While my friends complain about their Japanese beetle problems, I have swarms of night beetles enveloping the house! These copper-colored pests fly around, bouncing off the windows and walls like raindrops! And, they enjoy flying in your face and ears just for spite! Unlike moths, I have no porch lights on to which they might be attracted.
The situation is out of control. I WAG they stay close to ground by day? Should I spray the perimeter of the house with some lawn & garden pest control? Would bag-a-beetle work for these pests?
Anyone have a similiar experience? Can someone at least identify what kind of beetle this is?
Please help…
Really bugged out…
-Jinx
Copper colored beetles? About 5/8 of an inch long? Sounds like June bug beetles, especially if they seem to spend a lot of time bouncing off your screens and lying upside down on the sidewalk. They’re phenomenally dumb creatures, and as guitarist Leo Kottke says, it’s amazing that they can survive long enough to reproduce. In this area, you’ll see them more often in May and July than June, which shows that they can’t read calendars, either. They’re passable cat toys, though.
I thought the Japanese beetles (bright blue, green, and copper) were otherwise known as “June bugs”. These are solid copper and bigger than Japanese beetles. They may be about 5/8ths of an inch. But, besides cat toys, what do I do to get rid of them? And, isn’t odd they only come out at night?
What I call “June Bugs” are shiny brown, not copper colored. But they are very large, and easily blunder into screens. They land on their backs and wave their legs in the air, as attested. IIRC, Kottke also surmised that they only survived because some kind-hearted soul would get up off their porch chair and turn them over. Here we go:
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Jinx, out of curiousity, how’s the weather where you are? We’re in the middle of a drough and I’ve yet to see any June Bugs- some of which I’d say were more copper than brown btw- so I wonder if they’re one of the insects really affected by the wet/dryness of the summer
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If you do have a porch light on at all during the night, I’d suggest you get some of the “bug lights” that GE sells- they’re yellow rather than white and attract bugs less, presumably since the moon isn’t yellow. IMHO june bugs are attracted to lights. They also tend to hang around where the light was coming from even if you’ve turned it off hours before.
Sounds like they are almost certainly June Bugs, which are not the same as Japanese Beetles. I remember one time, a June bug got into our house, and was fluttering around the stove light area. We lit a burner, singed its wings off and cooked it. (it flew into the flame…we weren’t cruel enough to actually catch it, then fry it.) Mmm…crispy June Bug campfire treats!