Amy, That's a great link. I've never seen someone document the life cycle in as much detail as that person did with all those photos. I love the immature ladybugs and enjoy watching them work in the garden. Some years they arrive and multiple early before it seems like there's enough for them to eat, so in years like that, I make some wheast for them and spray it on plants near where they're hanging out. They are voracious eaters.

When we first moved here, even though I had gardened all my life and was well-acquainted with lady bugs, I'd mostly only seen orange or red ones, with or without black dots. Maybe that was because I lived in a city with a lot fewer lady bugs than we have out here in the country. Now, after all these years here, I've seen solid black ones, yellow ones....even pink ones. There's a lot of diversity in the lady bird beetle world and I spent a lot of time our first few years here looking them up and making sure that what I was seeing was lady bugs. I never knew they came in so many different colors and with so many different configurations of spots. Except for one year when we had a severe infestation of willow beetles on nearby willow trees, all the lady bugs I've ever seen, despite the color, have been actual lady bugs. Some new gardeners mistake spotted cucumber beetles for lady bugs, but I already was familiar with cucumber beetles when we moved here so didn't have that problem.

I love lady bugs and always have a garden full of them. It isn't even that unusual for me to come in from a morning of working in the garden to find a lady bug rode indoors on my shirt, my straw hat or my hair. I guess they get tired and want a free ride, or maybe a trip indoors into the air conditioning. I always carry them back outdoors and gently place them on a plant. I love the ladybugs but don't particularly want them living indoors.

Dawn

I googled wheast. Did you buy it or do you have a home made version?

That link is very interesting. Thanks for sharing it!

Okiedawn,

What are the thousands of small beetles that look like Lady Bugs that swarm the house every fall and get into every thing crawling on the sealing, walls & windows. They didn't use to do this until about maybe 10 years ago. Now they are a menace.

They probably are Asian lady beetles, commonly sold in packages of 5,000, 10,000, etc. to gardeners and farmers. Unlike our native lady beetles which have their own ways of hibernating in the winter, the Asian lady bugs like to come into homes. I first noticed them about a decade ago too and suspect that around that time the retailers began importing a lot more Asian lady bugs instead of buying lady bugs collected in the USA. I had trouble with them coming into our house in fall for two or three years. It seemed like every time we opened a door in fall, especially the back door which opens from the laundry room to the dogs' fenced yard, lady bugs would fly in and hide in the laundry room. They'd hide and I wouldn't notice them much, but on very warm winter days, they'd come out of hiding, swarm and crawl on the door and window. I'd vacuum them up and take them outdoors. Once we converted the screened-in back porch to a sunroom, they started coming into it instead of the laundry room. Then, once we built the greenhouse, they chose that for their place to hibernate, and I'm glad I don't have to spend time vacuuming them up and taking them back outside any more. The ladybugs are welcome guests in the greenhouse. I close it up on cold nights, but open it up on winter days if the outside temperatures are above freezing, so the lady bugs are free to come and go and eat, etc.

The only way I know to keep them out is to caulk carefully and seal all cracks and crevices. We did do that, which explains why they moved to the sunroom once we had excluded them all from the main house. Then, they invaded the sunroom only until we sealed up all the cracks and crevices and they moved to the greenhouse. Since I have plants in the greenhouse in winter, it is a perfect location for them.

I'll link some info about the invasion of the Asian lady bugs.

Lady Beetles Infesting Homes