Temperatures are starting to drop a bit, particularly at night, so we seem to be coming up to the time when other things, like insects, seem to like to move inside with us. Just to stay nice and toasty over the winter.
Since many of them probably don’t live that long, they probably have other plans for how to spend their time of the winter. But helping them raise future generations really isn’t in my job description. At least, not in my house.
The past few years there seem to have been quite a few of those Asian lady beetles trying to move in for the winter. You know the ones that try to disguise themselves as harmless little lady buds, but grow too many spots and give themselves away. I usually try to escort them some place else. Since they aren’t even supposed to be here in the first place, I don’t feel much of an obligation to their wellbeing.
Same for those Western conifer seed bugs. You know, the shield shaped ones. Some people call them stink bugs, and they do look a lot like the brown marmorated stink bug, only the stink bug is a bit wider. But they also smell like cilantro when they are crushed, much like the stink bug, so they do smell not so great when you stomp them of crush them. True stink bugs still haven’t moved this far north, and are more of an agricultural pest, but the WCSB arrived in fairly large numbers a few years ago to eat the pine trees. And move into our houses for the winter. Except they also have the habit of flying at lights during the evening, which, around my place, tends to get them tossed into the fire.
Then we have the spiders.
I like spiders. They usually don’t bother me and I don’t bother them. I had a lovely wolf spider that lived in the bathroom for quite a while until other members of the family decided a really large spider was not a welcome guest, so she had to be relocated. As long as the keep mostly out of site, I don’t mind spiders. Since they tend to like eating other bugs, I might even encourage them. Not everyone feels the same.
I don’t go around inviting spider buddies to move in for the winter, but if they manage to find themselves inside and can keep a low profile, I tend to let them do their thing.
There are a lot of spiders that don’t try to get in the house, but seem to put on a last minute push building webs as the weather starts to cool down. And those webs tend to be across every possible entry point into the house so you are always walking through them. Since they are likely trying to catch the other bugs that are trying to move in, I feel bad about tearing apart their carefully constructed traps, but I do need to get in and out.
At this time of year, maybe I should just put a sign on the door. Six legs, no entry. Eight legs, keep out of site and you should be okay. Although not everyone seems to feel that way.
And maybe we could work out a deal on not building a web right where I walk every day?