They’re immigrants from a distant land.

Friday, March 29, 2002

They’re immigrants from a distant land. They cluster in doorways and by windows, creep across the ceiling and along the wall. They hang out in dark corners and light fixtures – wherever they can find a bit of extra warmth.

And wherever they show up, they are unwanted.

Who are they? Lady bugs, a.k.a. Harmonia axyridis, or multicolored Asian lady beetles.

For nearly four years they have been bothering area residents, few of whom are unaffected by the invasion, especially in the past two years. From every corner of the county the cry goes up: How long shall we be plagued by these creatures?

But what can you do? Not much, as it turns out, unless you’re willing to bring out the heavy artillary, like insecticide bombs, or spend time every day hunting them down with vacuum cleaners. The best thing to do this spring, say many experts, may be to start planning for next fall by dealing with the cracks and gaps in outside walls that let them get in.

Preventative measures are the best approach, according to Sharon Davis, an extension educator for Freeborn County Extension office.

&uot;I know that we’ve caulked up the cracks in the walls outside our house and sprayed with insecticide around the foundation,&uot; Davis said. Personally, she doesn’t like using any poison inside the house, and knows that any treatments, inside or out, will have to be repeated on a regular basis. The lady beetles will keep coming back, she said.

According to Bruce Hatfield, a local pest control professional, his office has been getting from four to five calls each day about lady beetles in the past week or so. He thinks he’s been pretty successful in getting the creatures under control. But complete eradication probably won’t happen, he said. Any kind of pest control for lady beetles will require repeat treatments.

&uot;The beetles were hiding in the outside walls and have started moving out and toward the warmer parts of the building, which are usually inside,&uot; Hatfield said. They will keep doing that as the weather warms up in the daytime and then cools off at night, he said.

Hatfield also believes that good preventative measures in the fall can make the biggest difference in most situations. Because of the mild winter, next fall he expects the beetles to be an even bigger presence in people’s lives.

Candy Sorensen is one of those who needed to take more aggressive action at her home right away.

&uot;They were bad, just crawling across the ceiling all winter. On days that the sun would come out, they would swarm over the window, Sorensen said.

After spending more time than she wanted to vacuuming the pests up day after day, she and her husband decided to resort to stronger measures. They used insecticide bombs they had originally purchased to kill spiders, and fogged their whole house while they and their pets went away for a weekend. When they got back the house was full of hundreds of dead lady beetles. But since then, they have only been able to find a few crawling around here and there.

&uot;I think we’ve gotten them taken care of,&uot; she said.

According to entomologists in the extension service, multicolored Asian lady beetles arrived in the United States via both intentional release (for pest control purposes) and by accidental release from ships. They moved into Minnesota from adjoining states, with major infestations beginning in 1998.

The beetle is arounnd a third of an inch long, and the color can vary from orange to yellow to red or even black. They typically have 19 spots of varying sizes on their wing covers, although some beetles have no spots at all.

In their native habitat they spend the winter living in large colonies on the sides of cliffs, which is one explanation for why they seek out buildings during winter here. They start creeping into buildings in the fall, as they look for a warm place to spend winter.

These beetles, unlike the kind of &uot;ladybugs&uot; people are more used to, can pinch the skin. One thing they cannot do is reproduce inside the house, so residents at least won’t have to worry about finding nests of baby lady beetles in their walls.

More information about lady beetles, including different ways to cope with and prepare for their presence among us, is available on the Extension Web site, located at &t;www.extension.umn.edu&gt. Follow the links to the Yard and Garden Line or type &uot;lady beetles&uot; in the search box in the upper right corner of the screen.

Just don’t go looking for easy answers.