What You Should Know about Ladybug Infestation
There are various ways to deal with a ladybug infestation. As pretty as these bugs look out in the yard, they are kind of creepy when a number of them get inside your house.
Every autumn, millions of ladybugs swarm around houses, looking for warm places to hibernate the winter away. They are also known as Asian lady Beetles, and they are good for gardeners and farmers, because they eat aphids.
Actual ladybugs are different from multicolored Asian beetles. Ladybugs are a very bright shade of red, with black spots. The lady beetles are different shades of orange, some dark, some light. The spot patterns can also seem to be different from one bug to the next. Some bugs only have a few spots, and others have many. It seems that no two are alike.
On warm autumn days, ladybugs or Asian beetles may swarm around your house, looking for a way in, before the weather turns cold. They may land everywhere on you if you go outside, and it’s not the same as watching them in a garden, when they’re on you. If they get inside, you will be faced with a ladybug infestation, and they are not fun – or easy to get rid of.
One way to get rid of the ladybugs in your house is simply to vacuum them up with your hose attachment on your vacuum cleaner. This takes a bit of time, but is a safe way to remove them. If you vacuum up many bugs, don’t leave the vacuum hose laying on top of the unit when you’re done.
Otherwise the ladybugs will find their way out of the bag, out the nozzle, and there is the problem again. You can stuff something into the end of the nozzle to make sure they don’t get out.
Another way to keep your ladybug infestation at bay is to seal up spaces or cracks around your windows and doors. This makes it harder for the beetles to get into the house. They don’t need much room, though, so be thorough.
Spray around window and door frames with an insect spray that contains permethrin or pyrethrins. Ladybugs seem to especially hate these two pesticides. Don’t spray it on surfaces that children in your house might come into contact with.
You can use a garden hose to spray off a ladybug infestation that has gathered on the outside of your house, because they’re looking for ways to get in. You may have to do this two or three times a day, on days when the swarms are actively looking for a place to hibernate. You can spray with a soap and water mixture and clean your siding at the same time.
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