Japanese Ladybugs? Or Invading Space Aliens? You be the judge.

[dafremen]

Last fall my house was infested with these orange shelled, black spotted ladybugs.

At first it seemed like they were just a nuisance, and in fact in our naivete we almost welcomed the little buggers..I mean after ALL they were LADYBUGS right?

Then they started biting us. The didn't nibble either, let me tell you. These little buggers BIT. They didn't let go either, they'd hang on til they either got squished or got away with a bit of flesh.

I asked our landlord about them and he said they are a Japanese variety that is more agressive. ("No $h*t" I muttered.)

So it's been all winter, everything else has died or gone into hibernation and although we've managed to kill most of them, they're still popping up and biting people. I'm starting to think they aren't ladybugs at all, but some sort of alien contingent waiting out the hostile weather to scout out the planet and mount an invasion. Starting with MY HOUSE!!!

Has anyone else seen these little buggers? Have they bitten you? Is an exorcist called for?

HEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!!!!

8( Daffy

P.S. They seem to emit a foul musky odor too...yuck!

[This message has been edited by dafremen (edited 02-20-2001).]

[thekingofpain]

They are there because you harbor a zillion things they want to eat, or---they would be somewhere else as they cant survive otherwise, they will eat aphids, mealybugs, spider mites and the eggs of other insects, unless the food source is available, they will "move on", id suggest you look closer at the plant species around you for an infestation of hosts---they are fulfilling the ladybugs breakfast, lunch AND dinner if available...
As far as them "biting you" there has been an instance of a Chinese beetle (looks like a ladybug) being imported as a beneficial insect to farmers, it bites (unlike the ladybug we all know and love) and does smell out of the ordinary, this may be whats occuring in your area, are you near an agricultural growing zone???



[This message has been edited by thekingofpain (edited 02-20-2001).]

[MrEd]

Sounds like they turned into "Ninja Ladybugs". Get a bug light. If they successfully evade that device, try to fog the **** out of 'em. They're probably under your house, or in your eaves (sp?).

-MrEd

[brandon184]

Does it look more like a ladybug or like a beetle? We these orangish/blackish beetles with wings that don't work well. The shells are more flat than round, and you definately hear it when you squish them. They do bite, sometimes, and are only here in fall/winter. And when they are here, they INVADE. But only at the schools, mainly.

Word of caution : Don't eat them. I heard some guy got violently ill. Don't ask, either.

- Brandon

[This message has been edited by brandon184 (edited 02-20-2001).]

[OuTpaTienT]

Guest: Hey, look at the ladybugs.
Host: That's no lady, that's my wife. And don't call me Bugs.

--

Hmmm, I didn't know they were so vicious. They must know they're gonna die for biting a big giant creature that can easily crush them. So they must be Kamikaze Biting Ladybugs from Japan. Or was that one of those Japanese metal bands?

Are you sure it's only Ladybugs? No Manbugs? If they bite mostly men then I'd assume they are Pissed off, Men hating, Lesbian, Kamikaze, Biting Ladybugs from the Far East. And if that's true, then all ya got to do is go down to your local supermarket or drug store and pick up a "Pissed off, Men hating, Lesbian, Kamikaze, Biting Ladybugs from the Far East Motel". They'll check in, but the won't check out.

[BFlurie]

They're in your house 'cause it's warm. Never, ever heard of Ladybugs biting. They might be Milkweed or Box-Elder Bugs.

[[BR]Magikal]

Box elder bugs dont bite. We used to get them in the summer time and they would be everywhere! There would be so many of them on the front of the house that it would look like the walls were orange and black when in fact they were blue and white. The only way to get rid of them was with soapy wter. It was always a trip watching thousands apon thousands of those stupid things die.

We would have to spray at least twice a month to keep them outt of the house. They would come out of every crack.

This winter it seems that they have been having an infestation of lady bugs them selves. When I went home for a week I made a comment about all of the orange lady bug carcasses that scattered the floor of almost every room in the house and to my surprise my father told me that they bit.

[dafremen]

Trust me.. these are NOT box elder bugs. They look JUST like lady bugs except instead of a red shell they have an orange shell. I think thekingofpain might be right. We do live in a highly agricultural area and perhaps these are Chinese beetles instead of ladybugs. Let me repeat..they look EXACTLY like ladybugs. As for my harboring prey in my house, that might be true, but there is an almost unnatural lack of spiders in my house ANYWHERE even in the basement. In fact excpet for the psychotic ladybugs, I've seen very FEW houses as devoid of insect life as ours.

8( Daffy


[This message has been edited by dafremen (edited 02-21-2001).]

[dafremen]

Update:

I found the ladybug. This article descibes them as the Multicolored Asian Ladybug, or the "Halloween Ladybug."

<IMG SRC="http://ceinfo.unh.edu/Common/Graphics/ladybeet.JPG" border=0>

The article is found at: http://ceinfo.unh.edu/Counties/Hillsborough/ladybug.htm

Hoever this misinformed "scientist" falsely claims that

The Halloween ladybug beetle will not bite or sting you.

Bullpuckey pal!!! Ive seen abused Dobermans with a better temperament. Those things bite HARD too! Yow!!


8( Daffy

P.S. Here is another article I found which supports my experience with these beetles:
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/ladybeetles.html

Lady beetles do not feed on people though they infrequently pinch exposed skin.

Of course these nature watching scientists STILL downplay the absolutely VICIOUS nature of these bugs. They bite...plain and simple. They ARE looking for a warm place, which usually means down the neck of yer PJs in the middle of the night. Then you roll over and YOW!!!

[This message has been edited by dafremen (edited 02-21-2001).]

[GroundZero3]

haha MrEd ninja ladybugs. for some reason i find that really funny.

Jason

[spuck]

in central maine we had a lot of orange lady bugs.no one has got bit that i know of.they seem to be more every year.

[OuTpaTienT]

Oh sure GZ. "Ninja bugs" is funny but "Pissed off, Men hating, Lesbian, Kamikaze, Biting Ladybugs from the Far East" is not? [sigh] Well, there goes my career as a comedy writer. Good thing I kept my day job.

[brandon184]

We don't have "red shelled" lady bugs here in Saskatchewan. All of them are orange shelled, and look EXACTLY like in the picture above.

Maybe the ones in your house are test tube experiments.

- Brandon