bugs minus the lute music

December 29, 2005 8:52 PM

ladybird beetles behaving badly. When they have consumed all the resources they devour the competition. sigh.
posted by longsleeves (15 comments total)

Get 'em into an election campaign and call 'em politicians, then.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 9:05 PM on December 29, 2005

In the mid-90s, my entire town (in NE North Carolina) was infested with what we were told were Asian ladybugs, which apparently seek out houses and other buildings to hibernate in. It was a plague of Biblical proportions...you couldn't take a step without feeling a crunch underfoot, and when you put your head on your pillow at night, ladybugs would run out of it. I woke up a few times with a ladybug in my ear, and who knows how many I swallowed while asleep.

Ladybugs stopped being cute and friendly very quickly.
posted by feathermeat at 9:21 PM on December 29, 2005

Same thing pretty much happened in my area back in 00-01.
posted by cellphone at 9:42 PM on December 29, 2005

feathermeat: same thing happened to me once, but with locusts. Big yellow and green grasshoppers what would bleed black stuff out of their mouths if caught. Sitting outside on a summer day was fine so long as you sat perfectly still.
posted by meh at 9:59 PM on December 29, 2005

Okay, the ladybug visitation was nightmarish. But LOCUSTS? That is so, so much worse. I experience fear and trembling in the presence of even one locust.
posted by feathermeat at 10:07 PM on December 29, 2005

Although not an actual biblical plague, cicadas are pretty damn irritating as well.

They are big, they fly, and are either blind, stupid or both. My city experienced a large infestation last year. There were literally carpets of the dead critters everywhere and I went through two bottles of wiper fluid in a month. Oh yeah, they make noise constantly.

It was like being inside the world's loudest, worst white noise generator.

The best part of course is that in just 16 more years, I'll get to enjoy it again.
posted by BeReasonable at 10:09 PM on December 29, 2005

"foreign" and "native" are such meaningless ecological terms. You might as well say "historic" and "comtemporary."
posted by scarabic at 10:54 PM on December 29, 2005

Cicadas are irritating, but they leave awesome shells on trees when they moult. I actually collected them when I was a kid.

Also: scarabic, why do you say "foreign" and "native" are meaningless? I'm genuinely curious--I don't know anything about ecology.
posted by feathermeat at 11:00 PM on December 29, 2005

1 2 3,
4 5 6,
7 8 9,
10 11 12,
little ladybugs, at the Ladybug Picnic!
posted by sourwookie at 11:37 PM on December 29, 2005

I HATE THOSE THINGS

I have ever since I woke up with one on my face in the night back a couple of years ago.
posted by sian at 11:42 PM on December 29, 2005

Lady birds role in life is to eat aphids and look cute. These rogues need to be captured and reprogrammed.
posted by Cranberry at 12:01 AM on December 30, 2005

They need this girl to help out.
posted by foonie at 12:30 AM on December 30, 2005

The US Department of Agriculture introduced Asian lady beetles to help control pests around fruit trees, and they've spread across the country. Especially when they're new to an area, they tend to have few predators and because in their native China they mass on rocks and cliffsides, they mass on buildings -- and are adept at finding every crack inside. But your'e not supposed to spray them, because they'll die in the walls and attract nastier insect predators. You're supposed to vacuum them up and throw the bag out.
posted by dhartung at 12:49 AM on December 30, 2005

was infested with what we were told were Asian ladybug

Ghugle, I know those. I ran into a swarm of them on the bike -- downhill, really pushing it hard, then wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham wham.

Ow.
posted by eriko at 5:13 AM on December 30, 2005

they used these at my school to control pests, unfortunately they are able to spit up a bit of acid when threatened. It feels like a bite, we quickly learned that the more pale yellow "nuclear" lady bugs were EVIL and hurt. Its such a shame that these cute little bastards are not as nice as the ones we all grew up with.
posted by stilgar at 6:30 AM on December 30, 2005