Harlequin ladybirds

[frogwoman]

Any ideas as to what I can do about these fuckers? There are millions of them in our garden and in the house. I love ladybirds but they are destroying all of the native species - I haven't seen a 22 spot ladybird for years and some of the ones I used to really love have become very rare.

I was thinking of seeing if we could get the pest control round but I wouldn't want to kill any other ladybirds as they're my favourite insect. Is there anything I can do?

 

[pugwash]

could you paint some extra spots on them?

 

[frogwoman]

Im sure that would do the trick (of killing them) but it would be very time consuming ...

 

[frogwoman]

Is there some sort of poison I can buy that kills harlequins but doesn't harm any of the other species? (I know what the answer to this will be but I thought I'd better ask anyway )

 

[Stobart Stopper]

I will call Mrs M. She will know what to do.

 

[aqua]

wtf is a harlequin ladybird?

 

[Stobart Stopper]

She said if they come in your house they can hibernate and if you squash them they can die your walls. She also says look on the BBC website, they have lots of links, and there's a site that is monitoring where they are.
Don't use pesticides as it will kill everything else.
She said to try the Cornell University website,type in it's latin name, Harmonia, they have factsheets about them.

 

[frogwoman]

Yeah they do seem to be trying to hibernate all over the place. I found the site thanks and I emailed them - will try and call them tomorrow or Monday. I'll remember about the squashing thing but I do know because ladybirds release fluid if they are attacked. Would a better option be to put them down the loo? xx

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Yeah they do seem to be trying to hibernate all over the place. I found the site thanks and I emailed them - will try and call them tomorrow or Monday. I'll remember about the squashing thing but I do know because ladybirds release fluid if they are attacked. Would a better option be to put them down the loo? xx

you could collect their dye and try a bit of tie and dye

 

[Stobart Stopper]

Independent newspaper did an article about it as well on Friday 13th July this year.

 

[Louloubelle]

Camden seems to be a hotspot for them
I pick them up by hand and put them in a sealed tupperware container. They suffocate. You can squash them if you prefer but I want to photograph mine and they look rubbish squashed
You have to make absolutely sure not to kill our indigenous ladybirds though as some can look very similar.

 

[Louloubelle]

I took a great photo of one being prepared for lunch by a natural predator a couple of days back

arachnophobes do not look

some are black with red spots like this one,
but they look very similar to an endangered native ladybird so please make sure you are certain about the species before killing one

 

[geminisnake]

Loulou that photo is excellent. The markings on that spider are amazing

 

[frogwoman]

Camden seems to be a hotspot for them
I pick them up by hand and put them in a sealed tupperware container. They suffocate. You can squash them if you prefer but I want to photograph mine and they look rubbish squashed
You have to make absolutely sure not to kill our indigenous ladybirds though as some can look very similar.

Thanks for that Loulou - I'll try to remeber it. I guess I should photograph them as well. I heard something on the news about it ages ago but it doesnt really seem to figure any more.

It would be so sad if the other ladybirds went extinct

Might take a while to pick them all up though

 

[Louloubelle]

Loulou that photo is excellent. The markings on that spider are amazing

I'll tell her tomorrow, I know she'll be thrilled, she loves having her photo taken and the camera loves her

 

[Louloubelle]

Thanks for that Loulou - I'll try to remeber it. I guess I should photograph them as well. I heard something on the news about it ages ago but it doesnt really seem to figure any more.

It would be so sad if the other ladybirds went extinct

Might take a while to pick them all up though

I want to get some plasticraft and make them into jewelry but I can't find plasticraft anywhere

anyone know where I can by transparent liquid plastic?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I want to get some plasticraft and make them into jewelry but I can't find plasticraft anywhere

anyone know where I can by transparent liquid plastic?

I've no idea what you're talking about. Would clear nail varnish do the job?


Great pictures.

I've taken some of the bugs in our back room yesterday but yet to put them up. Obviously not as good as yours though

 

[frogwoman]

Thats a very good idea. In the mean time is there anything one can do to help other ladybirds that are being predated by these things? x

 

[Louloubelle]

Yes!

Plasticraft is no more but now I can buy this!

http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/shop-online/embedding-.htm

 

[butterfly child]

Thats a very good idea. In the mean time is there anything one can do to help other ladybirds that are being predated by these things? x

I can't believe you are thinking of killing them

What next, obliterate grey skwirrls?

 

[frogwoman]

Well I don't know whether i can bear to do it to be honest. I just don't really want them here when they're taking over everything. I havent killed any yet.

 

[butterfly child]

It's not like they're doing it deliberately.. it's nature!

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I can't believe you are thinking of killing them

What next, obliterate grey skwirrls?

Is it alright to kill cockroaches?

 

[frogwoman]

It's not like they're doing it deliberately.. it's nature!

Yeah but I don't want other ladybirds to go extinct, and by the fact that I haven't seen any of my favourite kind of ladybird for years, I think that it might be a bit too late unless we do something.

/loads rocket launcher

 

[Louloubelle]

It's not like they're doing it deliberately.. it's nature!

It's not nature, it's humans messing with nature
Harlequins are Japanese and our ladybirds will be extinct unless we kill the harlequins. It's not the harlequin's fault of course.

And yes we should kill grey squirrrls
in the FACE

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's not nature, it's humans messing with nature
Harlequins are Japanese and our ladybirds will be extinct unless we kill the harlequins. It's not the harlequin's fault of course.

And yes we should kill grey squirrrls
in the FACE

but squirrels are fluffy

 

[Louloubelle]

but squirrels are fluffy

Kill them in their fluffy FACE then

seriously

linky to lots of ladybird info here

http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/H_axyridis.htm

and here

http://www.ladybird-survey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/londonla.htm

 

[geminisnake]

And yes we should kill grey squirrels
in the FACE

Well said Loulou. Greys are invaders and destroy the natural habitat for our indigenous(sp?) squirrels

 

[weepiper]

Well said Loulou. Greys are invaders and destroy the natural habitat for our indigenous(sp?) squirrels

And they carry some kind of nasty squirrel pox which they recover from but our native reds all die from

 

[frogwoman]

I squashed a few today, the rest are in a little box next to me and i'm going to photograph them and put them down the loo after that.

I was quite pleased because I saw a few native ladybirds today and yesterday including a rather rare one