Do you see the tiny ladybug? When I was a little, I called them potato bugs. They are not bugs, they are beetles, and they are not just ladies. Male and female can eat 5,000 aphids in their lifetime.
I saw on the internet where a dozen of them had wintered at the base of a swirly flourescent light bulb in a living room lamp. This shorted the light and led to a near fire.
Which leads me to the awful odor we smelled when we were driving the car, as if something was burning. Bill took the car in for an oil change and mentioned the odor. The mechanic called and said he found the source of the smell. The car engine had served as a winter retreat for rodents. The airfilter was crammed with seeds, droppings, and acorns, plus there was another nest, which could have led to a fire under the hood.
Now Bill has moth balls on the ground under the car. He has been searching for Grandpa Gus's Mouse Repellent. When he gets on a kick, he delves deeply. He's been researching on the internet for two days.
"I've got to do this the right way. Some users said the mice loved Grandpa' Gus's old spice fragrance and refused to leave. Well we're not having that!"
So I will hear about this for some time. I told him I think it's that fat chipmunk who snatches the fallen bird seed. So yesterday he ordered a humane trap and plans to relocate the rodent to the farm across the road. I think the chipmunk might get the last laugh. I don't want to tell Bill I saw our chipmunk chasing our neighbor's little rodent.
He may need more traps.
One more fact about lady bugs: they produce a noxious toxin which doesn't hurt humans but makes them distasteful to birds. The brighter the lady bug, the stronger the toxin. Now you know.
6 comments:
Sounds like the critters have decided to take over! I'm sure Bill will figure out what to do.
Regarding re-homing, if chipmunks are anything like squirrels, be careful. They apparently can find their way back even if released miles away.
My LADYBUG! I always see them somewhere. Real or on commercials or on the internet.
Hick had a problem with his truck, SilverRedO, and found a stash of cat food in some gadget under the hood. We have a squirrel problem. They eat the dry cat food we leave out for our cat.
Tell Bill to be careful. I got BITTEN by a chipmunk, trying to save it from our cat. Had to get a tetanus shot at the county health center. They didn't know if chipmunks carry rabies, but did know their long teeth leave a puncture wound. As did I...
It sounds like the creatures are taking over. Good luck to Bill on getting them to move on.
I hope Bill is the victor--at least when it comes to chipmunks.
How is your step-daughter doing? You mentioned you don't like to talk about it too much online, but she came to mind as I saw your newest post in my feed. Hope all is well.
I like lady bugs much better than potato bugs (which I have had a lot of experience with in the past). And I also love cute little chipmunks even though they love to get in my 2 flower pots on my porch and roll around in them. We don't ever relocate chipmunks, but have relocated 5 raccoons in the past few weeks!
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