Can bugs crawl back out of the vacuum?

Depending on the brand/type, probably and the same way they got it.
If you have a canister vacuum, you just need to have something handy to put over the bag opening as soon as you remove it.
Uprights generally have a paper tube from the cleaning head to the bag. Just fold the mouth of the tube over when you undo it from the vacuum.

this question makes me smile :)

Why and what kinda of bugs are you sucking up in the vacuum????

Japanese lady beetles. Or Asian lady beetles. Either way, they look like ladybugs, but they aren’t. (And once you get up close to them they don’t look that similar—wrong color.)

As to why—I don’t think that more have gotten in the house, I think they’ve been crawling out from where I vacuumed them up the first time. But then, like a dunce, I left the vacuum on the table and they totally could have crawled back out.

I used the vacuum because there were like 20! One or two ladybugs are cute. 20 are kind of scary.

GQ! lol, I always wanted to know that also.

I’m “assuming” depending on what ELSE you suck in, the bug/s might get CRUSHED!!! and or Dismembered!!!

If it’s an ANT, my guess is that it WILL be able to find it’s way out. (ants rule)

maybe even a Fly and or a spider.

I think if you buy a Dyson you should be ok (I don’t own one, but I’ve heard so many good things about it) also with a Dyson they’ll be too dizzy to walk/crawl straight :P

If your vacuum is the kind with a spinning brush thingy at one end, I’m assuming the insects will just Die right there.

I know that my vacuum has a fan-type thing that chops everything into little bits. If your vacuum is anything like mine, then the only way you would see bugs crawling back out is one leg at a time.

I definitely think that there are more bugs coming out from somewhere else, though.

Spell check totally taught me that vacuum is spelled with two U’s

But I don’t want them to be coming from somewhere else! (Also, in the first round up, I got most of them. In the second, there were a few more. Then it was quiet for a week or so until I saw one last night, used the vacuum, and saw another two or three today. My concern is that they lived on the debris in the vacuum and the using it last night woke them up or something and a few figured out how to get out.)

Pixie, why don’t you empty/throw away the bag/trash once you are done vacuuming?

Well, I’m going to now. For some reason it never occurred to me until today that they might be able to get back out.

I hate those things! We had them in IL and MN but in NY we just seem to have real lady bugs. Hard to think of ladybugs as sweet after having been bitten by them in the mid-west. Good luck. They are such a pain in the (&)^$^%$^%.

THEY BITE??????!!!!

Thanks a lot, I was really quite perfectly happy not knowing that.

“Some people consider seeing them or having them land on one’s body to be a sign of good luck to come, and that killing them presages bad luck.”

Asian Ladybugs are not fake, they just aren’t native. If you keep finding more then they are probably hibernating in your exterior walls. Sealing up your interior walls will keep these harmless ladybugs and roaches out. Here’s an overview of your bugs habits.

To answer your question directly, yes, so long as they are still alive and don’t have too many broken legs. All life wants to live, would you just give up and die in the bag, or crawl back out of the vacuum?

To be honest, I was hoping that there was something on the vac that valved up when it was on and closed off when it wasn’t since that seemed logical to me. I mean the suction could pull it up and it would just drop closed when the vac was turned off. I feel bad for them that they might be dying in there, but not too bad.

Thanks for the website, though. It gives a lot of good ideas.

Are you talking about something like a Vacuum condom?

QUICK someone buy VacuumCondoms.com

@EmpressP – yes and they make you swear! They also stink and stain… Can you tell I don’t miss them?? LOL!

i would think they get their arms/legs ripped off. then mutant bugs would mate and crawl out to eat you…
oops, sorry, I got carried away…I’m watching horror movies on fearnet.

I’ve got an Oreck cleaner. I love it. Not much come back out and easy to
replace bags. I also have a bug vac comes with little bags that you can seal the little devils up in.

not if their legs got sucked off in the vacuum suction.

Well, I read the helpful link about them and found out they were attracted to the light and that bug spray works on them when they are awake. Then I turned on a lamp and turned everything else off. Then three hours later, I sprayed them. In the morning, I will vacuum them with a new, bugfree bag.

Thank you, everyone. My new protocol seems to be a success.

Oh, EP, you just brought back wonderful (kinda) memories of my first apartment. I’m pretty cool with things, but I hate roaches. My friends and I were emptying boxing and getting things put in place and out of the cabinet came this HUGE roach…The only thing I could do, from afar, was suck it up in the vacuum cleaner…I didn’t have bug spray. I had the long attachment on it and sucked it up. I quickly called my mom asking her if it was truly dead, she was laughing so hard and couldn’t answer, my dad told me he wasn’t sure, since roaches are pretty strong and survive everything. I was so nervous and had bad dreams, at 3am I got up and put my vacuum cleaner outside of my apartment.

I don’t know the answer, but thank you, thank you, thank you, for the smile! I needed it. :)

lurve to EP for asking this question!! :)

As long as you vacuum up a bird after you vacuum the bugs, it should take care of itself.

@cak I had a roach go belly up in my frozen ice cube tray in my first apt. I can totally relate! i threw the tray out the window…i was on the 4th floor.

Depends on the bugs. For instance, I’m a bug person who doesn’t really enjoy aspirators so I try to use my bissel vac (it’s got a clear bag area so you can see the insects). Besides, I sort of think aspirators or pooters are kinda gross. Unless you’re talking the really expensive ones for collecting whole colonies of insects. I usually can pick up 150— 200 pogo ants in one sitting and still have them live. However I don’t recommend leaving the vac on for more than a few seconds 30 max. On the other hand, if your’e talking wolf spiders or ground beetles, or anything bigger than a few millimeters I recommend just jarring them. :) Hope this helps.

There’s NOTHING more satisfying than sucking up mosquitoes with a vacuum cleaner!

Can I get an “Amen”?

AMEN!!

Vacuuming does NOT kill bugs that you suck up, they can fly or crawl back out . UNLESS you take some good quality Peppermint essential oil and put several drops inside the vacuum tube AND inside the bag or canister, which does kill them. You might also put some Bay Laurel essential oil as well. Both oils kill bugs. You can also make a spray out of these oils, add some water and use to pray bugs for a great bug killer without all the toxic chemicals. Smells nice, too.