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04-12-2006, 06:21 PM
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#1
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4 Rivet Member
Belington
, West Virginia
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 304
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Lady Bugs Everyhere!
I purchased my 75 Argosy 26 a couple of months ago and have begun refurbishing. It needs very little actually. The weather here is just now starting to warm into the 60s and 70s during the day and suddenly my trailer is over run with ladybugs. I don't know if they are hatching or just waking up from a long winters nap. They seem to just appear around the windows receiving the most light. I cannot see where they are coming from. They just appear. One then three then ten then twenty. It's creepy. Anyway, has anyone else had this problem and how can I rid the trailer of them. I first thought that once they all became active and if I was dilligent about shewing them out that they would be gone but now I'm afraid that they will just reappear each season or even several times a year. Help!
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04-12-2006, 06:30 PM
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#2
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Rivet Master
1959 26' Overlander
Putnam
, Connecticut
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,064
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We have them in Connecticut also, most obvious in the winter looking for a warm stop to hide. Actually they are most likely not lady bugs. Look up the color photos on the net and you may notice the color pattern is different. My understanding is these another imported incest to help organic farmers with aphids. They are harmless. Put them in your garden. Reminds you of that movie "The Bird" don't they?
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04-12-2006, 06:31 PM
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#3
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Moderator
1968 17' Caravel
Battle Ground
, Washington
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,252
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I have a friend who had them take over her house. They swarm in the fall and come in all the cracks, hide up in the attic. Of course all winter they'd get warmed up and be buzzing drunken-like around the house, landing in their food, driving her nuts! Come spring, they swarm back out. She finally had new roof and siding done and sealed everything up so they couldn't get in, and last I heard it was under control.
They could be hiding anywhere they can get to, in the walls, or the belly pan, they're awful small.
__________________
Stephanie
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04-12-2006, 06:35 PM
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#4
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Rivet Master
1994 21' Sovereign
Down on the corner...
, CT
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 997
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We use to get them in my old house every year....I'd put a nylon over my vacuum cleaners nozzle and suck them up and then go release them outside.....so they could make there way back inside ....they will eventually go away don't worry.
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04-12-2006, 06:40 PM
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#5
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4 Rivet Member
Belington
, West Virginia
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 304
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I'm sure they are some sort of Asian imposter. I have contemplated setting off a Bug Bomb but am not to keen on the idea. If they're under the floor or between the interior and exterior walls that may not work anyway. I wonder if some sort of sonic pest control device would work.
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04-12-2006, 06:40 PM
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#6
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We can tow it!
1996 28' Excella
Where the water tastes like wine
, Michigan
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,625
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Mostly harmless
All the advice here is great. If you humanely scoop them up to send them on their merry way by hand be sure to use a paper barrier though, they leave a stinky orange mark on your hand as a defense ask me how I know...they will leave when it warms up...
You may have a name/theme for your trailer? Ladybug?
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04-12-2006, 06:47 PM
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#7
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4 Rivet Member
Belington
, West Virginia
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 304
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Thanks for the encouraging words. I will not worry. They are apparenty simple minded anyway. The are very good at finding windows with screens but cannot seem to find a wide open door.
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04-12-2006, 06:49 PM
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#8
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Moderator
1968 17' Caravel
Battle Ground
, Washington
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 12,252
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tin sista
they leave a stinky orange mark on your hand as a defense ask me how I know...
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Yes, and my friend assures me they taste REALLY bad too, though I have not checked that myself.
Just wait until they leave of their own accord, and then try to button up any holes before next fall.
__________________
Stephanie
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04-12-2006, 07:41 PM
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#9
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Rivet Master
2007 23' International CCD
Lapeer
, Michigan
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,080
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We got a slew of them one October. I moisten a paper towel (don't do that on any fabric because the orange transfers) and catch them (50-100-more?) until they stop coming out. The following February in Florida, I had to push up the awning to get underneath where they had collected. Many survived our Michigan cold temperatures. There were tons. Eventually we stopped finding any to extracate. Once in a while I find a dead one, but we never used any spray or insecticides. Sometimes especially for hornets I use the vacuum and hose.
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04-12-2006, 08:48 PM
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#10
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Rivet Master
1956 22' Safari
2015 27' Flying Cloud
Vintage Kin Owner
Conifer/Evergreen
, Colorado
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 12,701
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I could think of worse infestations ~
Shari
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04-13-2006, 02:47 AM
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#11
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Round on both ends
1979 31' Excella 500
1975 28' Argosy 28
Rutledge
, Georgia
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 783
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I recently found a few thousand carcasses in the sun room of my folk's house a couple of weeks ago, and I figured they could be traced to the potted plants my mom moved in there last fall. I theorize that they were in the soil and since that room is minimally heated, warmer weather and the angle of the sun made them hatch in hordes. Then they made a bee-line for the window screens.
Lamar
__________________
1975 Argosy 28 "Argosy"
1979 Excella 500 31 "Betsy"
1992 Lincoln Mk 7 LSC
2003 Dodge 2500 Cummins "TowHog"
"Lucy Loosehair" the cat - Airstream mascot
Klaatu barada nikto
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04-13-2006, 06:50 AM
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#12
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Rivet Master
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 1,335
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Over59
another imported incest
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All ladybugs look very similar, so perhaps they can't tell which are their close relatives.
Nick
__________________
Nick Crowhurst, Excella 25 1988, Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel. England in summer, USA in winter.
"The price of freedom is eternal maintenance."
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04-13-2006, 07:55 AM
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#13
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4 Rivet Member
1971 23' Safari
Richmond
, Kentucky
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 376
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this may help
__________________
Digger Bear
Non impediti ratione cogitationis
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04-13-2006, 07:59 AM
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#14
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Rivet Master
1967 22' Safari
1960 Caravel
Edmonds
, Washington
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,445
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When we first cleaned out our '67 Safari, we found hundreds of dead ladybugs. A PO had left the windows open (apparently during some rainstorms too - grrrr) and then closed the ladybugs in before they could escape.
Maybe get some ladybug lures from a garden center and place them outside the trailer, and then leave the windows/door open?
__________________
Mel
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04-13-2006, 08:44 AM
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#15
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Rivet Master
2007 23' International CCD
Lapeer
, Michigan
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 7,080
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They Bite?
Quote:
Originally Posted by h goodman
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That's a good article. I didn't know they don't reproduce indoors---very glad to hear that they are not multiplying inside the Airstream. I didn't realize they were attracted to light, but that explains a lot. I always find them on the vista views, sky light and windows and ceiling, except for the bomber one that kept repeatedly bouncing off my head one night reading in bed until I let it out. ARGH!
But they do bite, or pinch, right? I used to try to knock them off the extended awning and side of the AS and a couple "got" me so I won't touch them without a damp paper towel anymore. Besides they drop and roll away when you try to catch them. The damp towel traps them better, like a magnet, until I toss them out, usually with a good retaliatory projectory flick of my finger!
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06-15-2006, 09:07 AM
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#16
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New Member
1995 31' Land Yacht
Rancho Viejo
, Texas
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 4
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ever try bay leaves? just lay a few by your windows. they hate them.
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