I caught a ladybird, took it inside and now I think it's having babies!

[MostlyCake]

Hopefully not as weird as my title sounds but we gave a lime plant which was infested with white fly. While out weeding I found a ladybird, took it inside and put it on the plant. I intended to put it back outside but couldn't find it after a couple of days.

today I am see it again and it's holding onto a little packet shaped like a grain of rice which is stuck to the main trunk of the plant.

my question is, what should I do?? Pick the rice grain thing off and try to find somewhere suitable outside for it or let the babies hatch and put the whole plant outside briefly to let them fly away?

Forgot to say the ladybird ate all the whitefly so there isn't much for the babies to eat when they hatch.

i would not touch the rice grain at all.

Would the lime plant survive outside for a few days, so they could find food immediately they hatch? or can you bring in a couple of stalks with aphids on them and put them by the plant?

I'm keeping an eye on it and will take the plant outside when it hatches. I don't think the plant would survive outside overnight and the ladybird isn't very well hidden so would probably get eaten.

I'm not sure if i've ever seen ladybird babies. Exciting. If weather is nice it'll be fine to leave your plant out for a bit. Do you have anywhere sheltered from the rain?

I wish they could hatch onto my roses. They are covered in aphids and soapy water hasn't done much.

Ladybird eggs hatch into nymphs which can't fly until they pupate into beetle form. This takes about 21 days during which they need to eat loads of greenfly. I would shift the eggs onto a rose bush if I were you.

Baby ladybirds look like goth punk head lice, black and spiky with a pair of yellow spots each side of the body.
They eat shed loads of aphids though.

Goth punk ladybird babies sound awesome! I'm keeping them!! opens door to let loads of aphids in

Hate to tell you, but ladybird eggs are little yellow things like caterpillar eggs.

If the ladybird ain't moving, there's a chance that the rice grain could be the result of an attack from one of its enemies. The pictures on here look similar.

I used to often pick up ladybirds on the streets, where they'll only get crushed, and take them back to my aphid-infested back yard. And I got loads of babies. So it can be done. never put a dent in my aphid numbers though!