# Flood of ladybugs



## clintonbemrose (Oct 23, 2001)

I think you will find that these are Japanese beetles and yes they seem to bite you and smell very strong.
Clint

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Clinton Bemrose
just South of Lansing Michigan


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## skruzich (Oct 9, 2003)

Uhhhmmm Japanese beetles are copper colored and are not a round beetle. Here is a japanese beetle.
http://washingtondcmetroweb.com/japanesebeetle1.htm 
If they are oval shaped like the orange ones, they are of the variety Hippodamia convergens
If they are more round orange then they are Coccinella septempunctata.
There is one that don't have spots, and it is called cycloneda munda. 

Here is a link to see the pics of ladybugs
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/lady/


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

I've been seeing a buttload of ladybugs too. I watched them walk right into the entrance, the bees didn't seem to mind.

Must be a Kansas thing.

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Bullseye Bill
Smack dab in the middle of the country.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The ones I've been seeing around here look more like cycloneda munda and they bite! I never got bit by a lady bug before this year. I also have seen them in the hives. I wonder if they eat varroa mites (I hope)? They eat little bugs don't they?


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I find them every winter in the house and shop. They seem attracted to the dark green metal building. Mine don't bite. They do eat various small insects off my plants in the summer and are considered quite beneficial.


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## beegee (Jun 3, 2003)

Are you sure they're not Mexican Bean Beetles? They are more coppery colored with little black spots.


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## Guest (Oct 22, 2003)

Actually, these are probably the Asian ladybug, sometimes called multi-colored because of the multiple shades and spots. 
They are in import(thus the name) and really are beneficial, although they are a nusance in the fall.
Yes, they are reported to bite, although I haven't experienced that, and am not trying.
They hibernate in masses (just like the boxelder bug does) and congregate on houses and try to get in.
I think we have a native species(here in MI) but I think I read that they actually migrate (I think so, don't hold me to that!)
http://greennature.com/article78.html


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## WeaverBro (Sep 30, 2003)

I believe that the "new", larger, biting ladybugs we have been seeing over the past few years are from the asia (china?). They must not have natural predators (or at least as many)in America, because their population sure seems to be on the increase in IN. I've heard that they tend to "nibble" on you this time of year because they are looking for salts and water prior to finding a nice dark place to spend the winter.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

It would be nice if they ate mites and hung out in the hives for the winter.......

I could go for that..


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## hoosierhiver (Feb 27, 2003)

i've got heaps of the asian ladybugs around here,they seem to like old wood to hibernate in.i've been watching my bees trying to deal with them and they seem to have the same problem with the ladybugs as they do small hive beetles,namely they can't get a grip on them to sting,bite or drag them out,the best they seem to be able to do is corral or block them.


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## ikeepbees (Mar 8, 2003)

"the best they seem to be able to do is corral or block them."

Hmmmmmmmmm, sounds similar to the hive beetle...lady beetle...hive beetle....


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Rob Koss


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

These are ladybugs, I've seen them in red now. They like to get in my house. But they die in here so I capture them and put them out the window. I've seen one inside the hive but it landed in it when I had the top open.

I don't know if there is a relationship of ladybugs with bee hives???

What about that big ugly slow moving monstrous looking bug that has bright orange guts when it's smashed? It had one of my bees crushed in it's mouth yesterday.

What is this ugly thing?


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## Guest (Oct 23, 2003)

I don't know about the color of the guts, but could be an assasin bug.
http://www.insects.org/entophiles/hemiptera/hemi_009.html 

Nasty looking predators, looks almost like a stink bug or a big boxelderbug.

But that is merely a guess based on the time of year. They too seek hibernation spots.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>What about that big ugly slow moving monstrous looking bug that has bright orange guts when it's smashed? It had one of my bees crushed in it's mouth yesterday.

>What is this ugly thing?

Are you sure the bee wasn't dead before he got it? I don't know much about the color of bugs guts, but what did the bug look like? A beetle? A mantis? What did it resemble?


