Ladybug Infestation

Okay, so this is not a picture from our house but it looks the same (just imagine our windows are older and with peeling paint and cracks all in them).

We have been at war with ladybugs-- an unlikely enemy for sure, especially for me because I have always loved ladybugs (Aud is squeemish of them because they are, I guess, bugs). But even I have gotten fed up with them! 1 or 2 or... 10 is fine, but when you've got 30 of the fuckers flying around your head when you're trying to sleep, and wake up in the darkness to the strange sensation of small legs tickling your arm, it's not fun.

We tried flicking them off (dumb idea), we tried spraying the window with lemon-scented cleaner (I guess it's an old wive's tale that they don't like lemon, the bugs seemed to exist just the same), then we got pissed and started spraying *them* with the lemon-cleaner (we have spots on our walls now), then we tried vacuuming them up, but more of them just kep crawling in (plus I swear some of them actually *escaped* from the vacuum cleaner). We don't want to spray with chemicals (since we also have two pets and, plus, ladybugs are good).

They are so good that we could sell them on ebay. I read online that gardeners will kill for these guys-- they love them, because they eat up bad bugs (without eating your good plants) and because they don't harm humans in any way. They don't eat wood or clothing, and they don't even reproduce inside (how kind of them). As far as these things go, they are respectful squatters. Still, we've had enough!

Sealing the outside cracks on the various windows was too difficult a task, given that a) our house is 100 years old practically and has way too many cracks and b) it's the second story window. I didn't want to be a complete redneck, so I avoided a solution with duck tape (however tempting it was), so instead I went to the Home Depot and got those clear plastic window-insulators that you apply with a hairdryer and double-sided tape. It's supposed to be for keeping the heat in, or the cold out, I supposed, so I didn't see why it wouldn't also work for ladybugs. Pus, this way they could have their little 2-inch space and could have our room back. A very buddhist (and redneck) solution!

Applying the window thing was a pain in the ass. I tried moving them away but of course they kept walking right over the tape. I am sad to report that some of them met their untimely, and gross, deaths right there and are now squished in a lovely redness around the edges of our window for all to see. :( Plus we've got another redneck contraption involved-- a window-unit AC-- that was very difficult to work around-- creating more edges to seal up. But an hour later, the task was done. I took a white cotton "shower curtain" (way too nice to be a shower curtain) and put it up over the now-unpleasing window using tacks and nails, and then today put the finishing touches on with some green fabric that makes it look legit.

Take that, ladybugs!

Audrey points out, however, that they are also flying in through an adjacent window and, for some reason, *still* making their way to our bedroom. Damn.

I wish our cat Grace would kill them rather than just look at them, but I guess she's only into the baby voles right now.

Anyhow-- anybody need some ladybugs??