich soil. I’m wondering if the soil plays a factor in where they choose to nest? It would be great if they stay in one part of the yard. 🙂
I forgot to mention, I’m in Lemon Grove, CA right next door and east of Encanto, CA
I live in Shandon, Ca and they have been covering my 6 ft concrete perimeter wall around my property for days now and I am seeing them on my house and on my fruit trees. I have never seen them here before. Glad that they are not harmful to humans or animals. Can anyone tell me if they do any type of damage to things like my home or my fruit trees or gardens? I don’t want to spray them if they are just existing but if they tend to do any type of property damage I may have no choice. Would love some advice on this. They are very pretty insects to look at!
Found them in
Huntington Beach, CA
Huntington Beach Community Garden
Found them in
Huntington Beach, CA
Huntington Beach Community Garden
I heard the only way you can get rid of them is to get rid of the weeds that surround it. Is there another way to eradicate them without using harsh chemicals? We have a community garden and are organic.
We do not provide extermination advice, but perhaps one of our readers will have a suggestion.
They are in Julian, CA. Dozens of them are huddled in the nooks and crannies of my alder tree. Are they a threat to my trees?
They are also in Silverado Canyon and San Juan Capistrano Southern California.
We have them in Bakersfield, ca i see them when it’s really hot. In the back yard near my lemon trees . Hundreds of them. Are they harmful to my garden plants and herbs?
According to The Center for Invasive Species Research (CISR): “Damage: The literature contains very little information regarding the biology of S. aegyptius and Scantius species in general are not considered to be economically important species. In California, Scantius has been observed feeding on the developing seeds and stems of Knotweed (Polygonum spp.) and Malva (Malva parviflora). It is likely that S. aegyptius will feed on the seeds of several species of annual herbaceous plants.
The most noticeable impact of S. aegyptius in California will likely be the presence of large numbers of nymphs and adults migrating from drying annual weeds into adjacent developed areas. These migrations consisting of thousands of individuals can be very conspicuous and lead to large aggregations on small patches of host plants causing concern to local residents who notice these obvious aggregations”
Confirmed in Paso Robles, CA. (10 miles N of Atascadero) They seem to like to nest in vacated gopher and vole holes. I dusted some with food grade DE which didn’t phase them…..I think they liked it. It looks and sounds like we need to get used to them, though I really don’t like them up around the house.
Found them only recently, thus summer, in my backyard in Newbury Park, CA (Ventura County)…and my chickens won’t eat them either. I thought it was weird because they pretty much eat anything that’s creepy crawly. Wonder if these bugs are harmless or harmful???
They are an invasive, exotic species that might displace native creatures.
I was thankful to run across this web site . Live on a ranch in Coalinga, Ca. , had to find out what my new critters were. They are every where. Love to infest new growth tumble weeds. They are very new to the area.
That is very interesting because despite the association of the tumbleweed with the American west, the plants are actually native to Eurasia. Perhaps the Old World Red Bug feeds on tumbleweed in its native land.
We have thousands in our back dirt lot behind our house here in Atascadero. All sizes and several connected together. I assume gettin down and dirty. Either way infesting our lot and starting to infect our shed. How do I get rid of them?? I also killed a VERY large black widow tonight. I thought I was moving from the Midwest to get away from bugs 🙂
Spiders do not like peppermint. I spray around my house with a spray using Peppermint oil. Ants do not like it either.
Hi Karen,
Welcome to the area, I live in Paso Robles. We have lots of black widows. My wife and I go on “hunts” about 2-3 times a year after dark with flashlights & spider spray. After a couple of years the breeding cycle breaks and there’s a lot fewer “blackies”. We also have the red bugs and I’ve been fighting them off with some food grade diatomacious earth (powder). I didn’t think it was working but it just takes a while and they leave. Good luck.
Hi Karen,
Welcome to the area, I live in Paso Robles. We have lots of black widows. My wife and I go on “hunts” about 2-3 times a year after dark with flashlights & spider spray. After a couple of years the breeding cycle breaks and there’s a lot fewer “blackies”. We also have the red bugs and I’ve been fighting them off with some food grade diatomacious earth (powder). I didn’t think it was working but it just takes a while and they leave. Good luck.
I have been seeing them here in Harbison Canyon in the foothills of San Diego. They have made a nest in my front walk way.
I just video taped a colony of this bug today….August 27th 2016…..in Minnesota!
They are clustered around new growth tumble weeds on my backyard hillside above Ventura high school. Interestingly the ant trails I used to have around that area have disappeared and been replaced with trails of these red bugs instead!
Though it seems to be symbolic of the American West, the tumbleweed is actually an Old World species and it may be a native food source for the Old World Red Bugs.
They came down from the hill behind our house I Shadow Hills, Ca. like last year. They are dry dying weeds, plants. When they came down to my patio I started to step on them killing them and left the evidence. Next day I repeated. If ourse I couldn’t kill them all because they were so many. About the third day they no longer came down. I don’t know where they went but I haven’t seen them since then. Weired.
