I have a bunch of ladybugs hybernating in different parts of my house. One large group I was tempted to put a "Do not disturb" sign on. Anyway, they move around at will and I'm afraid that they will starve before the warm weather sets in. Someone (I don't remember who) once said that they should be gathered and put in a jar in the refrigerator until warm weather sets in. What do you think? Leave them alone, put them out or in the refrig? (silly things I think of late at night)

-- Anonymous, November 20, 2001

Answers

Or collect them up, put them in a cardboard box with airholes, and bury it in straw out in the barn where they will be comfy all winter?

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001

Do you want mine that are living in the vacuum sweeper??

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001

Why do they keep falling in my nice warm cup of herb tea. I'm tired of being grossed out. The first time I didn't even know it was there, until I crunched on it. Yuk, falling in my tea isn't very lady like. Last week when the weather was nice and warm I took down all the curtains and washed them. The curtain rods and the part of the curtain where it goes through was just loaded with them. Some of them even took a trip through the washing machine and were still alive. There are more and more every year. Every day they are crawling across the cupboards. But, in their defense, I haven't had an aphid in years. It is kind of cool to look at them through a magnifying glass when they are laying on their backs and wiggling their little legs. As you can tell, I'm easily entertained.

-- Anonymous, November 21, 2001

I let them stay inside until they start moving about in spring, then gently put them outside, to start eating insect pests.

JOJ

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2001

JOJ, I'll bet you don't have THOUSANDS of them!!!

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2001

Haven't had many for a couple of years, but we did share two winters with hundreds of them inside. By spring, I was vacuuming them up from just about every window jamb....also had trouble painting some outbuildings a few years back b/c they were covering the places that I wanted to paint!

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2001

Diane, I didn't have thousands of them in the past (only a few hundred, I'd guess), and this year I only seem to have a few dozen. I miss them! I miss identifying which kinds had chosen my house to winter over in. My absolute favorite is the "twice stabbed lady bug", which is shiny black, with a fairly large bright red shiny spot on each side. CUTE!

JOJ

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2001

Sheepish, be careful: the vacuum treatment is likely to off the little cuties!

JOJ

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2001

JOJ, I must admit in years past I have very carefully collected each little bug and put it outside in the spring. I am not sure what has happened in Michigan, but someone told me that Michigan State University said that what we have are asian imports. They BITE and are a terrible addition to our home. In the evening they commit suicide at a rapid rate into whatever you happen to be drinking and they taste TERRIBLE. Last year I had to put cheese cloth over my maple syrup finishing pot as they were drowning in it faster than I could scoop them out, as the house got warmer and they came out.

This fall outside they were flying around so thick that your hair would get full of them. They have become a curse rather than a blessing IMHO.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2001

Diane, we had them in record numbers fall of 2000. I just read recently that there was a bumper crop of aphids in 2000, hence the bumper crop of lady beetles. Perhaps the aphids were plentiful in your area this year as well.

Yes, many (most?) of them are the Asian lady beetles. They are essentiallly harmless. I've been pinched by them. It is speculated that they're checking for moisture when they pinch you. I certainly agree that I've only been pinched when I am a bit sweaty. I accidentally crushed one this fall, but there was no noxious smell. Perhaps only some of them smell? I don't know the answer to that one!

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2001

oops! Actually, JOJ, they were dead when I vacuumed them up. The ones that survived over the winter (and how do you tell...they sort of hibernate!) got airborn and flew the, well not exactly, coop.

My housekeeping has not won any awards....

I don't recall being bitten recently, but I know I have been bitten by a ladybug of some kind. Nasty cute little things (how I feel about racoons, too!)

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2001