You can thank the garden catalog companies like Gurney's and Spring Hill for the asian/japanese lady beetles. Years ago, when you wanted to use natural ways to eliminate aphids you could order a carton from the catalogs and they would send the orange with black spots asian/japanese lady bugs. These bugs have no natural enemies in North America. It is said the native birds will not eat them because of the horrible taste.
I know this because my dad and uncle would order from the seeds and sets from the catalogs. Though dad never ordered the lady beetles, my uncle did.
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.
Both adult and young lady beetles bite leaving a small red welt, ladybug young will bite but the adults do not.
Here is a site on how to control them.
https://wholelifestylenutrition.com/...-lady-beetles/
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