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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for your help getting rid of ladybirds

79 replies

sleepismysuperpower1 · 05/10/2018 17:08

hi all,

my window has around 17 ladybirds on it. we have installed new windows etc, and i am at loss of what to do to stop them coming in.

is there anywhere i can buy a ladybird trap that actually works? im getting desperate, i really hate them being there.

TIA

OP posts:
thinkfast · 05/10/2018 17:34

Placemarking for tips. I tried hoovering them up - wiping windows with white vinegar. And then emptying the hoover bag about 100 feet away from the house. The fuckers made it back to the window before I did

blueangel1 · 05/10/2018 17:37

Catch them and put them in the garden! They eat aphids.

Hodgehegg · 05/10/2018 17:39

Are you sure they're ladybirds? My mum once nurtured one on her windowsill throughout the winter untill she realised it was a carpet beetle (they look like teeny brown ladybirds!)

7YearsOfBlood · 05/10/2018 17:41

My bedroom window is full of ladybirds (old sash). The bastards bite. I vaccuum them up and leave them in there to die, to be honest. I loathe them.

OftenHangry · 05/10/2018 17:43

Ladybirds are really important for the gardens.

Apparently lemon or any citrus oil can help to make them move on. Collect them, pop them in a garden and wipe the window frame with couple of essential oil drops.
Maybe they are just trying to warm up if the window is in a warm room

OftenHangry · 05/10/2018 17:45

I didn't know normal ladybirds biteShock I thought just the harlequins do.

BlackStoneCherie · 05/10/2018 17:49

Try eating them!

I was just about to take a bite out of my lunchtime sandwich yesterday, and one crawled merrily out of the filling inside!

Another second and he'd have been a gonner Envy

IdaDown · 05/10/2018 17:51

Why do you want to get rid of them? They’re harmless and good for the garden. They’re just finding a place to hibernate.

Ta1kinpeace · 05/10/2018 17:51

Put them outside
They are an important garden predator
DO NOT mindlessly kill insects

Munchyseeds · 05/10/2018 17:53

We have lots on our windows today...must b the to.e of year
They don't bother me too much

Thesearmsofmine · 05/10/2018 17:54

We keep getting them too, no idea why as I’ve never known it in anywhere else I’ve lived. Following this post!

RomanyRoots · 05/10/2018 17:58

Oh, they are lovely. Collect them up and put them outside, shouldn't take a minute

Original poster
sleepismysuperpower1 · 05/10/2018 18:00

i know they are harmless, but its not the most pleasant sight to find your window crawling in them.

OP posts:
MissMarplesKnitting · 05/10/2018 18:00

They're trying to hibernate. They go into warmer places to overwinter.

mycatplotsdeath · 05/10/2018 18:02

Do you have Wisteria??
We had this problem when we did

MrsLettuce · 05/10/2018 18:02

Have you got a shed you could move them into?

bobstersmum · 05/10/2018 18:03

How could you hoover up Gaston!!

DriveInSaturday · 05/10/2018 18:04

A bedroom at my dad's house was infested with harlequin ladybirds a couple of years ago. Every time you went in, there were more. The thing that worked was one of those plug-in pest repellers that presumably emit high-pitched sounds. None of us could hear the sound, but it really put off the ladybirds. He got it from one of those catalogues full of weird stuff that fall out of Radio Times.

MammaSchwifty · 05/10/2018 18:04

Parcel them up and send them to me Grin

Original poster
sleepismysuperpower1 · 05/10/2018 18:14

driveinsaturday do you have any idea of the brand? i found a 'ladybird buster' but from what i gather it drowns them in a quicksand like substance, which seems really cruel. would rather repel than kill.

OP posts:
PetraDelphiki · 05/10/2018 18:16

I had to get the room fumigated to get rid of them - they were living inside the curtain track, and the curtains (specialist cleaner needed)

ToadOfSadness · 05/10/2018 18:47

We once had the big ones indoors, just kept putting them out again. However I buy ladybird larvae every year and nurture them as they get rid of aphids on the plants, also have a ladybird house for them.

Find some ivy or roses and put them on them. Or get them a little house and put them by it.

Popfan · 05/10/2018 18:50

I read this thread earlier, got home and opened the French door to the garden to let in the cat and a load of ladybird flew in! Then realised there were about 50 inside the door frame Shock. I brushed them all outside (then leaping away like a mad woman as some flew inside again) but imagine they'll be back!! We've had a few before but nothing like this!! What on earth is going on???

RomanyRoots · 05/10/2018 19:48

Toad

Where from? I want some larvae, they are so important and very pretty.They do absolutely no harm to anyone.

Thanks for saying you want to repel and not kill them OP Thanks
Anyway look after our Bishy Barney Bees.
english.stackexchange.com/questions/133526/what-is-the-origin-of-bishy-barney-bee

jhil566 · 05/10/2018 19:50

Are these the sex crazed ladybirds that were all over the papers last year..