... of ladybugs. I'm sure you've read about this problem over the years. Some people have it, and others (the lucky ones!) don't. This isn't the cute little one you want for your garden. These awful creatures live in one's house, sometimes in huge multitudes. If you want to know more (and I can't imagine why you would!) just type ladybug problem into a search engine. I hate them beyond words. They come mostly at this time of year when the weather turns a bit warmer after it has been cool; like today. They are outside and in. Today they are so bad that they fly into us as we walk around the house, and we step on them as they crawl along the floor. There are thousands. Our solution is to vacuum them and throw the bag away afterwards. Did I mention how much I hate them?!
Addendum: The next day they were almost all gone. The weather turned cool and cloudy. But the thought in my head is where do they go? I fear they are hunkered down in the walls. After occasional times each year like yesterday's 'plague' we mostly see just a few inside. But the windows are dotted with their 'droppings.'
I hate them too.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that amazing? I never knew. You know, when we lived in Portland, people were always talking about how they wouldn't be able to live in the South because of all the bugs we have. Well, girl, you sure don't live in the South, but you've got bugs!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!! That's almost as bad as our fire ants, but I guess these don't sting.
Oh my goodness...that is quite an invasion. I have been complaining about our stink bug visitors (about 3-5 get inside a day) but those ladybugs put our intruders to shame. I don't blame you one bit for hating them. I hope they go away soon.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, Nan! You do seem to have an extra big dose of them! We get them, too, but appreciate the fact that they eat soybean aphids, which, as you might imagine, are a real problem in Illinois. They supposedly would like to be nesting in cliff faces, but think our houses are cliffs, since it's so flat here. They ARE really annoying when they flock in like that!
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a crazy amount of ladybugs. How long do they usually hang around for like that?
ReplyDeleteEvery couple years we get bad box elder bug infestations. Yuck. I can relate!
ReplyDeleteLezlie
They almost look like chicken pox! My sister is bothered by ladybugs almost every year, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we avoid the invasion once again.
ReplyDeleteOh no! I had never thought of ladybugs in that way. I guess they are considered cute and god luck only when you rarely see them. I wouldn't love them in droves either.
ReplyDeleteI'm completely familiar with these little pests. We usually have the same problem here, though this years it's been swarms of aphids rather than these little beetles. I have to say I don't usually have to contend with quite so many--luckily. Still I also have to vacuum them up and all year long I end up finding their little corpses in odd places throughout the house! I feel for you!
ReplyDeleteStrange little bug. I never heard of any kind of ladybug except the useful little red ones.
ReplyDeleteIn the South, twice a year we are invaded by a hideous insect known as "the love bug" because they fly in tandem, perhaps copulating, but I don't know for sure. They don't bite, but are attracted to white surfaces and they come in very very large numbers at once. They die off after a few weeks, but can do damage to cars and being smashed by wind on windshields, and make white houses very messy. They are said to have been introduced by the government as they were thought to live off cockroaches. (They don't.)
Good luck with your bad ladybugs!
We have been there, and those who have not experienced it are skeptical.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to keep all pots on the stove covered, for they are crunchy and vile.
It has been claimed they don't bite, but they pinch. When they take off, they send out their little wings, hop up, and fly backwards.
The vacuum is the only solution.
Yuck! We ran into this problem this summer when we camped in Norfolk, in the East of England. The roadsides were covered in a carpet of dead ladybirds, and they were all washed up along the beach and swarming on people's cars. It was disgusting. They covered our tent and climbed into every crevice imaginable; I had never seen anything like it! I hope they leave you alone soon! And you have a beautiful house by the way; it's my dream to have a white clapboard house in New England one day!
ReplyDeleteUgh! I would hate them, too! What a mess if you step on them, huh? And what about when you're trying to sleep? Do they crawl all over you?? Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home!!!
ReplyDeleteI would draw the line when the come INTO the house. ugh...
ReplyDeleteBeth, :<)
ReplyDeleteKay, oh we have plenty of bugs! Black flies, ticks, noseeums, deer flies, mosquitoes, Japanese beetles. They have their seasons of the summer, just like the flowers.
Book Psmith, I'm not sure what stinkbugs are - do they fly?
Joyce, I'm not sure if this kind do any good outdoors. I very rarely see a ladybug on a plant. I think they are a whole different species (or whatever the scientific word is)
Jeanette, they come like that only a few days a year, and then disappear. But I think and fear they disappear into the walls of the house. I usually vacuum a few huddled together in the ceiling corners and in the windows during this 'plague' time, but then don't seen them.
Lezlie, I hate all kinds of 'infestations' - I mostly hate bugs, period.
