<p>They seem to be coming out of the woodwork, literally, mostly in our sunroom. They’ll die if I put them outside because we will still get very low temperatures and have 2 ft of snow on the ground, but they’ll also die if I do nothing. Is there some humane thing to do with them? I don’t worry about being humane with house flies or ants, but I really like ladybugs.</p>
<p>ladybuginfestation.net</p>
<p>Thanks! I checked them out and they said to vacuum them up but they also said they might get out of the vacuum tube and go somewhere else. Guess I should call my central vac people and ask them about that. I guess they can live a long time on their own body fat–the ladybugs, not the central vac people.</p>
<p>Just in case anyone’s wondering, I called the central vac place and they said it shouldn’t be a problem for the vacuum cleaner. Guess I have to do it. It’s only about 20 at this point so it’s not a major deal.</p>
<p>I thought ladybugs were the bugs people brought in specially to control other bug infestations, no? Beneficial buggies.</p>
<p>They eat aphids so they’re wonderful to have outside.</p>
<p>The ladybugs are probably there because there is a food source - it could be a good thing.</p>
<p>Sounds like you have an infestation of the Asian-type ladybugs. Here is some advice from the cooperative extension office in Michigan [Multi-colored</a> Asian Ladybeetle information from Mich State Univ](<a href=“http://www.ipm.msu.edu/beetleFAQ.htm]Multi-colored”>http://www.ipm.msu.edu/beetleFAQ.htm)</p>
<p>If you vacuum them up it’ll kill them (they’ll end up getting buried in the fine dust that’s in the bag even if they survive the trip to it). Given that, put them outside so they can enjoy life and bring the benefit of getting rid of pesty bugs for you. If it turns cold and they die from that then it’s no worse on them than vacuuming them up and it’s out of your hands and off your conscience.</p>
<p>They would surely die from the cold because it’s going back into the 20s tonight, but maybe that’s a more humane way to die.</p>
<p>“The ladybugs are probably there because there is a food source - it could be a good thing.”</p>
<p>Yes. Probably aphids on houseplants. And they will die fat and happy when the food source is gone.</p>
<p>I’ve heard you can vacuum them up, then remove the bag and seal it with duct tape. You can put them in a garage or shed and let them out when it gets warmer outside. They should just hibernate. I’ve had them before in my fridge, and they just hibernate and wake up pretty quickly when brought out into warmer (70 degree or so) weather. The ones in the fridge I had bought at a garden center.</p>
<p>Adopt them? Ladybugs love big windows and sunrooms. When I had them in my house, I let them hang around for awhile, and eventually just fluffed them off the windows into a dustpan, and carried them out to my apple trees. I guess the vacuum thing might work if you start with a clean bag.</p>
<p>I’d be happy to have some in my sunroom, but they’re just dying. That’s why I don’t think we have any aphids. They aren’t on the plants; they’re on the windows.</p>
<p>I have some aphids I can send you for them.</p>
<p>No thank you!</p>
<p>Asian ladybugs- we have them inside too. Not as nice as the good old ladybugs, these ones pinch (although everyone thinks they bite) and they smell bad when crushed. They come inside in the fall to get away from the cold and just like box elder bugs, they come out when it is warmer. I just vacuum them up. I usually leave them alone if they are alive but they do tend to die off in a few days and it is too cold to put them outside.</p>
<p>I got rid of the ladybug problem by spraying around windows when I do my fall window cleaning (and spring)- Ortho Home Defense works well for me. It also helped with the hornets wintering over in the window spaces on the south side- no fun to open windows for spring cleaning and discover those insects. I know some people like to avoid chemicals, but there is a place for them. The Japanese ladybugs are a foreign, not native, invader.</p>
<p>happymomof1 is on the topic. What you have are not your friendly garden variety. This kind came over on ships and spread across the US. They are smelly when you kill them and they are not “helpful” in the garden. They like warm SW walls and infest those walls. Most exterminators do not know about them so call around until you find someone who had worked with them.
We had literally thousands of them in certain rooms of our house back in 1998. It took a lot of reseach and calls to finally find someone who know how to treat them. They do not go away on there own but will hibernate in the cold and them come out in force when it warms up.</p>
<p>Years ago when D (now a sophomore in college) was in junior high, we were renting a house. D came home one day and went into her bedroom and started shrieking - there were literally thousands of them on the walls/ceilings. We jokingly refer to it as the time her bedroom was re-decorated with a ladybug theme.</p>
<p>We vacuumed them up (repeatedly). Since then, we’ve never had quite the magnitude, but get them here and there (have since moved twice). As others have said, they’re not the same variety of ladybugs we remember growing up.</p>