You might notice a few new unwanted roommates clinging to your ceiling or walls. They won’t pay rent and they won’t make much noise, but they could be abundant, and you can expect them to stay all winter.
The Asian Lady Beetle, a beetle that looks much like the common ladybug, has cropped up in New Hampshire houses and buildings this fall looking for a safe place to stay as winter approaches.
According to Alan Eaton, an entomologist with the UNH cooperative extension, the relatively harmless beetle, sometimes called the Halloween ladybug, finds shelter indoors starting in September and lasting through November.
Eaton said the beetle is most attracted to light surfaces and will swarm towards lights, or buildings bathed in sunlight, to find a home in crevices, attics, walls, and on ceilings and doors.
According to Eaton, the beetle was first detected in New Hampshire in 1994. It is native to Asia and is useful in gardens and forests because it eats harmful aphids.
The species was unsuccessfully introduced to the United States as a means of pest control, but in 1988 found its way back to the U.S. traveling through inter-coastal waterways in shipping materials. The beetle was first seen in southern states but has made its way northeast with prevailing winds.
UNH Housekeeping Manager Gene Gargano recognizes that the beetles crop up in some dorms almost every year, but said their presence is usually only noticeable for a few days. Gargano said that the buildings most commonly affected are those that are tall, sunny and near the woods. He noted that Williamson, Christenson and the Gables have been particularly alluring locations for the beetle in past years.
“A few cold days and then some warm ones seem to signal for them to gather,” Gargano said.
Students like Nicole Hart, a resident of SERC A, noticed the beetles swarming last week. Hart has seen up to 30 of them at one time in her sunny-corner- room, and has been catching them in a cup and releasing them outside or flushing them down the toilet to keep them at bay.
“Normally a ladybug wouldn’t bother you, but when there’s such a big amount of them it’s kind of scary,” Hart said.
Tenants of Young Drive received an email about the beetles warning students to remove air conditioners from windows, put down storm windows and keep doors closed to stop the invaders from coming inside.
Perry Bryant, a landlord with Bryant Property Management in Durham, said that every year he gets a few questions about the beetles. He tells tenants that the best thing to do is to sweep, vacuum or dust-buster the beetles and then put them back outside.
Bryant, Gargano and Eaton all agree that pesticides are not the best way to deal with the beetle and said that they have never used pesticides in the past.
Eaton said the beetles have been known to bite people, but don’t do it often.
“It’s mostly just the yuck factor,” Eaton said. “Once in a while they will bite and it’s enough that you go ‘ouch.’ But mostly they’re fine and cute until they land in your cheerios.”
Eaton said it is hard to predict which years will bring in beetles and which years won’t. He said that the beetles might stay in walls or attics all winter, but will most likely reappear around March and April, trying to find a way back outside.
Eaton is the author of an Asian Lady Beetle fact sheet which is available on the UNH cooperative extension website. Eaton wrote the sheet back in 2001, which is the last time students noticed the beetles gathering in droves.
While the beetles pose no threat, they may still be unwanted visitors.
“As a landloard, I see that these bugs aren’t paying rent and I don’t want them there either,” Bryant said.
http://ladybugneedahome.blogspot.com/2008/08/lady-bugs-need-home.html
Ladybugs need a home!
All Creatures have the right to live and to be left alone. The Asian Lady Bug Beetle does not create weapons of destruction, like the so called intelligent human........so give them some shelter and a warm place to sleep.