JoAnn, someone told me once that she heard they prefer gray houses. But I know someone else with a house the color of ours, and she doesn't have them. It's a mystery.
Nicole, yeah, not so cute. :<) Oh, and I didn't mention that they emit an awful smell when they are squashed or vacuumed.
Danielle, are aphids just on houseplants? Or do they cruise around the house? The 'corpses' between the doors where they have been squashed are particularly gross.
Mary Lois, those sound particularly awful. At least the ladybugs aren't in the air so much, and they seem to be 'selective' in where they live. But a plague is a plague and they are all awful.
Crownover, thankfully, they don't hover around the pots. They are mostly near or on the windows. It seems they don't want to be in here anymore than I want them, but are drawn by the heat and light perhaps?
Rachel, wow, I didn't know they were over there too. Your experience was awful. Our house is actually light gray, but it has faded. :<)
Les, no they don't crawl on sleeping people. They mostly are near windows or lights.
Madre Karin, well put - 'bitter enemies' for sure!
Lisa, I just wish they would obey my line!
Nan, when I was growing up my one bedroom window was always covered with ladybugs when the weather turned cooler! I love ladybugs because they eat aphids but not tons of them at one time-they used to creep me out!
ReplyDeleteThey bite too!!!!
ReplyDeleteyes we have love bugs and mosquitoes here in the south but they mostly stay outside so they don't do the harm that your ladybugs do - I would not like having them hang out with me either Nan, Yuk!!!
ReplyDeleteLord have Mercy! And I thought stink bugs were bad!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately they do. They are kind of triangular in shape and look like the bark on a tree. Supposedly they let off a yucky smell if agitated or killed. Luckily I haven't ticked them off to that point yet when I collect them and chuck them out the door:)
ReplyDeleteI never knew that ladybugs did that - I've seen them out in the garden - and thought they were kinda cute. But not like that - ugh!
ReplyDeletewe get earwigs - double ugh!
If it's any consolation, we get an even more disgusting plague of them at our house, which is clearly older, gappier (is that a word? it should be - rhymes with...) and much less well maintained than yours.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's pretty darn incredible. Thank goodness they don't bite. Do they?
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh! This immediately brought the books from The Ladies of Covington to mind. They too had a plague of ladybugs. That is just hard to even put those two words together ~ plague and ladybugs. You think of ladybugs as the one bug even little girls dare to touch. Sweet and colorful little bugs. :-)
ReplyDeletehugs ~
Heidi
Oh, yuck, Sherri! At least they are easy to vacuum up that way. :<)
ReplyDeleteStaci, I've never been bitten, thank goodness. I probably kill them too fast.:<)
Blessed with Four, at least they aren't inside very much, and certainly not in the hoards they were the other day. Just a few here and there, easily vacuumed.
Mindy, these guys could be called stinkbugs - they smell terrible when you squish them. :<(
Book Psmith, I think I may know what you mean. We might have them but they are no where near as prevalent as the ladybugs.
Island Sparrow, earwigs are really, really gross. We haven't had too many this summer. Another bug I kill on sight. Geez I sound so violent for such a gentle soul. :<)
KSV, I doubt it. Well maintained doesn't come to mind as I think of describing my house. That's the nature of farmhouses though; they will never resemble condos or townhouses. Our house is about as drafty as possible; rattling windows, doors that don't shut right. I think of Jimmy Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life saying 'drafty, old house.' Yep. That's it. But that way it keeps the radon away right? Always a plus. :<)
Kay, Staci says they do, but I've thankfully never experienced that!
Heidi, I hate touching them. They give off this gross smell as soon as I put a kleenex to them to squish them. :<(
Here, they are considered bearers of good fortune. From these photos, you are in for quite a lucky year, I'd say!!
ReplyDeletePamela, you truly see the best in life. Thank you. I like good luck. I'll take it!
ReplyDeleteI am amazed - I have never seen more than one ladybug at a time, and so rare we always think they are good luck! I had no idea they gathered up like that much less left a mess all over.
ReplyDeleteI have to add - we have click beetles which I hate so much - they crunch horribly if you try to squish them, crawl into pillowcases, tissue boxes, hide in folds of curtains, flap wildly about the room, etc. We do nightly click beetle checks in all the bedrooms here - so I have never understood why (the usually quite lovely) Eric Carle wrote a picture book about a click beetle.
ReplyDeleteOh, yuck, Susan! Pillowcases? I'm wincing. It makes the ladybugs look not so bad. They just hang around the windows. It is only on the maybe three days a year we have the kind of invasion I showed. Of course I had to choose a dramatic day to post on the blog!
ReplyDelete