We always have two kinds of small bark beetles in the winter--longish brown creatures with beautiful markings. They don't eat in their adult phase. I don't know their life cycle. They walk and fly around the loft of our cabin. They are under the metal roof and must come in through small cracks in the structure of the building. The other related one is round, flat and black in the unheated greenhouse. They both give off the same odor if you disturb them--like a skunk, but not the same smell. Their spray is actually sweet, but offensive. I can pick them off without threatening them when I'm reading in bed in the dark in the loft with a reading light which attracts them. They only spray if you hurt them.
Moen Creek wrote: > Hate to be rude folks but these ain't lady Bugs but a Japanese/ > Oriental beetle that the USDA brought over a number of years ago to > eat a Pine Bore that had migrated to the US with-out it. We here in WI > have had huge numbers in late Sept for years. They are not hatching > but looking for "wintering ground" ie in your barn, house etc. > In remodeling a cabin this summer I wondered as to their wind blocking > and insulating properties as they had filled ever crack & crevasse > under the siding but had not survived the desiccation of the winter. > We have had several commitments to mental wards around here of > housewives unable to keep up with vacuuming "every one of them" out of > their homes as they (the bugs), waken and become active inside abodes > at every warm spell till hightailing it back to work in the spring. > > We had fewer this year so they must be migrating to warmer climes as > they figure out this confusing country. > > The pesticide man that had the audacity to show up with an offer to > eliminate them one orange colored fall day was very hasty in backing > out the drive when I told him I dealt with pest with my 20guage and it > was just here in the closet. > > I guess my neck scarf must have slipped wide that week. > > Blessed 03 > L*L > Markess > > > From: "The Korrows" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 00:02:30 -0600 > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: more buggy questions > > > > But why now? there isn't anything for them to eat, and > it's too cold > > for them to be very active, yet year after year, they > always do it. > > The ladybugs have been coming out around here also. Insects > are very much > connected to the temp, though to understand this > relationship we have to > expand our concept a bit. It's not just the temp from a > maximum temp point > of view but also from the duration of sustained average temp > plus an > internal mechanism that has been bound to their preys temp > tolerance and > cycles for a millennium. > If it's happening inside your house it could be a false > signal their getting > since the temps in the walls are obviously higher than the > ones in say a > barn or a trees bark.Consequentially there are allot of dead > ladybugs in the > house from about now till spring. They don't have any food. > If it's > happening outside, all one has to do is look close enough & > you'll find that > there is something there to sustain them. Insects are > incredibly 2 > dimensional, food and sex is virtually what they live for. > (sounds a little > too much like much humanity for my comfort). > > In Love and Light, > (Mr.) Chris > >
