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Asian Lady Beetles
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The very best time to prevent overwintering Asian Lady Beetles is to have us treat your home or business before the end of September. Their weather trigger to look for overwintering safety typically occurs around Columbus Day, give or take a week. Even though not too late afterwards, results are significantly diminished.
“I read in the paper just the other day. It said during the winter and spring, there is nothing I can do for the invasion of Lady Beetles now descending upon my home.”
This is true to a degree. There is nothing you can do to keep them out. The reason is they are already in. In your walls that is. Only small percentages actually come out at any given time during the winter months. This all changes whenever we see 70-degree temps in the spring. The Asian Lady Beetles actually spend the winter inside your walls, overhangs, attics and even basement sill box areas. Anywhere there are cooler temps. They cannot freeze. This will kill them. If they stay at room temperature they will starve to death.
Every time the outside temps or sunlight warms them up, they look for food and water. Unless you have plants with a serious aphid problem, the beetles will die within a few days.
The downside to having Asian Lady Beetles in your home or even the walls is up to 90% will die over the winter. This can sound like a good thing until you realize that what you don’t see is the problem. If you have hundreds of thousands of beetles dying in your walls every year, this could mean millions of dead bodies in just a few years. Most allergic reactions are to proteins. The exoskeleton of Lady Beetles is primarily made up of proteins. As these proteins break down, air circulation in the walls will blow these proteins throughout the house. This is why children can have elevated asthma on windy days.
When Is it too late to do something?
It is never too late. Expectations of results may need to change. In the spring: Spectrum Pest Control will treat the exterior of an infested structure with a semi repellent product. As the beetles come out to sun themselves, they will move across our product. After a few feet of activity, they will have received a lethal dose. Since the product is repellent they will then want to get off the surface by flying away or dropping. This allows the beetles to die outside the walls instead of inside, thus reducing the numbers dying in the walls.
Most lady Beetles you see in or on your house on a warm March or early April day are from your house. The more we can reduce those numbers, the better for you and your health.
What could I have done differently to prevent these Lady Beetles from getting in, in the first place?
Spectrum Pest Control pioneered in Lady Beetle control way back in 1994 when they first hit Kenosha, Walworth, and Racine Wisconsin.
Timing is everything. We know what triggers them to enter your home or business. It is with this knowledge that gives Spectrum Pest Control an advantage over the beetles and our competition.
Spectrum Pest Control highly recommends pre-treating your home or business in the late summer or early fall. If Box Elder Bugs are also a problem, we may need to treat in late August with a booster service in mid to late October.
What if I also have wasp or hornets? Or even other insects.
Fortunately, the same application is good for controlling and preventing wasp and many other insect pests.
The same service will also control and prevent box elder bugs. The number of other pests we can control will depend on the area you live and structural features of what we are treating.
As with all our products and methods, your family’s safety is our first priority. We only use products with a category 4 toxicity rating. The lowest any chemical can be given.