Bee/ Wasp/ Fly - Why Did You Have To Die?

April 1, 2012 9:12 AM

Every now and then I find dead bees, wasps or flies in my living room - like on the floor, feet up in the air. I don't have a bee/ wasp/ fly problem - i.e. I never come home to a live bee/ wasp/ fly - so it makes me wonder why the ones that do get into my house mysteriously die, and always in the living room. Any ideas?
posted by forallmankind to Home & Garden (15 answers total)

We get this every now and then in our bedroom. We always assumed it was one that was exploring and ended up inside somehow and then died from lack of food/water. Makes more sense for our bedroom as it is near most nests and has windows open more often than other rooms near nests.

Once I found one that wasn't quite dead yet, but luckily still very weak. Very strange experience.

Interested to see what others say.
posted by evening at 9:15 AM on April 1, 2012

Do you happen to have a cat? Having a cat around often explains a lot of things.
posted by peagood at 9:21 AM on April 1, 2012 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: No pets.
posted by forallmankind at 9:22 AM on April 1, 2012

wow, I'm glad you asked this, because this week I've been finding about two (dead or barely alive) honeybees on my kitchen floor per day. no cats either. I love bees, weird behavior worries me because they're threatened right now. I'm in San Diego -- where do you live?
posted by changeling at 9:30 AM on April 1, 2012

Response by poster: Los Angeles.
posted by forallmankind at 9:35 AM on April 1, 2012

Do you have a fireplace in the living room? Is the chimney closed up?
posted by Houstonian at 9:41 AM on April 1, 2012

Response by poster: I do have a fireplace - I don't use it but it could be used and as such I don't believe it is closed up.
posted by forallmankind at 9:46 AM on April 1, 2012

They're getting in through doorways, ventilation, holes in window screens or possibly your chimney. Once they get in, if their is no source of protein readily available for food they will starve to death if they can't figure out how to get out.
posted by imagineerit at 9:58 AM on April 1, 2012

I meant the damper. The chimney has a damper that you close up when you aren't burning something in the fireplace. Open, you have a hole from your house to the outside, and sometimes bugs will build nests there and you'll find them inside your house.
posted by Houstonian at 10:06 AM on April 1, 2012

Bees are stealthier than one might think. This morning, one almost flew into our kitchen, and we only noticed because my husband was on his way through that door. Venturing a guess as to why they die in that room... Could it be that it has large well-lit windows that they are attracted to in an attempt to get out? Also, could it be that the room gets quite warm causing them to desiccate? We have one room in the house where I find a lot of dead flying insects. I have a glassed-in balcony. That thing gets incredibly hot. I have no idea how they get in (because I keep the windows closed), but I invariably find dead flying bugs in there.

Good luck avoiding stepping on deceased bees!
posted by laskagirl at 10:20 AM on April 1, 2012

and always in the living room

I bet confirmation bias plays a part in this - does your living room have more open spaces where dead critters can be easily spotted?

Other than that, bugs in an enclosed space will try to navigate outside by flying towards the light - does your living room have big windows/good light during the day?
posted by Dr Dracator at 11:09 AM on April 1, 2012

The unit next to mine had a large hive in the wall for about a year. Bees made their way down my stove's fume hood when I was heating wax for my drawings. I would bet that there is a hive established somewhere close to your house and they are wandering in from that source. They like walls that get morning sun, and will enter through a crack in the stucco.
posted by effluvia at 11:12 AM on April 1, 2012

Maybe your living room has the largest windows, therefore the most light, which attracts the insects.
Flies can hatch in soil that you bring in with potted plants, unless the soil is sterile.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:32 PM on April 1, 2012

I had bees coming down my chimney (not a euphemism) when I lived in an apartment in Costa Mesa. I believe there was a hive nearby, and the problem stopped when I finally got it together to close the flue, after a long period of complete mystification during which I would usher the bee to the back door as civilly as possible.

I also had a beehive in my wall once, which resulted in hundreds of bees pouring out of a heater vent, all in various stages of not-at-all-wellness. Like you, I was confused as to why they were expiring. I figured they became disoriented and bashed into the wall. If you can at all avoid having a beehive in your wall, that is probably wise.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:17 PM on April 1, 2012

I also had a beehive in my wall once...

For me it was a wasp's nest. When the temperatures started to rise enough in the spring to waken them, I began to find them dead in my living room or crawling around slowly. Just one or two a day at first but more each day.

One day I had the skin-crawling displeasure of watching one emerge through an power outlet ground hole. Exterminator was my next move.
posted by bz at 3:53 PM on April 1, 2012