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## Karl (Jun 18, 2002)

Daisy: Here in Wisconsin we are having a bountiful year of what the locals are calling "Asian Beetle". They are hanging around the south side of my house in large numbers. Some are finding their way inside and hanging on my kitchen ceiling. A dustbuster hand vac works great. Bottom line is how many can I send you? I would love to share them with anyone who can find a good use for them!! Don't believe there are any natural predators other than my hand vac. Good beekeeping. K.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Kooka, that's not it.

Just thinking about this bug gives me the shivers.... it's so ugly'

It's a brown gray green color. Hard to describe. 

It's monstrous looking, and sorta robot like body. It walks slowly over the ground. Doesnt have wings. About an inch and a quarter long. Moves like a robot. 

It has those jaws at the mouth big enough to clasp the whole bees body in it. 

And we have a sort of a grand daddy spider that takes bee parts to it's home whereever it lives. They're mostly hanging around the hives. It's a purple sorta color... They like the thrown out pupae the best.

Then those army of bee wolves......

We got em all......


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Hi Karl, I'll pass on the ladybugs for now.

Would of been nice if they were here earlier in the year when there were lots of little flying bugs in the air. We had a bad case of biting nats this year. Ouch. Them thangs hurt.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Micheal, I could put up pictures. I have a digital camera, if I can find the dang cord that goes in the puter! 

It's always something.


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## Zeke (Aug 21, 2002)

brown -green color
monstourus looking
robot-like body
jaws at the mouth that can clasp 
the whole bees body .
sounds like a praying mantis 
maybe if you could get it in a jar 
you could take to your local county extension agent and they could identify it ??
Zeke


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## John D. Smith (Mar 17, 2003)

Those are indeed Asian Lady Beetles. As the name suggests they "aren't from 'round here". They were introduced in WV (and probably nationwide) in the 70's as a chemical-free means of controlling garden pests. They were delivered through the mail in a cardboard tube and released in flower beds. Like the multi-flora rose, insufficient localized testing was done on population control and now they more or less can't be stopped. There is no natural predator, ie they taste and smell bad, but they pose no real threat. I'll plead the fifth on the above to protect certain State agencies. An interesting tidbit is that the Lady Beetles feet cannot grab on to chalk or surfaces covered in chalk.


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## Robert Brenchley (Apr 23, 2000)

If these are anything like the ladybirds we get in the UK,then numbers can go through the roof in odd years, usually after hot dry summers. I remember a 'plague' of ladybirds in the mid-'70's, when they were everywhere. The population crashes as the food (aphids)runs short, and gradually recovers.

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Regards,

Robert Brenchley

[email protected]
Birmingham UK


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>numbers can go through the roof in odd years, usually after hot dry summers.

That describes the last four summers here.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

yes ladybugs, I love those aphid eating machines,

Ian


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Zeke. I know what the mantis looks like. They're ugly too, lol

Not it though...

It's sixty degrees right now. The bees have been clustering with temperatures going down now.

I opened all four hives to peek in at the tops, and bees are numerous. They stuck their backends up high, flapped thier wings and exposed the stingers.

Why are they doing this now but not in the summer?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

They are just telling you to leave them alone,


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

They want you to buzz off!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

If the bees are clustered you shouldn't be opening the hive. Leave them alone.


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## DButterfly (Apr 3, 2017)

Daisy said:


> It would be nice if they ate mites and hung out in the hives for the winter.......
> 
> I could go for that..


I think you are onto something, according to the Univ of Utah Ext, Lady Beetles are natural predators of soft shell anthropods, or MITES.. I know growing up, they used to sell bundles of lady bugs at the nurseries, I wonder if they still do, and if there might be a way we might be able to house them with the bees, for mite control, I see you thought of this over a decade ago, I'm surprised we've never seen any kind of research into this... I'm just starting into bees, and really want to go ah natural, like Rhubarb in my hives would be my drastic measure, I'm not into chemicals, and the reason we don't eat Rhubarb leaves, is because they contain Oxalic Acid, so if lady bugs are not an option, I may turn my girls into tea drinkers, lol


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## vtbeeguy (Jun 10, 2016)

I know lady bugs eat spider mites which are possible a little smaller than varroa so theoretically they probably could/would eat them but I'm not sure the bees would tolerate them trying to search through the hive and eat mites off the bees. Would be a sweet solution though.


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## LeahRedox (Apr 14, 2020)

Thank you for all the shared information.


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