The strong east wind we've had for over a week now is blowing them your way, I guess.
None here right now, thankfully.
And the wind seems to have died down today, finally.

I've seen them worse but then I'm not where you are.
One year (I was a teenager)we went to stay at our beach house and thousands of the things had gotten inside the house! We vacuumed them up and I'll tell you it is a smell that you never forget. Some people don't smell them but I do!
I was spray painting outside and they must be bug "huffers" because they were all over the paint!

c'mon peggy, I'll help you blow them all back to treefroggy's house! They make me bananas, in my eyes, ears, nose. We've been constantly washing them off our vehicles. Can't even make a short ride to Publix without them pummelling the car and windshiels. It's worse if you're working up a sweat in the garden, then they stick to ya. In the 30 years I been here Peggy, I never seen them this thick!!

*me, channeling Ray Stevens, here*

"Look out for that happy fool on that Harley!"
"Say, how do you KNOW he's happy?"
"Say, by the BUGS on his teeth!! Watch out, here he COMES!"
*VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Sorry, but this conversation made me think of that old song, Speedball! But I FEEL YOUR PAIN, Peggy! I won't even drive out on SR46 by the river right now, as you can see black clouds of them coming right atcha. They are just about the worst I've ever seen around here. Like you say, they are even bad in the garden.

Can't WAIT for them to go away!

Marcia

In Tampa, they are not as bad as they were in Ft Myers in teh 70's when they first stated showing up, but they are the worst I've seen since then.

is it true that they were invented by a group of scientists at UCF to take care of the mosquitoes.

i think this is an experiment gone awfully awry.

Nope, Nami...they blew over to us from parts west. Here is some info I found for ya:

Lovebugs, Plecia nearctica Hardy are recent invaders from the west. Southern Louisiana experienced flights of lovebugs during the 1920's. The species was described by Hardy in 1940 from specimens collected in Mississippi. First reports of their presence in Florida were made in 1947 from Escambia County. Subsequent reports indicate their presence in Leon County in 1955-56 and Alachua - Marion Counties in 1964-65. Since that time, flights have progressively moved southward. In 1974, specimens were collected in Homestead. Lovebugs also have moved northward and have been reported from Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. Two flights of lovebugs occur each year. The spring flight occurs during late April and May. A second flight occurs during late August and September. Flights extend over periods of 4 to 5 weeks. Mating takes place almost immediately after emergence of the females. Adult females live only 2-3 days. Adult lovebugs are harmless and do not sting or bite. They feed on the nectar of various plants, especially sweet clover, goldenrod and brazilian pepper. Usually, lovebug flights are restricted to daylight hours and temperatures above 68°F. At night lovebugs rest on low growing vegetation.

Since the larva eat decaying vegetation and the adults feed on nectar, I don't think they would have any impact on mosquitoes at all. Don't know where that rumor came from, but I am heartened by the info that they will soon be gone (at least until August)!

Marcia

Are they a naturally accuring bug? I heard they were an experiement that went bad and somehow they got loose.

You all need to move to Gainesville/Alachua area! We've had so few love bugs this year you don't even notice them. Seems they've been disappearing more and more each year, which is good for us but not so good for the lizards that feast on them. Carol

really, you must have starving lizards. I watch my lizards in the backyard and should one by accident catch a lovebug in its mouth, it actually spits and bahs and ... seems like gaging ... to get that bug out of its mouth. Nope, my lizards do not like the taste of lovebugs that's for sure!
Same with the fish, they don't go for the ones that fall into the water either.
Is it true that the lovebugs stuck to the car ruin the paint?

:-)

FWIW, I heard over the weekend that when you wash your car and get it kinda dry, not completely and THEN use a dryer fabric softener sheet to go over the car and then wipe it dry it prevents the bugs from sticking.

I tried it last nite on my car and WOW, the darn car never looked so good and wait till you see what happens when you rub that dryer sheet on a somewhat damp area. I had no idea.

