Sure, finding Asian Lady Beetles in your garden is good luck, but in your house?
Suddenly, lady beetles seem slightly less attractive when they are crawling up your laundry room wall and falling from the ceiling. I’m a fan of nature, but I’m also a fan of clean. Something about sharing space with any kind of beetle — lady or not — seems grubby.
Irrational fear
I don’t know about you, but whenever I encounter a bug — a single bug — in my house, I have this irrational fear that hundreds will start crawling out of the walls. Before I know it, I’ll be overrun.
Fortunately, I missed the perennial stink bug infestation. However, missing out on stink bugs must be an open invitation for Asian Lady Beetles.
Incidentally, it’s not the worst thing that could have happened. During hibernation, lady beetles don’t feed and can’t reproduce. They are not multiplying before my eyes. However, like stink bugs, lady beetles like to rest for the winter in groups.
When it comes to lady beetles, once you’ve seen one there are probably more. On the bright side, they won’t damage your home or get into your food. They are not poisonous or carriers of human disease. They will not reproduce or lay eggs indoors. Hopefully, they will leave you alone after they emerge in the spring.
On the downside, once they are in your house you’ll have to share your space throughout the fall, during winter warm-ups and into the spring before they make their exit.
At risk
Like any other pest, lady beetles have preferences when choosing a place to invade. Here are some factors that may make your home more attractive:
- Lady beetles are attracted to lighter colors: whites, grey, yellows. Light-colored houses, especially those with longitudinal color contrasts (like dark shutters), are more likely to be sought out.
- They prefer homes close to trees or woods.
- Highly illuminated southwest-facing walls are more attractive to lady beetles.
- A preexisting cluster of lady beetles will usually attract more.
Inside your house
The best way to keep Asian Lady Beetles out of your house is by preventing them from finding a way inside. Once they’ve nestled into a nice cozy hibernation spot, it’s hard to force them out.
Lady beetles will begin seeking shelter when outside temperatures fall in September and October. They will find their way into tight cracks and crevices, such as under siding, in wall voids or clustered tightly in the corners of attics and garages. From there, they’ll try to make their way into your home by squeezing through small cracks in window sills, door jams or foundations. Once they are settled inside, they will hibernate as long as it remains cold outside — and I think that’s key.
When temperatures warm up, like they did last week or on an unusually warm winter day or early in the spring, the beetles will emerge. Then they will become a nuisance. Conveniently, they are attracted to living areas where temperatures are moderate, so you’ll know when they’re awake.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered about 30 lady beetles huddled in the corner of my laundry room last weekend after no signs prior to the sighting. It wasn’t that they weren’t there all the time, they simply found a way indoors and concentrated there.
Too little too late
There’s really only one option once you’re supporting a colony of lady beetles — vacuuming. The best thing you can do is vacuum them up as you see them. Just be sure to get rid of the vacuum bag, or place a rag between the hose and dust collection bag to trap them and release them outside.
You may also try to use traps inside your home to remove lady beetles. One available trap you can try is a cardboard box with a sticky inner lining; however, there is no evidence lady beetles are attracted to it beyond accidentally flying into it and becoming trapped. The second option is a black light trap; however, these are only effective at night when the rest of the room is dark.
Attempting to kill lady beetles isn’t recommended because they benefit agriculture and horticulture by controlling aphid and scale infestations. Plus, when they are bothered, they can secrete an unpleasant odor and a yellowish fluid that can stain curtains and clothing.
Using insecticides inside is also a bad idea for a few reasons. First, it’s relatively ineffective, as any beetles hidden out of the foggers reach will survive. And it’s a bad idea to kill beetles you can’t see to clean up. because it’s possible another pest will begin to feed on the corpses. Lastly, pesticides are poisonous and using them inside for any reason is a risk.
Prevention
When it comes to Asian Lady Beetles, like so many other things, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The best way to prevent beetles from getting indoors is to make sure they can’t get indoors.
Sealing entry points. Sealing cracks and openings is the best way to prevent lady beetles from entering your home. The perfect time to take this preventative measure is in late spring or summer before adults begin searching for overwintering sites. Make sure to seal cracks around windows, doors, soffits, fascia boards, utility pipes and wires. It’s also a good idea to repair any damaged window screens and install screening behind attic vents.
Exterior barrier treatment. If lady beetles are a yearly problem, you may want to consider using pesticides outdoors as a perimeter treatment during late fall. Some examples of effective insecticides you can find at your local hardware store include those containing bifenthrin, cyfluthrin, cypermethrin, deltamethrin and permethrin. Double-check to make sure the product you’ve selected is labeled for exterior use and apply it around doors, windows, rooflines and around your foundation. Pay particular attention to the south and west sides of your house where the insects prefer to congregate.
