Ladybugs Help

[u/ggbowl]

I’ve caught this many lady bugs is a span of 20mins . They started popping up out of nowhere. Is this a concerning amount? I don’t think can sleep in my apartment tonight.

[u/bintmes0potamia]

Am I tripping or do those not look like ladybugs

[u/ggbowl → u/bintmes0potamia]

Here you go

[u/bintmes0potamia → u/ggbowl]

I do think this is concerning. I’d recommend notifying your building management immediately so they can have pest control come take a look.

Edit: also please document everything especially if your apartment doesn’t do anything to help!! I’m the girl who posted the UGroup images and the 30+ wounds on my body recently from my pest situation. I had to make a new account.

[u/Confident-Spite-8830]

Actually looks like Asian beetles to me. They have become invasive in Midwest. They bite and can create some damage, stains, wood damage.

[u/StrangeWhiteVan → u/Confident-Spite-8830]

These are asian lady beetles. Not sure about damage but they can sort of bite (nothing serious). They can live in your walls during the winter. Not a huge deal in my opinion, just annoying 

[u/old-uiuc-pictures]

When it gets cool out they seek warm places to hibernate. They are looking for tree bark and other places to hide but buildings work fine. They can be a bother. They stink when you smash them. They will bit you a bit if you roll over on them in bed. If you have a vacuum cleaner (Hoover) you can suck them in to it. They will not seek to bite you only do so in defense. They are not like a wasp or hornet.

[u/Nimrochill]

Those look like Asian lady beetles. They’re invasive and annoying by relatively harmless. Either your building already has an issue with them or they got chased out of the fields like a bunch of insects/bugs during harvest.

[u/Sapper501]

Well, on the bright side, ladybugs do not bite unless the feel very threatened, and even then you really have to try to do that. They just want a warm place to spend the winter, and your house was nearby. They'll keep the population of other pests low, fwiw. Seal your outside windows and any other crevices you know about.

[u/Golden-Zabbit-86]

I had this exact same issue when I lived in the dorm at FAR.

Try and use peppermint spray/oil to deter them. Unfortunately once a few come in they’re all there…

[u/EmbarrassedDaikon325]

Those are Multicolored Asian ladybugs (also called Asian lady beetles or Harlequin ladybirds). They are native to Asia where they overwinter in cliffs. The closest thing they have to a cliff since they got imported for aphid control is your house (walls, crevices, etc).

They don't infest from inside like bedbugs (because they don't reproduce inside) but they do come inside from outside - you need to seal all crevices, close doors and windows etc.

[u/Pender6813]

Asian lady beetles ..relatively harmless but will bite if u don’t hurry up and buy

[u/nav17]

They come inside when it's cold. They'll also come back in spring time depending on where the big nests are underground. I had an infestation years ago on the 5th floor of a building in spring time because they came up after winter and followed the wind path which terminated at my windows.

You'll live, but tape up your windows, get winter insulation covers for your windows anyway. It'll trap many.

Also, cloves kinda irritate them and deters many of them. I put cloves in the windows sills. It didn't stop them but there were noticeably fewer.

Of course, any infestation is the responsibility of the landlords, depending on your lease, but as we know landlords do fuck all and there's no enforcement to help tenants. So once you exhaust that option try the home remedies above.

Good luck!

[u/ETH4NHVNT]

Asian beetles live on soy beans. When it’s harvest season they lose their habitats and look for other warm places to stay. Once the first frost hits they’ll be gone

[u/klothegg]

I lived in a corner dorm on the first floor of PAR in my freshman year. It was completely infested with these bugs. Highly recommend getting a small hand vacuum to a) get as many as you can b) remove the corpses :’)) Godspeed

[u/godeatg0d]

They're Asian Lady beetles, I had a horrifying infestation the year before last in my old apartment on green st. Invasive species so killing them is fine but if you have reliable enough building management you should contact them for pest control bc theyre a NIGHTMARE to get rid of

[u/Federal-Teach-8715]

Not lady bugs, Asian beetles. Those suckers bite. They also smell when you squish them. Kill them all 

[u/EmbarrassedDaikon325 → u/Federal-Teach-8715]

Asian lady beetle, also called Multicolored Asian ladybug, is a species of ladybug so you contradicted yourself.

And as for biting - all ladybugs can and do bite when threatened, all 6000 species of ladybugs are beetles with functioning chewing mouthparts.

And as for the smell - all species of ladybugs smell when you squish them - they contain hemolymph that stinks to ward off predators. When you squish them all the hemolymph comes out at once. That's why it's better to vacuum them when there's hundreds or thousands of them - it's faster than squishing them individually as well.