I used it on the windows and everything and wow, the car really shined up all over. I never heard of using the dryer sheets this way but got up early and did the other car too.

My car is no longer tough, its rather soft now and smells like some over compensating transgendered road monster.

I wont know if it works for a while, but it was very interesting and will most likely do it again for the high gloss deep cleaning that it did.

Hope it works for you.

Laura1 I HATE THAT SMELL, they stink sooo bad. Some folks cant smell it, it to me is definately BAD....

tony

I play in a string quartet in Naples, and last weekend we played music for the wedding of THOUSANDS of love bugs.... oh yes, and a couple of people too. By the time the wedding finished we had lovebugs riding on our strings and our fingers and the poor bride had black polka dots all over her dress. I have more outdoor weddings to play this coming weekend, and boy do I hope those bugs will have moved on by then!

Jane

I'm not big on'm either, but I'll takem ANYDAY over the noseeums! LOL!

Oh, lordy! What a mess, Jane! That sounds awful!! I hope the wedding pictures aren't spoiled by them being everywhere!

Tony, I had heard of using dryer sheets on glass shower doors, but not on the car. I'm going to try that. I have a whole box of them going to waste as I hate the smell of ALL of them and won't use them on my laundry any more. Most especially on TOWELS. FYI, anyone, fabric softener blocks towel absorbency, and using it more than once every couple of months on them will result in towels that just push the water around on your body. But that would be a GOOD thing where lovebugs are concerned. Can't wait to see how it works on my new purple PT Cruiser! The one thing I don't like about the dark color is the water spots and dust and streaks that show up on it. Maybe the dryer sheets will work on that stuff, too.

Carol, I never heard of any bird or lizard that would eat lovebugs. That's supposedly why they are out of control. No natural predators here. Your lizards must be desperate!

Katkin, see my post above to answer your questions about how they got here. They are NOT an experiment that went bad, though, honest.

And abendwolke, yes, they can etch the paint on your car. If you leave them on too long, when you wash them off, there will be little pits where the acid in their bodies have done so. There might be some types of auto paint that are more impervious than others, but I have seen this damage firsthand on my last car, so I know it happens. It's best to wash them off right away if you have a nice looking car, or you soon won't. AND, they can completely clog the radiator area and even cause your a/c to work improperly or not at all.

THEY ARE NASTY. AND LAURA SAYS THEY STINK!! (Who knew?) Counting the days until they go away for awhile!

Marcia

The Miami area has been voted the rudest drivers in the country (I concur). We, however, have no love bugs. Apparently they don't feel the love here. Boy am I glad. We went to Vero Beach last week and it was like it was raining love bugs.
Nancy

You have no lovebugs? NO lovebugs at all? NONE??? Hmmmmm...thinking of a move, here. Let's see. Traffic, high crime (oh, yeah, that's EVERYWHERE now!), drugs (oh yeah, that's everywhere, too), too many people, WAY too hot temps, and rude drivers versus NO LOVEBUGS. Thinking......thinking..............man, that's a tough one.

Marcia

So from what you guys are saying these bothersome little beasts should be out of here soon? I sure hope so. My hubby's shop vac is getting full of love bugs! ;-)

Marcia, I did read you post, and that they didn't come from here. But it didn't say whether they happened like that in nature. Seems so strange to have a head at each end of the bug. Being attached like Siamese twins.

It's true Marcia. Actually we have no bugs on our cars here (a consideration for someone like you who has a brandy new buggy). It may just be that there are so many buildings and not much open area. When I drive to Orlando I always notice the bugs on the cars. But no love bugs here, thank goodness. We actually have cooler temps here than inland, also much milder summer weather, not nearly the number of storms that you get in central Fl, so add that to your consideration list.
Nancy

I was told the lovebugs love to hang out at the highway/streets, it is warmer and the exaust fumes make them 'happy' .... LOL

Hahahahaha, Marcia,
Sanford or Miami!
That's a no-brainer.
Even with no/few love bugs up here in northeastern Palm Beach county, it's still getting too developed with all the rudeness and nasty stuff that comes along with it.
The grass is always greener....

