Ladybugs: She’s A Pest To Insects, But Not To People
The lady bug is no pest. The lady bug does no harm to humans or human possessions. But it does devour hordes of harmful insects, including a variety of plant lice.
About the only problem this lady of the insect world may cause you is that it sometimes makes a nuisance of itself during cold weather when it hibernates around windows or between the inner and outside windows of a house. It often chooses a spot near houses and buildings because it’s cold enough there to allow hibernation without being cold enough to kill it. It spends the winter in a state of suspended animation and will only wake up again when the weather is warm enough. In fact, if the lady bug warms up too quickly it could be fatal.
The bugs’ ability to hibernate during cold weather and its characteristic of gathering in large numbers is put to good use by fruit growers and other farmers in some parts of the country. They go into the mountains and collect the hibernating beetles by the bushel, and keep them in cold storage until spring. Then they ship the bugs to orchards and farms where they may warm up and go to work on plant enemies.
The lady bug is truly a lady. As the weather warms, if you find her flying around the house one of these warm days, just open the window and let her go on about her business.