Aaahhhh! Lady Bug/japenese Beetle Infestation!!!

Sisterpine, don't kill the lacewings!!! They are a native aphid predator. In most places they are disappearing because they are attracted to bug zappers.

My grandma used to talk about these dang bugs when they first moved to North Dakota. Here is what she did to kill them. First - understand that they love it around the foundation of your house, or buildings and that is generally where they will lay their eggs. Once you find a spot - take a big kettle of boiling water and dump it on the "nest". You can kill the eggs and ones that have already hatched this way. I have done it myself a souple of times and it works and then you don't have to worry about pesticides. Godd luck!

I tore down an old trailer on my place a few years ago. It had an add-on room attached and I tore that down also. It was cold winter. The add-on room had lap board siding. When I removed the boards they were a kazillion of these things hiding underneath. They were all massed together I suppose somehow keeping each other warm. I just wonder if vinyl siding would attract them the same way. Would be a great place for them to hide all winter.

well, i guess my child wasn't talking nonsense when he told me they were biting him. We've been vacuuming them up with the shop vac and today i'm going to seal a couple of spots they are getting into the cellar where they are hanging out on the glass doors. They haven't bitten me, but i do just about lose it when they land in my hair and worse get tangled in it - horrors of horrors!

I think every day i'm impressed with how much creepy crawly life there is in virginia. My child caught what we thought was a ladybug off a plant a week ago outside for a science project, i'll have to see if it's an asian beetle instead. His project was to obtain 25 different insect species and find out the info about them. I had never seen an asassin bug before - that's a weird one.

Those were some great links - THANKS.

Yes they bite!! And oh it can hurt! There used to be a lot of info out saying they don't bite, what you feel is the grippers on their legs. After years of people saying the asian ladybeetles bite someone finally decided to do some research and found out, yes they bite! Dd showed me one biting her. The ladybeetles can even give you a horrible rash just by crawling on you because they release a fluid from their abdomens that many people are allergic to.

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ent/bi.../coleomeg.html
This is a native ladybug, we have this one around here. It hibernates in fallen vegetation debris, I leave parts of the flowerbeds unraked to give them someplace to hide.

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What are all those little bugs?












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I, too, thought these were not real ladybugs.

We were gone from our h ome for almost 10 months a couple of years ago. When we returned, the house was infested with these bugs - not nearly as bad as some of you describe, but a lot. I did a little reading and some site stated they were not ladybugs and if they smelled when you touched them, they definitely were not ladybugs.

We do have a bad problem with roaches - the great big ones. The strange thing - we had no roaches and little signs of them when we returned home. In the past when we were away, the roaches would literally eat the covers off the older books in the house. Actually, th ey were eating the glue I think, but the covers went with the glue. I just wondered if the beetles ran off the roaches.

No beetles this year and roaches are coming back - since the weren't a problem for us, I prefer the beetles.

But I feel for those who are being invaded on a large scale.

here's what the asian lady beetles look like.
Yes, they invaded here a few days ago, and more come when it was warm today again.

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The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.

The lady bug (asian and others) is like the boxelder bug and cluster flies in that they come to the house for a winter habitat. Reproduction happens in the spring after they leave the house, not during the fall and winter. One definite cure is to fix the siding, door frames, and window frames to prevent entry by the bugs. They will live in the walls all winter and emerge into the house under the baseboards, around door and window frames, and even through lighting fixtures. Spraying anything inside will not solve the problem. Treating the outside entry points with pyrethrins or pyrethroids will help deter them from entering the house, but the best approach is to fix the house before the fall comes. Unfortunately it is too late now as the inside of the walls are probably loaded with these insects. As suggested above, using a vacuum cleaner inside helps with those that enter your space. Good luck.

We got our swarm yesterday, right before the rain came. We sucked them up with a vacuum, but probably only got about 3/4 of the ones that came in. We let some stay, but we know they aren't real lady bugs. It just bothers us to kill things just to kill them. You should have seen the sides of our house! They covered every area, it was almost scary.

Wow Ozarkguy that link to the ladybugs is so cool. In your critters section that rooster crossing the bridge looks like an angry mob of hens made him walk the plank lol

Oh my........I hope you are not getting rid of me.

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"...looks like an angry mob of hens made him walk the plank"


hehe > never thought of it that way. Always thougt "the gals" were following him. They MIGHT be chasing him! GET OUT OF OUR HEN HOUSE AND STOP CROWING SO DARN EARLY IN THE MORNING!


gotta love those hills.....

Ozarkguy










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* Homesteading information at:

homesteadingwithozarkguy.com

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