What are these Insects?
Alright, does anyone have these little insects crawling around their home right now? I do, I took the picture below earlier today.
One might think that these are cute little ladybugs, but with a closer look, they will see that they are actually Asian lady beetles.
Asian lady beetles are quite different then ladybugs and can quickly invade a home if they are not dealt with quickly.
How Can I tell if these are ladybugs or lady beetles?
Here are a few signs that you actually have Asian lady beetles instead of ladybugs.
The color of the lady beetles shell is a brownish orange and younger ones can be a bit red in color. They are usually not the vivid red color of a ladybug.- Lady beetles have a scent, and smell. When they fear danger, they let off this strong scent to warn other lady beetles that danger is near.
- Lady beetles multiply quickly. If you notice several quickly appearing in your home, it is most likely lady beetles.
- Lady beetles hibernate in the winter usually in the walls of homes. In very early spring (still very cold outside, in my case below freezing), they start to wake up and make their way indoors to stay alive.
- Ladybugs die off in the fall and lady beetles hibernate. If it is still really cold outside (Below 50ºF) and you are seeing insects that look like ladybugs, you most likely have lady beetles and not ladybugs in the home.
These are just a few ways to figure out which insect is in your home.
10 Ways To Get Rid of Ladybugs AKA Asian Lady Beetles
Getting rid of lady beetles can be somewhat challenging. Here are 10 natural ways to help you get rid of ladybugs AKA Asian lady beetles in your home.
1. Winterize Your Home – Lady beetles come in to the house most likely in the fall or even closer to winter. They then hibernate and when it starts to warm up in the spring they come out of hibernation and work their way into the homes to stay alive. In the fall, they will often find a place in the walls to sleep for the winter. By winterizing your home, be sure to seal your doors and windows. Caulk the windows, replace weather stripping if needed and make it hard for any creatures to essentially get into your home.
2. Act Fast – One of the most important things you can do when you notice these bugs in your home is to act fast. These bugs can quickly multiply! They are really good at communicating with one another with their scent and this quickly attracts more into your home. Act fast to get rid of them before the problem gets out of hand!
3. Choose A Dark Colored Home – Lady beetles are attracted to lightly painted homes. If you really have a problem, consider changing the paint on your home to a darker color. This will help keep them out of your home.
4. Start gardening – Lady beetles are great for your garden! They eat aphids, a little bug that can really harm your garden. Welcome lady beetles into your garden, they can really be beneficial!
5. Plant Mums – Lady beetles do not like mums. Be proactive and plant mums around the windows and around the entrance of the house. Did you know that mums are a key ingredient in flea powder as well. Protect your home from all kinds of insects with mums!
6. Vacuum Them Up – Using your attachment tools on your vacuum, vacuum up these lady beetles. Most of the lady beetles will survive being vacuumed up. If you have a garden, you can transfer them to your garden to help get rid of aphids. If you prefer to get rid of them all together, place the vacuum bag into a sealed plastic bag or you can burn the bag that they are in.
7. Use Diatomaceous Earth Powder – Diatomaceous Earth Powder can be spread around the base of your home. This will not only help prevent lady beetles from entering the home at ground level, but it will also help deter other creatures as well.
8. Remove The Lady Beetles Scent – This can be quite hard to do, as you often can not smell the scent unless the lady beetles senses danger. Lady beetles do not like citrus or citronella scents so use this scent liberally when wiping up after these bugs. Make a citrus spray with Wild Orange Essential Oil (You Can Buy It Here) diluted in some water. Spray liberally in areas you see the lady beetles in.
9. Use Cloves – Whole Cloves are another scent that lady beetles do not like. Place small bags of cloves in areas that are heavily infested. The smell will help in aiding these little insects to find a new home.
10. Use Bay Leaves – Whole Spice Bay Leaves, Whole can also be used to get rid of lady beetles. Lady beetles do not like the scent of bay leaves. Try making small pouches of bay leaves and cloves and place them around heavily infested areas.
With all of these tips, you will be on your way to get rid of ladybugs AKA Asian lady beetles forever! Got any tips for us? Feel free to leave them in the comment section below.
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I have ladybugs in a truck that hasn’t been moved in about months . How can I get rid of them?
Move that lazy truck.
I do know that diatomaceous earth helps. However if you’re going to buy diatomaceous earth you will want to get the diatomaceous earth that is labeled as food grade diatomaceous earth. The reason being is that it is different from the other and more safe for you to be in the house with it and safe for your pets as well. Diatomaceous earth is also good to rub into pets for because it sucks the moisture out of fleas and ticks and certain other critters. Again, food grade only.
Put bleach in a spray bottle and just spray them with it or soap works it doesn’t take much for them to drop dead????
OMG…. I just walked into laundry room and the entire ceiling was covered
with these bugs!! It freaked me out so bad; had to walk out and close door behind me!! HELP!
I did some research for a newspaper on the Lady Bug problem and here is what I found…
Lady Asian Beetles, as they are properly called are a problem even as far north as Quebec, Canada. Quebec residents blamed strawberry farmers for importing them as a natural pesticide. (I read on this site that someone blamed American potato farmers.) The truth is that they came, and are still coming, on cargo ships from overseas and have worked their way up the Mississippi river. They have now spread as far north as the rural communities along the U.S / Canadian border in all border provinces.
The first thing to note is that everyone in rural areas can have these little devils. Some more than others but don’t be ashamed to talk about it. Once they are mentioned you’ll be surprised to find out all your neighbours have the same problem, old house or new. City dwellers don’t seem to have fallen victim yet, which is too bad because once they do, a solution will probably be found. Diatomaceous earth helps but this white powder must come in contact with the bugs and as a result tends to be messy. It is also dangerous if inhaled by people or pets. A vacuum is a quick remedy and keeps the house looking nice but you’ll be doing it several times a day. There is no solution yet. Some companies sell ultra-violet light gadgets to attract and trap these pests, but testimonials show they have little or no success.