Related Content
- How to spot the differences between ladybugs and Asian lady beetles
- Simplest way to eliminate stink bugs indoors
- How to rid your home of boxelder bugs
- How to seal Asian lady beetles, stink bugs out of your house
Resources
- University of Kentucky
- Iowa State University
- Purdue Extension
- University of Minnesota Extension
- United States Department of Agriculture
- National Park Service
- Penn State University
- Oklahoma State University
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In the south they also bite. My Aunt is allergic to the juices they excrete. They also tend to target house trailers. They are an annoyance and I was hoping to see a home remedy like sprinkle cinnamon on the floor. (which works for ants cause they don’t like it) We can’t afford to throw away a vacuum cleaner bag every time we vacuum. Hopefully someone will find something that will detour them without being poisonous or costly. Thank you for sharing.
If you can borrow a shop-vac, there’s no bag to throw out.
I found that the best thing after you find them in the home is to mix in a spray bottle Blue Dawn, about two tablespoons to the rest water. Spray the bugs as you see them. It basically will kill them quickly, although it will take a bit, but it will immediately cease their ability to fly. Lemongrass oil is supposed to keep them out, but I think it was too late and they had hundreds already around the casing of the bedroom window, so it really did not keep them out, as they were already there. We live in a double, and this was my first experience. I will probably be first locating the opening, which seems to be around the southwestern bedroom window, and making sure it is completely caulked shut, then spraying full strength essential oil, lemongrass or another strong scent. Hoping that will work. It was such a mess with them dying from the spray, we ended up over the time of two months cleaning up probably 200 dead bugs.
I did this and it worked. Dawn platinum bleach alternative is what I used and it worked great. I also sprayed around my doors, windows etc. I live in an RV and they are bad where I am because of the woods we live next to. They are really bad here.
we live in a trailor we fight lady bugs 2 times a year there are thousands and thousands we mix dawn and water in a jar it kills them ans stink bugs we se a dust pan and small paint brush to get them up we also use a very small wet vac really does the jobs it is like powder when we empty it my daughter sent defunk its a minty smell they dont like mint wish me luck its been a night mare the last 5 yrs until then i never seen one good luck yall from a little town in tn
I bought a mobile that was originally a vacation home, omg, it is so infested I want to burn it down! Starting painting my walls and hundreds dropped out of the outlets when I removed the covers! Underneath the mobile is horrible. We replaced a window and they poured out of the wall!
I have steamed our carpets 2 times,vacuumed them up , smashed them, and can’t stand them anymore!
I picked up a vinegar based window cleaner and squirted one and it just fell over and died !
I am going to go buy a truck load of it! I will also be dusting outside some diatomic earth and pray it works
With all these comments I thought I was the only one with bugs Im going to try these remedies Wish me luck
Here in Wisconsin when the days are nice you like to leave your doors and windows open well guess who arrives Thanks for all the input I am on the way to the store Dawn and vinegar
The best way to prevent them would be to make the DNR stop releasing them.During The lock down in 2020 there wasn’t any of them in my area of WV but this year they’re everywhere again. I consider them a danger,if they’re infesting breaker boxes and outlets they’re posing a fire danger also for asthma sufferers they’re a health hazard.
I also have had these asian Beatles/ladybugs since moving in to my place just over a year ago. Where I agree that they have become a pest, I only see about 6 or 7 at a time and can’t imagine having to deal with hundreds of them like some of you have experienced, however can we get back to the part in the article where it says not to kill them? Let’s think about the big picture and the damage we are causing our ecosystem by mindlessly killing off insects, (especially using chemicals) that are an integral part to life on this planet. Sounds dramatic but I hope we can figure out a better solution.
We live in Southern Manitoba, Canada
My husband farms and had grown soy beans on the fields surrounding our home last year.
This winter, it was so horrendous…ALL WINTER LONG. Every day I was cleaning up hundreds of them.
I sprayed with Chemicals which would kill them and use my dust buster to pick them up.
But, the next day there are more!!
Hopefully, they will move outside when the weather warms up.
Normally, I am not this dramatic but this is insane!
Thankfully my husband won’t be seeding soy beans again this year….or I’ll have to move to town!!
That’s certainly interesting. I remember hoards like that congregating in the old farmhouse I grew up in in the late 90s and early 2000s, but it seems like they haven’t been as bad in recent history.
Are you out of your mind? Did you actually say, “Release them outside?” They are are a curse to my home. I literally had thousands of them in my home. I had a new home built and the builders left all the doors and windows open. It has been a nightmare. Every time I kill a group of these critters I pray that it be the last. Then the next day I find hundreds more.