Invaded Once Again

Jan 9, 2009 Filed under: Everything Else

Living in the south we know we have two main problems we have to deal with in the winter months, occasional ice storms that always result in power loss, and ladybugs.

Every year ladybugs begin piling into our house right after the first cold snap. We deal with them all throughout the winter months, and they’ve become quite a nuisance. Last year it was so bad that I had a freak out session when I found a window covered in them so thickly I couldn’t see out the thing. This year it’s just about as bad, and it’s driving me crazy.

The only option we really have to deal with them is a vacuum. Dust Busters are great for grabbing the ones on the walls and windows, and now that I’ve got my Shark Sweeper it’s definitely come in handy. I’m almost ready to purchase one for every room in the house just so I don’t have to carry it from room to room sucking these things up. We’ll suck up 50 or 60 of them at a time, walk out of the room for 10 minutes, and return to find more swarming. We’ve tried sealing all our doors and windows, but they’re still coming in, especially in the bathroom.

The cat won’t even go in the bathroom anymore. I had to move his litter box out of the room completely because he’s so scared of the ladybugs he wouldn’t go in there to use it. I don’t blame him for being scared. Last year I watched him attempt to fight through the ladybugs to look out the window. He swatted at a few and was almost immediately “attacked” by a massive swarm of ladybugs.

The little buggers bite, too, and it hurts! Now they’re starting to find their way into our closets and dressers, so if we don’t fully inspect all our clothes one of us will feel a bite and discover one crawling up the inside of a pant leg or hanging onto the inside of a shirt. We’re also finding them in our bed. It’s gotten to a point where I have to vacuum the bed off every night because they work their way between the sheets after I make the bed. If I don’t take everything off, vac them up, and remake the bed before going to sleep one of us will wake up in the night to find one biting.

Having a best friend who is an exterminator I’ve begged him to tell me ways to eliminate them, but he just laughs at that. He has told us time and time again that vacuuming them is about our only option. There are products out there that supposedly rid your house of ladybugs, but he says they don’t really work.

*Sigh*

Little buggers are going to dry me insane!

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6 Responses for "Invaded Once Again"

Charity January 9th, 2009 at 4:40 am 1

They might not be ladybugs. There is a variety of beetle that looks like a ladybug, except they bite. I didn’t know that until we got swarmed with what we thought were ladybugs this summer. The exterminator said that they were actually some sort of Japanese beetles. :/
Heather January 9th, 2009 at 5:10 am 2

I found some ways that might help you with your little problem. Two of them you have already done, but it wouldn’t hurt to give the other’s a try. Maybe it will help clean them out a little.

Talk to you later.

How to Get Rid of Ladybugs

* Seal all cracks and crevices in you home. Inject the areas around windows, molding and light fixtures with foam insulation.
* Use your vacuum cleaner. Vacuum the area you see infested by ladybugs and after you have covered every nook and corner, empty the bag outside your house.
* Put cloves around windows and doors and even in larger light fixtures. It helps drive the existing ones away and also prevents new ones from entering your house.
* Spray the ladybugs with an all-purpose spray cleaner or an insect/wasp spray. It will help kill them and then, you can throw them away.
* Spray the ladybugs a lemon scented cleaner. Thereafter, vacuum them up and empty the container outside.
* Burn lemon scented candles around the areas that have been infested with ladybugs. It will help in driving them away.
* Hang sticky strips or put bug sticky sheets in the areas where you find ladybugs.
Jenn January 9th, 2009 at 5:16 am 3

Yep. The ones we get swarmed with are the Asian Ladybugs or yeah the Asian Lady Beetles (warning PDF LINK!). Those little suckers hurt! We never had a problem with them until Clemson’s Agriculture department supposedly (hasn’t been confirmed) started releasing them about 5 years ago, we’ve had massive problems ever since! We have our house treated every 3 months, and we even tried treating specifically for them, but it doesn’t help. We used to vac them up and release them, but now we vac and flush. That’s really all we can do anymore. Sweeping doesn’t help b/c of the blood they secrete. There are little stains all over my white bathroom floor and our clothes.

Earlier I did a load of laundry that was in the bathroom, and tons of them came out of the clothes in the washer. I’m finding them in my dryer lint trap, in my fridge, everywhere, and it’s horrible.
Jenn January 9th, 2009 at 5:31 am 4

I might be able to try the lemon candle thing if I can stomach the scent long enough. I’m anti lemon and clove.

Hubby does play this game where he aims the air freshener at them and sprays until the room’s foggy. It kills them, but then more swarm in.

I’m thinking they’ve got to be coming up through the attic and down through a crack somewhere around the crown molding. We’ve sealed off everything else we could possibly find to seal. Hubby may just have to take the crown molding down and inspect, but getting him to do it is the hard part.
Heather January 9th, 2009 at 9:55 pm 5

Hey is there a way of getting some cloves up in the attic, You won’t be able to smell them but the lady bugs will. Its worth a try, since they aint going away until summer.
Jenn January 9th, 2009 at 10:04 pm 6

I’ll have to get Hubby to crawl up there and check. I know there’s a bunch of junk stored up there, but if he can get to that back corner it’s worth a shot.