My research was published in a newspaper and I received many responses from readers desperate for a solution. One lady called to say her garage was so covered that the walls appeared to be constantly moving. Yuuck!
Inside the house they show up mostly around windows as they are attracted to the light. The beetles enter the house cracks and crannies during the fall, and lie dormant. As they wake up during warm spells they migrate towards the outside, often by entering the house and then moving about as if trapped inside. Once they get to the light source, the windows, they just hang about. Often on warm sunny days exterior walls can have dozens of beetles sunning themselves. Yes they do bite, and yes they do stink is squished.
I admit I am of no help solving the problem, however my article did have one good side effect that you can borrow here. People cut out my report and stuck it on their refrigerators. How did this help? It solved the embarrassment problem that they had when visitors saw the Lady Beetles in the home. It was proof that “Everybody has ’em, and you can’t get rid of ’em no matter how clean your house is.” So print this message, stick it up, and enjoy the day.
It’s been said that the governments scientists sprayed them on us to kill the Army Worms they dumped on us earlier that is killing all of our Tree life!!! Pine Trees included… 🙁
We did some remodeling and removed/replaced some windows in the fall one year. When the carpenter removed a window, we found the little buggers ‘packed’ in the area surrounding the window frames…they were ‘packed’ in so tight, they were like ‘insulation’….really took up a big area around each window, like square foot sections and as thick as the wall!! never saw anything like it. I think that’s why ‘when you kill one, 10 more show up! They are camped out inside the walls of your house, unseen!
I have lots of them here in New Glasgow Nova Scotia. I’ve been killing them steady, what a pain!
i tried putting the moth balls around the windows, it works very well only bad thing is that i can not stand the smell of the moth ballsi am trying whole cloves and bay leaves today let you know if that works
Did the bay leaves & cloves work?
These stinky beetles invaded our home in Kentucky this past September, and I am at my wits end at this point. Even my dog is tired of them and he eats anything that moves! If they were lady beetles they would have left already because a ‘lady always knows when it’s time to leave’. I’m going to try the orange oil spray, and the lemon slices and the cloves. I have some food grade DE as well, so maybe one of the above treatments will be the final eviction notice I’ve been searching for. Thanks for all the ideas, and I’ll let you know if anything changes our current hostage situation.
I spent over 45 minutes tonight vacuuming these suckers tonight. We just bought a house and they seem to invade just my daughters room!!!We sprayed the cracks of the window sill (one bad thing about easy clean Windows, lots of grooves to hide in), and vacuumed.At least so far they can sleep in there. An improvement over last night
Wow! I thought I was alone in this one. I’ve dealt with the little buggers all winter…cold then warm, didn’t matter to them…warm house was all they wanted. I closed off rooms and took all kinds of steps not to mention the time and energy lost. We have cats and they can’t stand them.
We do not like chemicals in our house, so I finally realized I had to put weather stripping around doors that lead to the attics and around the Windows, even if to double up, that has worked with the best result. However, they do move on until they find other ways to get in, but never the less this has contained them tremendously. Just seal up everywhere they seem to be coming in…believe me you will notice some relief. It also helps to seal up those places where any critter can get in, such as mice and snakes….won’t go there…yuck!
SEAL THEM UP!
By the way, I used painters tape around the doors because if I need to open it, it comes off easy. I used only wide enough to cover opening. For the bedroom and kitchen I used clear packing tape so not as easy to see. I really don’t care what it looks like, it serves the purpose. I say use whatever you feel like using, it’s your sanctuary. I do plan on planting Mums again as soon as they are available and use Lemons and anything else to help curtail the buggers.
Good luck!
Wow! I thought I was alone in this one. I’ve dealt with the little buggers all winter…cold then warm, didn’t matter to them…warm house was all they wanted. I closed off rooms and took all kinds of steps not to mention the time and energy lost. We have cats and they can’t stand them.
We do not like chemicals in our house, so I finally realized I had to put weather stripping around doors that lead to the attics and around the Windows, even if to double up, that has worked with the best result. However, they do move on until they find other ways to get in, but never the less this has contained them tremendously. Just seal up everywhere they seem to be coming in…believe me you will notice some relief. It also helps to seal up those places where any critter can get in, such as mice and snakes….won’t go there…yuck!
SEAL THEM UP!
By the way, I used painters tape around the doors because if I need to open it, it comes off easy. I used only wide enough to cover opening. For the bedroom and kitchen I used clear packing tape so not as easy to see. I really don’t care what it looks like, it serves the purpose. I say use whatever you feel like using, it’s your sanctuary. I do plan on planting Mums again as soon as they are available and use Lemons and anything else to help curtail the buggers.p
Good luck!
I use a Dirt Devil like a Dust Buster that makes it easier to reach and then dump them in the toilet and flush. I spray the outside brick wall to the sun with insect killer and it helps a lots. I understand they come out of the mountain I live at the foot of around November each year. This is the first spring I have had to deal with them. They must have hibernated last Fall for the first time. I appreciate the list of treatments to rid these pesty bugs.
If you live at the foot of a mountain around November, where do you live the rest of the year? And do you have this problem at your other house? Or houses? and is this why you move???
They don’t not bite you they take there little sharp wings and pucture a hole in your skins and lay a larva in you the next you think one has put the bite on you get your magnafine glass and pair of tweezers and see what u dig out of your skin and then thank the government for bringing them to the USA.