Marie Woodward first encountered a ladybug swarm when she moved into her 200-year-old house in Columbia, Connecticut in the fall of 2013. At the time, she was a dental hygienist and had no idea why dozens of these bugs were collecting in the corners of her ceilings.
Woodward, now retired from dental hygiene, works for the University of Connecticut’s Home and Garden Education Center as a horticultural educator since receiving her master gardener certificate from the UConn Extension Service. At the center, she has studied why this annual swarm occurs.
The ladybugs that swarmed her home then continue to swarm Connecticut homes and UConn dorms every fall as the weather begins to cool, according to Woodward. However, these are not the typical ladybugs one may think of. According to the UConn Home and Garden Education Center website, the ladybugs people find in their homes around this time are known as Asian Lady Beetles and are an invasive species. Because of their timely appearance, these bugs are known as the “Halloween lady beetle.”
These lady beetles are small, sizing from one-third to two-thirds inches, can have a varying number of spots ranging from zero to 20 and can be a wide array of colors including pale yellow, brown, bright orange, red, black or mustard, according to the Home and Garden Education Center website.
Woodward stated that these bugs are harmless and beneficial to the environment, but the sheer number of them has become an inconvenience for many Connecticut residents as they seek warmth by coming through the cracks and openings in people’s homes.
“When the weather starts to drop, they start looking for ways to get warm to over winter. They don’t die after the first frost. They want to go hunker down,” said Woodward.
According to the Home and Garden Education Center website, after the first frost, the lady beetles will overwinter in trees, leaf litter, logs or other protected areas. These protected areas can include people’s homes.
“While looking for overwintering sites, it tends to cluster in hundreds or thousands on rocks, houses or other structures. It favors light colors and sunny, southwest exposures. It usually leaves on its own in a few days or weeks,” the website reads.
Once winter hits, the lady beetles will often find their overwintering spots in the crevices of houses, Woodward stated. Most homeowners never know they are there.
Once spring comes around and the weather begins to warm, the lady beetles will then start to reemerge looking for ways out of the house so they can eat and lay their eggs, said Woodward.
“They’re going to start looking for a way out because they’re hungry and looking for food. They just want to get out of there. That happened to me this spring. They’re flying all over my bedroom walls,” said Woodward.
Aaliyah Reid, a sixth-semester political science student, experienced the Halloween swarm starting two weeks ago in her Busby Suites dorm. She explained that around the second week in October, she found dozens of them crawling on her ceiling.
“I was scared of the ladybugs, so I was a little freaked out that they were in our rooms, and we couldn’t do anything about them,” said Reid.
Since then, they have slowly disappeared, but she stated that she will find one on the ceiling every once in a while, and will remove it by capturing it in a cup and putting it outside.
Woodward recommended that those who wish to remove these bugs from their homes use a vacuum.
“Your best way to control them is a vacuum cleaner. All you have to do is vacuum them up, put them in a garbage bag, and then take the garbage bag outside right away, or they’re going to go back where they were,” Woodward said.
She also stated that you should not crush them, as they will start to reflex bleed in which the beetles release an odor that can stain walls and furniture.
“What they will do if you smash them, or hit them like a fly, is they will release an odor which is called reflex bleeding, and it’s actually from their joints. It’s like a yellow and orange is pretty unpleasant,” Woodward explained.
She also recommended not using Raid or any kind of insecticides, as it will not do anything to the lady beetles and hurt the person more than anything else.
Woodward explained that although these bugs may be annoying, they are not dangerous and are beneficial to the environment as they help control the population of the aphid bug, which is harmful to some plants.
These bugs were first introduced to America to control the aphid bug back in 1916 according to Woodward and also were suspected to have come over on ships through imported goods from Asia. However, the population of Asian Lady Beatles was not found in America until 1988 in Louisiana, near a port of New Orleans, said Woodward.
More information on the Asian Lady Beatle can be found on the Home and Garden Education Center website and Woodward encourages anyone with questions to reach out through both phone and email.