Column: Ladybugs begin invasion

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 14, 2001

I saw one of them the other day.

Saturday, April 14, 2001

I saw one of them the other day.

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It was creeping across the shelf below the dining room window. It looked tired, moving lazily across the surface. It alone was no threat, but the sight of one is a harbinger of others.

It was the first ladybug of the season.

The little bugs were everywhere last summer, our first in Albert Lea. We’ve never seen anything like it. I’m told they are common here, and that people spend their summers sucking them up with dustbusters.

The strange thing about them is, I never used to have a problem with ladybugs. When you’re a kid, of course, a ladybug is cute. You bring it home and put it in a jar or something. But never had I seen swarms of them getting inside a house.

Their worst crime is being stupid – they flock to the light fixtures, crawl inside and end up dying there. Every couple weeks, I ended up conducting a mass funeral for 15 of those little suckers as I took down the living room light fixture and dumped it into the trash.

And they have no qualms about crawling right on your arm, or your head. Amy even swears one of them bit her.

So, we implemented a ladybug no-tolerance policy. The insects are terminated on sight, usually with a paper towel and a pinch of the fingers.

I’ve heard around town that these are Japanese lady bugs. Armed with that sliver of information, I did some poking around and came up with a little knowledge about my foe.

According to Iowa State University, the Asian lady beetle is a relatively new species imported to the United States. While some native species of ladybugs will &uot;wander inside,&uot; getting into houses is a &uot;distinctive and annoying trait of the Asian lady beetle,&uot; the university’s Web site said. They are common across Iowa, including Winnebago County. They must have migrated across the state line.

The site said the bugs are about a third of an inch long, varying in color from yellowish-orange to red, with deep orange being the most common color. They have 19 black spots that vary in darkness. I’ve never counted spots on the bugs I’ve seen, but that description seemed pretty dead-on.

It says they don’t cause much harm, but they have been known to pinch exposed skin every once in a while – that’s how Amy must have thought she was bitten.

The site said the most effective way to manage the bugs is by sealing off cracks, gaps and openings before the bugs wander in during the summer.

I figure we have a little while until the beetles return in full force; hopefully a can of caulk will be all we need to seal those little critters out for this summer. Otherwise, it’s another season of bug hunting.

Dylan Belden is the Tribune’s managing editor. His column appears Sundays. E-mail him at dylan.belden@albertleatribune.com.