Ladybug Infestation

[Seedling]

Things I learn while surfing the internet with insomnia: twenty dollars can buy me a bag of 1000 live ladybugs.

I don’t need them, though. There are about 100 ladybugs up in the tops of my living room windows. Lots of digging finally yielded some information (http://www.ladybuglady.com/infestation.htm) – adult ladybugs go looking for a warm place to hibernate in the Fall. When they find an appropriate location, they send out pheromones to tell their buddies they’ve found a good spot.

I just hope there aren’t 1000 of them tomorrow.

Anyone want some free ladybugs?

[HunterKiller_]

What's wrong with lots of ladybugs?
It means you should do some gardening. :)

[magicgoo]

Time to gather them all up and sell them on the internet!

You can buy praying mantids online too. Maybe buy some to eat up the ladybugs?

[Jason Rainville]

At least they're cute. We get earwigs in the spring :( Not fun having them crawl around the shower.

[Ellingsworth]

I'm going to start a ladybug army. Who wants in?

[chaosrocks]

actually your infesting ladybugs are a nasty invader variety. they swarm . they smell funky when you squish em and they leave muddy footprints on your art work. and they bite.
the good native ladybugs behave better.
both eat aphids. which is a good thing... the swarms we've had in the last few years are the result of people thinking they are better at managing nature. than nature is.
actually we'haven't had a problem withthem down here this year
but last year I had to take after them with a shop vac.

chaos

[Shadowwing]

Would they be, by any chance, box elder bugs?

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Questions/Box%20Elder_small_small.jpg

They are black and red beetles, and they often swarm in fall looking for places to shelter for winter.

[Goog]

Would they be, by any chance, box elder bugs?

http://www.pestcontrolcanada.com/Questions/Box%20Elder_small_small.jpg

They are black and red beetles, and they often swarm in fall looking for places to shelter for winter.

how could you mix that up with a ladybug?

[Kek]

it could be a female bug

[Alex Baer]

I'm going to start a ladybug army. Who wants in?

fly my prettys! flyyyyy!!!!!!

[Andy P]

A ladybug infestation is almost as cute a koala bear infestation.

[Elwell]

A ladybug infestation is almost as cute a koala bear infestation.
aWkhmw_PLTw
"Hold on fellas...let me hold one of you...and feed you a leaf."
Mitch rules.

[sve]

It could be spotted cucumber beetles, they are a nightmare in garden, so destructive.

[stoph]

1. koala's are not bears. they are marsupials.
2. they are actually becomming a pest, as they are multiplying so rapidly. eucalyptus trees (the basis of their diet) are dying off in certain areas, such as Kangaroo Island just south of the mainland. i think at one point there's been a call for a controlled kulling of the species. they also like to run in front of cars.
3. i held one once. not by choice. i was at a petting zoo with a little cousin of mine, and the handler had a group of us around him as he was holding one. he then turns to me and asks "you wanna hold him?", to which i declined. then, without warning, he hefted the beasty through the air and into my arms, calling "catch!" i caught it, and it clawed the crap outta my sides. woulda been maybe 30kg, it was a monster!

what is the lesson here? i would rather catch a ladybug, than a koala.

[Seedling]

Thanks guys. Looks like the type we have might be harmonia axyridis ( http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/biocontrol/predators/harmonia.html), which would particularly make sense because we live nearby to at least one organic farm. Ladybug infestations in houses aren't uncommon. My parents get a few dozen in their house each year, and my husband remembers a time in his childhood when the space between window panes in his home was filled several inches with dead ladybugs.

I’m wondering if I couldn’t build a box that would attract them for overwintering outdoors, or if I could keep them alive in a jar until the spring. (Which shouldn’t be hard – they don’t eat anything over the winter. Theoretically all they should need is a little heat and humidity.) They’ll be great in our garden next year. I found info on how to build a ladybug trap: http://ipm.osu.edu/lady/L.T.instr.htm

[Flake]

I had wasps nesting in my walls this summer, that pretty much sucked.

[Seedling]

I had wasps nesting in my walls this summer, that pretty much sucked.

Ugh! Yeah, of all the possible pests we could have, ladybugs are preferable.

[Serpian]

Pygmy unicorn infestation: THE CUTEST INFESTATION EVER??

[alesoun]

Late this summer I sat down in the kitchen to work. Something fell on my shoulder. A winged ant.
I brushed it off, and turned around. There, on the wall behind me was a column of them, about 3 inches thick, like something out of a horror movie!
I spent 2 weeks hovering them up every night, then setting them free in the garden. Must've been thousands, if not millions of them ....
Eventually I gave up and used ant powder. Haven't seen one since, thank Heavens!

[Texahol]

first fall in the new house right?

welcome to new england.

...get out your vaccuum. You'll either be vaccuuming them up now, or in the spring when you have a bunch of crunchy dead bugs crammed in a bunch of nooks and crannys. It's an infestation no matter how you look at it.
you might want to give your house a once-over to see if you've got any spaces that they'd be coming into. [eaves, gaps around windows]

[Seedling]

first fall in the new house right?

welcome to new england.


Heehe! Thanks Tex. I don't have a vaccuum cleaner long enough to reach the skylights and tops of tall windows, so I'll be building that trap this weekend. :)