LILY THE LADYBUG
Early one morning, as I went into my bathroom early this new year, there appeared a ladybug on my white counter. Where did she come from? Why is she so sleepy? I assume she is a she, as she is a lady. I decided to name her "Lily", so the next day I made Lily a habitat of her own. I got a white paper plate and put grass, leaves, old flowers, a piece of moss, and a rock that I sprayed with water. (I learned how to improve on the habitat as I went along).
She slept all day on the rock, she didn't move. Her red back is a tarnished brick orange rather than a bright red. She has 19 black spots. (This is different then I read, as the most common North American ladybug is the 7 spotted Lady Beetle, and has 7 spots on a shiny red background...Lily is already special!). However, I found out later that as a ladybug ages, the color fades...so Lily is probably a great grandma. Either that, or she really is a beauty called an Asian Lady beetle. Her insect name then is "Harmonia Axyridis, but her fancy name is "Harlequin Ladybird" or "Halloween Ladybug". I like the Halloween Ladybug, sounds more adventurous.
After Lily was settled I wanted to learn more about ladybugs, so I got my computer out and looked up "LADYBUGS". When I was done reading National Geo for Kids, I wrote some paragraphs about them, this is what it said:
Did you know that when it gets cold ladybugs come inside and hibernate? They come in from small cracks, sills and open doors. Also a ladybug lives off its own body fat when it hibernates, but it usually dies from dehydration and not hunger.
So if you find a ladybug in your house make sure to give it some water! Options are a raisin soaked in water, a wet piece of moss or bark that you keep wet, or a small spray bottle to spray area and keep moist. I was pretty surprised that ladybugs hibernate and live off there own body fat! Hard to see how that is from looking at them on the outside, but nature has her way like always!
I also learned that there are around 5000 different species of ladybugs in the whole world. In North America alone there are 400 species. Also, that in a lifetime ladybugs (or ladybeetles) eat up to 5000 insects too! Female ladybugs lay up to 2000 eggs in their lifetime...that's a lot of work! The developing larvae, after becoming pupa, only take 2 weeks to become adults. You can find the developing larvae on the underside of leaves where most likely aphids had once lived.
Ladybugs are (obviously) harmless to humans, and generally people like them. Farmers and gardeners really appreciate the ladybug, as ladybug's choice of food is aphids and other plant eating insects. The 7 spotted ladybug was actually brought over to North America from Europe to help with the insect infested crops. Such important work for such a small lil critter!
I can imagine it's a hard journey for ladybugs to get around, especially where birds like to live as well. Birds eat ladybugs, as do spiders,wasps, frogs, and my lovely dragonflies. This is where I learned that the color red on their back is supposed to be a warning, signaling that she is a bad tasting choice of snack. I remember trying to catch ladybugs, but they "peed" on my hands so I would let them go. Now I know that it wasn't pee! It is a bad tasting oily liquid that ladybugs let out of their legs when they are threatened. They also play dead...I've notice Lily doesn't move a whole lot. I began to worry she was not well. To make that trick easier, I learned that ladybugs actually breathe through openings on their sides, and can retract their own heads back into their bodies! That's cool.
Ladybugs are sometimes even regarded as "lucky". Lily the Lucky Ladybug! It was considered a good sign to discover ladybugs in your cabin during the pioneer's day, and other stories around the world are that a ladybug landing on you was a good sign that your wishes will come true! Well, I never knew that, but liked them landing on my arm just the same.
So I am thinking to myself about Lily, and why she is a lady. How was she named Lady in the first place? Ladybugs are not just ladies, but sirs too. I read through more sites, and the same story showed up.
During the Medieval times in Europe, as crops were insect infested, the ladybug arrived from the prayers of the farmers praying to the Virgin Mary, and helped the farmers out with the infestations by eating all the pest. Ladybug was then crowned Lady, as her color resembled the red cloak, and her spots symbolized her joys and sorrows. From that, the farmers believed that the more spots she had the better the crops.
Best of all, ladybugs eat pollen as well, so the more flowers you have in your yard or garden, the more ladybugs will want to live at your house..
If ever you are curious like myself, and want to learn more about ladybugs, a great site is...
[Everything Ladybug](https://everything-ladybug.com" target="_blank)
thanks guys for reading with me today, I hope you will find a ladybug in your house but make sure to give it water if it comes in at winter. Make sure to check out our next adventure about constellations!! As alway live love learn life!
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge / Unsplash
