Are they all over your house too, both outside and in?

Interesting, well to me anyways. Firstly, they aren’t Lady Bugs. They are multi-colored Asian Lady Beetles that look like Lady Bugs. One major difference though is that the Asian Lady Beetles hibernate in winter. And therein lies the problem.

In the 1960s the Asian Lady Beetles were brought into the United States as part of a scientific experiment to control insect pests that were eating pecan plants.

Oops. The Lady Beetle really liked it here and flourished.

But when importing the bugs, millions of years of evolutionary behavior came along in their baggage. Back in their native Asian habitat, the Lady Beetles would seek refuge each October to hide out for the winter. The resting places of choice were cracks and crevices on mountain faces, ostensibly so they wouldn’t be eaten during their winter’s nap by rodents on the ground foraging for food. Since rocky cliffs often take on a white or gray color, Lady Beetles have been conditioned to seek out the same here in America.

The result is swarms of bugs on your white trim, white cars or lighter colored houses, looking for a crack in which to sleep for the colder months.

So when you do find one inside your house, before you shoo it away, think of the fabulous journey this bug has made. It didn’t just crawl a few inches through a space in your window frame. It traveled through millions of years of evolutionary time, making a color-coded almost nostalgic choice to enter your home, as well as helped in a scientific experiment gone terribly wrong.

And you thought it was just a pesky bug!

Very interesting, Cliff.

I've been catching and releasing the little fellas for a few days, now.

Hey Cliff, thought you'd be interested in this story about one of your old buddies:

Cliff's drinking buddy

I am so glad to learn this information- they have been everywhere this week. It is like an invasion of the locusts, just like in Little House on the Prairie.

Will they just die off if we catch them and put them outside?