The other day, during a quiet portion of my crossing guard shift, a ladybug happened to land on my arm.
I have always been fond of ladybugs. I loved how they would always clamber to the highest part of my hand/finger, then take to the skies This particular ladybug, however, had no intention of leaving. I looked at it closely to see what it was doing.
After tentatively giving my skin a sniff with its antennae, it proceeded to start CHOMPING on my arm! I mean I could see its little jaws going to town on my skin! :eek: Plus, I could also feel the ladybug biting my skin; not a terrible pain, but a very, very teensey pinching sensation
Why the heck would a ladybug bite my arm?! I didn’t know ladybugs bit into things like that (I mean, besides aphids). Did my arm smell like aphid, and the ladybug decided to have a taste? I don’t think it felt threatened, I wasn’t poking the little guy or anything.
If this is the least karmic retribution you are forced to endure in exchange for the nekkid mom sighting of a week or so ago, consider yourself lucky.
The campground my parents go camping at gets swarmed by ladybugs from time to time and they have indeed been known to bite. Kind of like getting challenged to a drag race by somebody in a vintage VW Bug, apparently.
Yes, that’s pretty much it. The orange Asian ones also live for as long as 3 years, so they’ll try to sneak in your house to hide for the winter. If you smoosh them, they’ll stain the surface and smell bad. It’s better to suck them into a vacuum cleaner. Spray some bug-killer into the hose while it’s still running.
Our hamster used to do that. If he wasn’t quite sure if your hand or finger was food, he’d give it just a tiny nibble to check. More than once, he stuffed my daughter’s fingertip into his cheek pouch in an attempt to take it home to try later. It is cute indeed.
Yes, the Asian ladybugs. I think they are not actually biting but, as the OP said, pinching. It doesn’t leave a mark, but it can hurt–one got the back of my neck last summer and I was not a happy camper. What’s sad is that the friendly red ladybugs of yore are apparently gone. I haven’t seen one in a long time. The orange-brown ones are, on the other hand, absolutely everywhere.
The Lady Beetles - or as I like to call them, Asian Death Beetles - seem to swarm the Midwest every so often. It was really bad in the Spring of 2001, and this past Fall it was very bad as well. You could see clouds of them sometimes, and they do bite.
This particular ladybug, however, had no intention of leaving. I looked at it closely to see what it was doing.