Aint it the truth Treefrog. Whenever I go further up in the state I notice such a shift in the people. They don't slam the door in your face. You actually hear please and thank you once in a while, even an occasional smile. I don't need much. I'd trade this and put up with the love bugs any day. But the jobs are here.
Nancy

Aint it the truth Treefrog. Whenever I go further up in the state I notice such a shift in the people. They don't slam the door in your face. You actually hear please and thank you once in a while, even an occasional smile. I don't need much. I'd trade this and put up with the love bugs any day. But the jobs are here.
Nancy

Thanks for the wake-up, Tree & Nancy. I lost my mind for a minute, there! hehe Seriously, I'm as far south as I EVER want to go, and would actually prefer moving a bit further NORTH (like the mountains) but my husband won't cooperate! But that "No Lovebugs" thang was tempting!!

Katkin, I see what you were asking now, but dahlink...I don't know how to tell you this...love bugs only have ONE head. The ones you see with two are...ummmm...LOVIN'!! That's why they call them that.

You usually see them swarming while they are mating, and they are joined like that for what seems like an eternity. Which leads me to ponder how good it is that people are not like lovebugs. It would make the daily commute to work so much more difficult! (But probably way more interesting!)

Marcia

OMG,LOL, I am so dumb! I thought the bugs were attached like that from birth or should I say hatched. I never see single ones only ones with heads at either ends. And when I heard it was an experiement gone bad, I thought it was a unisex bug. lol Half female, half male. Still laughing as I walk away thinking it must be time for my nap! :)

Or a cocktail!

Katkin, you are so funny! hehehe Maybe you have just been out in that sun too long! Nah...what it really is, is that you are such a nice lady, you never even considered that you were being bombarded by very naughty little X-rated bugs!

Who gets the cocktail, Marion? You, Katkin, or the lovebugs? A drink and a ciggie when they finally finish lovin'?

Oh, and Peggy, yes they will be gone soon. Don't give up hope. This is a twice a year thing, for just a few weeks each time. They should taper off very soon, pick back up in August or September, and then be gone until next May or so.

Marcia

Marcia, I think you are right, I've been in the sun too long. LOL And I could really use that coctail.

Tomorrow I'm going to tell everyone at work about this thread and the posts I've read here. I don't think they'll believe me. Hope I can do it with a straight face but I think I'll be laughing the whole time.

Thanks guys for the laughs! You had me going with the two headed bugs Katkin!
Marcia...talking about PEOPLE driving to work like lovebugs...that painted an interesting picture in my head!
Tony thinks that darn things stink too. And lizards think they stink!
I was spray painting some chairs and they loved the spray paint fumes.

Good luck, Kate...I tried to tell Mark about it at dinner and nearly choked to death on my shrimp salad! And somehow, it lost a lot in the telling (and the coughing, and the spitting, and the spluttering).

Laura, it painted an interesting picture in MY mind, too. *wicked grin, here*

As for the whether or not those steenkin' lovebugs really STEEENK, well, I have to admit, I tested your theory today. I slapped one, looked around quickly to see if anyone was watching, then I sniffed. At first, I didn't smell anything, so I sniffed harder. I still didn't smell very much, but I was afraid if I sniffed any more diligently, I would snort the dang thing right up my left nostril, so I gave up. Honestly, I could smell something a bit musty, but not anything very strong. You and Tony have some prodigious sniffers on ya, Laura! That's all I can say!

Going off to find something better to snort now!

Marcia

Marcia,

after you are back from snortin, the time I smell em MOST is when the front of the car looks like a poppyseed bagel and I am washing them stinkers off. I have to take several steps away from the action because they stink so bad.

