Ladybugs a.k.a lady beetles or lady birds

Ladybugs are insatiable and proficient predators of insect pests and are our most beneficial insects. And here is even more good news, they do not sting, carry diseases, or infest our food. Ladybugs can live up to three years if the environment is just right. They hibernate in the winter living on stored fat and as they age their spots being to fade. Ladybugs produce several generations each year and their hatched eggs look like tiny alligators. If a ladybug feels threatened it may play dead. Their bright colour is a reminder to any predator that they secrete foul fluid that tastes nasty. One species of ladybugs has increasingly become a cause of complaints, the multicoloured Asian lady beetles. Brought to Canada in the 1970s to control aphids and other crop-eating insects, they tend to gather in large numbers in the fall. Attracted to the walls of homes with south-west exposures, they gather on the walls and make their way indoors.