It's a ladybug! SQUISH THE DAMN THING! .... Kidding :3 Unless it's yellow/orange... They bite.. Sorry I can't help, but good luck :p
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Every ladybug can bite though. I didn't knew that until one did :s
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OH :o It's red/orangeish, think it lost a bit of it's color. I am a person who not takes insects on their hands, so the biting won't happen anyway. :p Strangest thing is i sometimes had dreams about green ladybugs, but don't know if they really exist or just photoshop can't find much about it.
Thanks though. :)
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I had the same thought...glad you said it first, though.
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I tend to find any bug icky (beside ladybugs perhaps) so it has to do with it's water and lettuce (wanted to give raisins but we are out of it) Also tried a bit of sugar but didn't seemed to like it as much, they are welcome but am not much of a good permanent pet owner.
I don't even have it in a container (don't like keeping it in a jar either because it seems so small), it sits above a small piece of an airvent of my window.
Want to know if he/she is alright, and if it's okay if i release him and it will survive (after the freezing).
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Now i need to find a very tiny controller so he can co-op with me.
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Most kinds of ladybirds are carnivores - they'll eat aphids and small bugs rather than lettuce.
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But it did moved to it for awhile assuming it's eaten of it? Can it survive atleast a couple of days on that? or sugar or raisins, something else? Not really looking forward to work with aphids and more bugs.
Maybe should try posting a picture to help identify it.
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ladybugs hibernate (or go into crevices - might not technically be hibernation) over winter - usually in bundles of many ladybugs - so it will not want to go out if you don't make it :) - but only put it outside when it day time and it has a chance to find a warm place to sleep with friends - also, they eat little aphids - so meat eater I'm afraid :)
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Thanks, I can't really tell if it touched the lettuce (even though it stayed there for awhile but maybe just "sniffing") if not then it hasn't eaten for 1 1/2 day it's been here (and why it's so still now?), can it survive till i release it tommorow or does it really need something to eat now?.
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http://www.uksafari.com/ladybirds_in_winter.htm
just for information :)
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Thanks.
But "In a more natural environment they would sleep through to March or April, but the heating in our homes wakes them up prematurely. If they wake up in the middle of winter and there are no aphids for them to eat they simply starve to death."
Doesnt give confidence again to let it free, all those sites don't really define "winter", a bit of freezing or blizzards and inches of snow, big difference.
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yeah, but in my experience if you let them out during a sunny day - not too cold - then they only need a couple of hours to find somewhere :) - alternatively, you could take them to a nice crevice in a garden - such as near to some dead wood they can crawl into for warmth (we have boxes with little wooden tubes they can crawl into in our garden)
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We got a spot for fireplace wood outside that has a top (or however you call it) against the rain, alot of bugs, spiders tend to crawl in there. Maybe that's a nice spot for it too. The rest of the garden aside from some plants, is all stone.
The link you gave me, also had a link to make a hotel out of a plastic bottle, will have to see what i do tommorow and how the weather is.
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yeah - away from spiders of course :) - we used to use plastic bottles, so that should be okay; we filled them with bits of dead wood and some leaves and wedged them where they would not fill up with rain etc.. :)
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I just looked it up if spiders were an enemy, only said something about praying mantis and beetles, didn't read about spiders.
Then i better keep the ladybug away from that. So much to think about for such a tiny creature. :p
You seem like a real animal lover.
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:) Still one thing is not totally clear, i get it some say they are meat/aphid eaters, yet some sites (and the video genki posted) claim they can also eat raisins or honey, so that's for a different sort of ladybug or they will eat it anyway when settled?
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drop of honey will not hurt, or even a few raisins, as it is the sugers that they can eat - so used to seeing them munch on bugs I forget that most things can handle simple sugers when in need :)
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Hm, I'd guess that he's decided that it's nicer to live inside the lovely warm box with the lettuce and water. If you're really that worried about it I suggest the old cup and paper routine, but I've never done that with a ladybug, so it might squirt acid and ruin your cup.
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My area has been invaded by large numbers of those this year. They seem a lot more cold tolerant than the native varieties and have been far more prone to finding their way into houses - or it might just seem that way because of how many are about.
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Seems like it, and it does mention The Netherlands too.
But not such big spots, it got alot (like 24) tiny spots.
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Different species eat different things, but most eat other insects. It should be looking for somewhere to hibernate at this time of year, but may have remained active due to your room being too warm. If you throw it out then it might take the hint...
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They live 2-3 years - as long as it can find somewhere to hibernate they can make it through a freezing Winter. It might be a bit late for it to start looking for somewhere - but I don't know what else you can do with it. Release it outside during a spell of sunshine to give it a chance?