So I live in Fresno County, in a tiny town called San Joaquin. I think we are starting to get thousands of these little bugs all over our yard. And both our front and back yard are dead so they are everywhere and they honestly scare me. I know they are harmless but I’m afraid to walk outside because they might crawl all over my feet. Anyways, it’s not really comforting to know that they are appearing not just in Southern California, but now in the Central Valley. But thanks for all your comforting comments!
Yes, I have had them here in Coalinga all summer. I have been spraying, it has helped.
found bunches of these beauties on my milkweed plants in Costa Mesa this past week. All the Monarch butterfly caterpillars are GONE…waaaah!
Since they were found on milkweed, we suspect your identification is mistaken. We suspect you actually encountered either Small Milkweed Bugs or Large Milkweed Bugs.
Hi everybody , I found about 300 of these on my Apricot Tree yesterday in Los Alamos ( Santa Ynez Valley) They are living right along side Ants. P.S. are Black Widows are so large here we could put one on a leash and walk it to the Post Office. I go around the outside of the house twice a week after dark with a flashlight and bug spray.
All over Sonoma county, saw them today in Sebastopol
Great info, they are so distinctive I had to look up what they were. I live in Poway and I have seen about 20 of them without looking in approx a months time.
Inundated with them today in Simi Valley (east Ventura County)! Moved a dog crate I had left out of the storage shed overnight and there were just huge numbers of these critters! Looked to me like they were coming out of a hole in the ground. After reading this series of posts, I can see now that soapy water is going to be on my list for tomorrow!! Do these hurt trees or plants? We are redoing the yard right now and I would hate to have everything we are putting in be ruined! Anyone? Buehler?? Thanks!!
Also in Simi Valley. First time I’v seen these in my yard which at the current time is mostly dirt. Lots of adults and seems like 50 times more little red ones without the black markings. They seem to be congregated at the base of the Malva and Marestail weeds I was pulling. Soapy water seem to kill some of them, but lots still alive.
Had these crawling all over a big section in my back yard in Corona, Ca today. The area is mulched. But I just worked on the are next to it yesterday – mowing/weedeating a bunch of mallow and malva weeds . So that must have disturbed their homes and got them moving. Was worried they’d get my veggies, but it sounds like they mostly like a couple of specific weeds – hopefully they’ll find more of those elsewhere.
I live in Kern County, CA just north of Bakersfield in the Oildale area. It’s July 2017 and I’ve lived in the same house for 34 years and today is the first time I’ve seen them. They appeared to be migrating from dry and dead weeds. The one thing that is recently different is that our property watering has been regulated because of drought conditions. Long story short. I just stopped watering and my front and back yards are yellow with dead areas, of course weeds thrive. I’m hoping they’ll go for the weeds that make goat-head stickers, if there are any left. Before I read up on them I tried several things. Someone wrote use soapy water, I just used regular water and that left a lot of dead behind.
As posted on another page, we have a ton of them in our yard in Mission Viejo. Going to do some weeding then try to sweep them up and spray with soapy water.
Follow-up one year later: Some are back but it’s not a hoarde like before. Seeing that others are now getting these it seems these are annual visitors.
I reported these Egyptian cotton bugs on Daves Garden in 2012. Found them in Potrero Ca. Bugs are gregarious and nothing seems to eat them. They do no damage that I saw.
I have hundreds of them in Tulare county California
I had a ton of them last summer (2017) here in Simi Valley (Ventura County) and we also had a ton of foxtails. In order to get rid of the foxtails, we used a blowtorch (yes, they were that thick) and would you believe that the bugs lived through that!!! Crazy!!
Just recently someone from southern Philippines found this in their backyard and posted in facebook..they have spotted this many times.
Does anybody know if they are edible?
My garden area is covered in them all over the ground, there is some Little Mallow growing all over out there. I just noticed them today, they have never been here before. I live in Lake Isabella, CA 93240 east of Bakersfield. I thought maybe the infestation had something to do with the big fire we had here in June 2016. Everybody behind us is scraping their properties down to dirt, now it is turning into a dust bowl around here…I don’t think that is a very wise thing to do. Could it be from that? Or they just show up randomly? Thank you…
It also fund in Iraq
I have hundreds of these in my yard and once I cleaned out the weeds where they were living, they moved inside my home all along the baseboard of the wall that is inside of the flower bed I cleaned… What do I do?
We do not provide extermination advice.
We are being infested with thesebugs. Tulare, California
Peppermint oil or medicated foot powder both work; my neighbor and i used both to get them out of our entire neighborhood. Just be sure the powder is talc-based, not cornstarch. I put peppermint oil in a hudson sprayer, diluted with canola or another light oil.
We have thousands of them in our yard in Thousand Oaks
Sun Valley
Huge numbers of them in Simi Valley this summer!!!
Invaded with thousands here on the Csun Campus.
I have the old world red bugs in my back yard. Found them in our wood pile. I’m in Western NY
We have them in Lamont/ Bakersfield Ca. Our 2.5 acres are infested with them
Northern California. I just found 1000s of these in an old barn we were cleaning out. They were sheltering together in very large groups, Under garbage piles etc. Area has been very dry for a long time maybe hiding out from the heat not sure. Location is Brentwood Northern Cal.