This sensitive schnozola may be the same reason I leave the kitchen when a full flavored tomato is cut in half on the other side of the room. Man I gotta leave asap then. I wonder if Laura likes tomatos?

Marcia, you're right - the love bugs up here are desperate! We also have desperate mockingbirds and carolina wrens who daily come to our feeders and suet to eat the seed, nuts and corn. According to my bird books these birds are bug eaters! On a related note, we also have a bald female cardinal(Bald Betty), a half blind mourning dove and a squirrel with no tail and one front leg(Lucky)! Hope there's not something in the water! Carol

Tony, I suspect I will be able to smell them, too, when I'm cleaning off a bunch of them from the front of the car. They probably get smellier the longer they are there, as well. Now I have to go off and figure out a way to captilize on the information that you can be chased around by a sliced tomato!

Of course, if I chase you OFF, you might not be inclined to share fresh mulberries & scented geraniums with me. Hmmm. Better think this one through before I act!

Carol, mockers and wrens are insect eaters, true, but mockers are also very fond of fruit, and any seed mixture that contains dried raisins, cherries, etc, will attract them. They will also eat seed when push comes to shove, but not often. My wrens come to my feeders, too, as do my brown thrashers, cousins to mockers who are primarily insect eaters. The thing of it is, the BIRDS never read the rule books. And if suddenly seeds look good to them, why they see no reason NOT to eat 'em!

Seriously, while it isn't common practice among MOST insectivorous birds, some will develop a taste for seed and augment their diets from your feeders. I'm always tickled when I see it happen. They are "bonus birds!"

I hope your bald cardinal doesn't have pox. There is a type that spreads like crazy among wild birds, and one of the symptoms is bald heads. I've seen some bluejays that looked like they had only a skull sitting on top of their bodies. *shudder* NOT a pretty picture. Hopefully, Bald Betty is just having a bad hair month!

We have a squirrel with a powder puff tail, too. Don't know what HIS story is. Yours sounds like it had a narrow escape from a predator and managed to recover. But...don't drink the water, just in case!



Marcia

Marcia you must have a nice husband who cleans the bugs from your car! Like Tony that is when the smell comes through loud and clear and gross. Now I don't have a tomato problem but yek on bell peppers.

And the birds are still avoid the bird bath and feeder (sadly) on the upside they don't have to worry about my cat any longer. In consolation I'm seeing lots of butterflies.

What happened to your cat, Laura? And keep being patient with the birds. Let me tell you, they have slowed down drastically here, too. I see a couple of cardinals in the morning, my white-winged doves late in the day, and that's just about it, most days. A couple times a week, the titmice show up, and an occasional thrasher. But the numbers from this past spring? No way! Those guys have moved on to cooler climes, and our local birds are laying low, raising families and trying to stay out of the heat.

If you don't get any birds over the next two months, I predict it will start to pick up come fall. Sometimes it just takes that long, so be patient. All things come to those that wait!

Good luck!
Marcia (who can't believe she misspelled "capitalize" in the last post to Tony! Ack!!)

marcia go over to the converstation section under "neighbors from hell"
Laura

Oh my God! We drove up to Epcot on Tues and then across to Plant City. I have never seen a bug mess like that in my life. While gassing up yesterday on the way back I grabbed one of those windshield cleaners at the gas station. I almost barfed. I don't think I have ever smelled anything that bad. I backed off like 3 times and finally gave up. If it was my car I would have to pay someone to clean it. Gross!! I never knew they could smell like that.

Okay, I give up...they MUST smell pretty bad! Mark & I washed them off of my car the first day I had it, but maybe we got them off before the smell set in, as neither of us noticed it. (It might be a chemical thing...like some sounds, not all people can smell every scent). But it sounds pretty awful, so I'm glad I CAN'T smell 'em!

I do know that I have never seen them this bad in the Orlando area, and I've lived here since my 36-year old son was in 1st grade. It truly IS awful right now.

Can't wait for 'em to disappear!

Marcia