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It's the Netherlands, we don't always have sunshine. :p
Well i can either keep it, put it in a container and yeah feed it aphids and such or i can release it, i prefer that but only if i know it can survive. I probably will seek to release it tommorow, it's 17:00 and dark now.
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Yeah, don't release it right now. But most ladybirds have very specific diets so you are unlikely to be able to properly feed it. As long as it is indoors and it is warm enough to remain active it will be burning off the energy it has stored to make it through hibernation. It's risky to release it outdoors this late - but I also think the longer you try and keep it the less chance it will probably have.
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Yeah i also prefer animals to be in a natural environment, reading how people keep them in a jar, i wouldn't want to be in one, so why should they be. :p But they need to be able to fly and such.
I will release it tommorow, not sure about any sunshine, but atleast it won't rain.
Thanks.
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Don't squash the orange ones :x Those are the smelly ones
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I don't see any point in pointlessly killing any creature, not even mosquitos, unless they annoy the crap out of me and keep buzzing around my face when i try to sleep.
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Yeah i once let a spider live on the side of my old pc casing (after making double sure it never left it´s web) but i cannot understand how you could give any mosquito the benefit of doubt, they´re a giant blood sucking pain in the arse!
edit: iloved that spider lol
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It somehow feels like i'm getting some wrong "karma" if i would be the judge of killing anything, big or small. And they aren't a bother, they can even take a bit of blood (not like i would feel sick, let alone die from it), but they do tend to keep buzzing right next to your face.
Usually i can catch them though, placing a glass over them and then put some paper between it (and yes if they kept me up shake the glass a little) and letting them go or with a piece of toilet paper, putting a hole in it and catching it that way and kill it, never blood on your walls, but i also have a fan above my bed, at full speed they usually don't go near that zone.
Ahhh you even named it.
I once had a beetle INSIDE my computer case, offcourse it didn't survive.
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Oh boy, it´s a good thing your PC survived that beetle attack! You know how software bugs we´re only called that way because moths used to produce shortcuts in ancient (room sized) pc´s?
And i really have to say that reading how someone being kept up by mosquitos gives them a gentle retaliation-shake has prolly enhanced my understanding of the world a little bit :D
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Sorry for being a smart-ass, but that is a harvestman/daddy longlegs, which belongs to another animal order than spiders.
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While nice, i preffered some different kind of lady. :p
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i just read every comment of here , i dont have any idea about ladybugs so have a bump
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I am not an expert but I believe many insects from spring/summer/autumn die when the winter comes as it is either part of their natural life cycle or they just cannot find a way to survive which often leads to them going into people homes to keep warm and then starve to death.
I feel as though little to nothing can be done about it.
From past experience, Ladybugs do like to use human hands as a toilet.
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Outside the USA we call them ladybirds and they eat aphids. Let it out during the day (when it's not raining or dark) and it will find its way.
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It's genuinely cute how much you worry about the ladybug.
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I am cute. :P
It has frozen tonight, bit more then expected at -5C and it will be 2 more days, but the sun is shining so going to release it today, just need to find a way to catch it safely.
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So i released it next to the wooden shed which might have some gaps for it to climb in, but as it was for the last 1 1/2 day it's also very still outside when i released it, and temperatures i think are currently around freezing point, while sunny. I was hoping it would be filled with joy, run to find a good shelter :x Don't know if it needs adjusting, or it is too cold or weak.
Going to keep an eye on it, if it doesn't move until it gets dark, i might just need to take it back in.
Edit: I can't see it anymore (and it's getting darker outside), hope spotty found a spot. :)
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No batteries of the camera were dead, and it was so stuck in between the vent of the window, lightning would have been very poor.
Now i am atleast sure it really seems to be losing it's color, like a pale orange, and that's what's worrying me and it barely moving.
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Because why not? Someone probably knows.
So from time to time i got a ladybug in my room, sometimes i caught them and released them, sometimes they disappeared on their own.
However for 2 days now one stays in my room, i had the windows open (even though it's cold) but it didn't go outside. And fed it some lettuce and a cotton swap filled with water.
Yesterday it was very active, crawling on the ceiling but today it just sits still next to it's lettuce and water, is he/she still okay, and is it normal behavior? Do they start to hibernate even in captivity?
I don't want to keep it, but want to release it, however a few more nights it's gonna be -4C in the night, and 5-8C daytime, can they survive or should i wait till the freezing is over? Week after it might just as well freeze again though (you never know here).
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