I have a loveliness of ladybirds 🐞 in the corner of my bathroom cabinet and I’m wondering when I might need to issue a dispersion order.

[LongFaulks]

No idea why they have decided to ?hibernate in there for the winter but as they’re not doing anything anything apart from forming a collective huddle I thought I’d just let them get on with it.

Come the spring what might occur?

I’m no prude but the thought of some sort of springtime ladybird orgy occurring next to my vitamin D tablets and a subsequent population explosion is a bit beyond the pale.

Can someone advise when I can usher them out, and the best means for doing this please.

I personally leave them, they will go as quietly as they come, they prefer outside orgys rather than inside!

Ladybirds are amazing for the garden ecosystem and they are very quiet winter roommates!

If they are hibernating then I imagine in spring they will wake up and trundle off looking for food.

They are non native, dominant and are a threat to other species so I don’t worry too much about dispensing with them. I’m scared of spiders but would prioritise saving a spider over these little guys.

Harlequins that is

You are a better person than me. I'm afraid I would have to (gently) evict. Groups of insects give me the heebie jeebies.

Oh! Is that the collective noun for ladybirds? How wonderful! I love collective nouns. My favourite is an exultation of skylarks.

<entirely misses point of thread>

Oh God, you’re better than me! Just looking at the picture makes me itch.

I have no advice on what would happen come springtime but I’m sure someone will let you know soon

They will poop all over your cupboard, and may bite if they get hungry. They also smell. Not the most congenial of roommates!

If you are in Devon I'll happily dispatch dd who has years of experience in minibeast removal. Your ladybirds can winter in a plastic tub in her bedroom along with the isopods, millipedes, and hissing cockroaches 😱

They bite? Wtf.

if there’s any aggression or excessive crapping in my cupboard out they go.

They have not moved from that position for a week now. I think they are dormant which is acceptable.

Here's their lifecycle;

www.coleoptera.org.uk/coccinellidae/ladybird-life-cycle

They'll stay dormant in your cupboard until spring & then leave looking for food. They mate in May, outside.

You have to see if they are native or Harlequins.
The later... Get rid.
Our native species are being pushed out by them .
Unfortunately it's very hard to identify which is which.
The only thing I can see is that our native ladybirds have black legs and harlequins have orange legs..

I hope you have a native group there.
They are wonderful creatures.

Ew, that’s revolting! I hate ladybirds: they look toxic and they stink.

I'd have to find a humane way of removal.

Ooh I don't mind ladybirds generally but clusters of insects like that give me the heebie jeebies (with the exception of bees, which I love).

I'd have to get rid. I'd probably scoop them into a pot and put them outside - would that be bad?

This ! Just Googled it that's made my day

Do they stink ?

Apparently ladybirds went rogue during the 76 drought and started biting people.

I'd move them to a cosy shed or garage, but make it extra nice for them.

I’ve never noticed smelly ladybirds. What do they smell of?

I have this also. When we moved in in February we wondered why there were dead ladybirds all over the house. They had been hibernating in the window sills but presumably dehydrating and dying. And now they are gathering again. Not sure what to do

Have you got a garage, outhouse, or shed? If so, they'd be better off in there. Alternatively, you could put some leaves in a flower pot and upend it outside, ensuring that the leaves insulate them well from the ground.

If they stay indoors, they'll be too warm and their metabolisms too active, they'll come out to look for food and may well starve.

We've had them hibernate in the hinge side gap of the front door on a few occasions. Then, one day, they've all gone!

Have you never had one eject that awful smelling juice on your hand when you pick one up 🤮 it's a smell unique to them, can't really describe it.

Also side note, to everyone saying they go outdoors to mate. How do they know the difference between indoors and outdoors?

Juice? No. Are they weeing? Or God Forbid ladybird jizz🤮

After that news story about ladybirds infesting a dogs mouth (or was this a nightmare I had?!) I could not have that in my house. Shudder.

After seeing thousands of these take over a heritage building I was interning at during uni… nope.

I don't know what it is. Jizz? Wee? Defence mechanism? Who can say.

'reflex blood' 🤮