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How To Get Rid of Ladybugs In Your House In 9 Steps (With Pictures)
Pete Ortiz
Last updated:
Some people say that ladybugs are good luck, but you might not feel so lucky if you come home to find that these bugs have invaded your home. Ladybugs can swarm in large numbers, and once they find a place that they like, they can be hard to get rid of. If you find yourself with a ladybug infestation, do not worry. The bugs are more annoying than anything else, and with the right methods, they are actually very simple to get rid of.
Here are the nine best ways to get rid of ladybugs that have found their way into your home.
How To Get Rid of Ladybugs In Your House (9 Steps)
1. Use Dish Soap
Image Credit: Jim Barber, Shutterstock
If you are facing a small infestation of ladybugs, simple dish soap is one of the best ways to get rid of them. There are a couple of ways to effectively use dish soap to rid your house of ladybugs. First, you can put out a bowl full of soapy water wherever you see a congregation of beetles. Soap makes the water denser and coats the bugs making it impossible for them to escape the bowl. They will climb in and will not be able to climb back out. Once you’ve collected the bugs, simply toss out the water. Easy!
The second way to use dish soap is to mix it into a spray bottle and spray the bugs when you see them. The soapy water will drive them away and disrupt their sensitive system of smell, making your home much less appealing to the bugs in the future.
2. Use Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth might sound scary, but it is a simple compound used for killing bugs. It is completely harmless to both people and pets and comes in powder. Sprinkle the powder on the bugs as you find them and around the areas where they like to gather. The diatomaceous earth dehydrates the bugs causing them to shrivel up and die. This is an easy and natural way of getting rid of ladybugs without using dangerous or stinky chemicals.
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One of the easiest ways to get rid of ladybugs is to simply use your vacuum to suck them up. If you do not believe that you have a full infestation where the bugs are living inside your home, a vacuum is a quick way to simply pick up and remove the ladybugs that got into the house. Once you’re done, you will want to dump the bugs outside, preferably a few yards from the house, to ensure that they don’t crawl out of the trash and come back.
4. Put Out Duct Tape
Image Credit: Pixabay
Trapping the ladybugs is another easy way to collect the annoying pests. You can put out duct tape in loops with the sticky side up around the places you have seen multiple ladybugs. The bugs will walk over the duct tape and get stuck. After you collect a few, simply throw away the duct tape. Repeat until you start seeing results.
You can also put wads of sticky duct tape on the end of a broomstick to collect up bugs that might be found on the ceiling out of reach.
5. Plant a Garden In Your Yard
Image Credit: FotoHelin, Shutterstock
This might sound counterintuitive, but planting a garden in your yard will help to keep the ladybugs out of your house and might even draw the bugs from inside back outside. Ladybugs do not want to live in your house. The bugs would much rather live in a garden where they can fly around, mate, and eat in peace. Planting a garden will give them a more suitable place to live and will make your house a much less appealing home for wandering ladybugs.
6. Plant Mums Around Your House
Image Credit: Pixabay
Ladybugs hate mums. The natural oils and odors put out by mums are the best natural repellent for ladybugs. If you have a flower garden outside your windows, planting mums will all but guarantee that ladybugs will not come anywhere near your home again. Mums form a natural (and beautiful) wall of protection around your house that will keep the ladybugs out. Once you get rid of the bugs found inside, if you plant ladybugs, they will never come back.
7. Buy or Fashion a Light Trap
Image Credit: Songyos Ruensai, Shutterstock
Like most bugs, ladybugs love light. They will swarm to nearby lights, and the lights in your home are one of the biggest draws to ladybugs. You can buy a light trap that lures in ladybugs and traps them inside a cone or bowl that can then be easily disposed of. These traps are fairly simple to make, and with a little research, you can even make one yourself. The light will attract the bugs, and the trap will contain them so you can get around to tossing them out on your own time.
8. Spray Your Home With Natural Repellents
Image Credit: polina_tankilevitch, Pexels
There are natural repellents that ladybugs hate. Ladybugs are driven primarily by their sense of smell, so disrupting their ability to sniff out desirable places inside your home will confuse them and cause them to leave. Natural repellents include citronella, cloves, peppermint, citrus juice, catnip, and lavender. Almost anything that has a strong natural aroma will disrupt and repel ladybugs.
9. Spray Them With Pesticides
Image Credit: Lion Day, Shutterstock
If all else fails, you can buy chemicals designed to kill bugs. Using pesticides inside your home is not the safest or most natural choice, but they are effective. If you simply want to get rid of the bugs in a fast and easy method, you can buy pesticides at the local store that you can use to eliminate the offending ladybug colony.
How Do Ladybugs Get Inside The House?
Ladybugs are attracted by certain scents and light. They come inside a home by cracks in doors and windows. These gaps are generally very small and hard to spot. Once a few ladybugs get inside, if they like what they find, they will put out scents for nearby ladybugs to come to join them. This cycle draws more ladybugs to the gaps in your home, and they will continue to come inside.
How Can You Prevent Ladybugs From Coming Inside?
There are a few ways to prevent ladybugs from coming inside. We mentioned a couple of them already. Planting mums is a great deterrent. Also, keeping a small garden away from your doors and windows that the ladybugs will appreciate more than your living room helps a lot. Another thing you can do is to clean regularly, so you spot wayward ladybugs more frequently. Removing individual beetles as they arrive will usually keep their friends away.
Sealing your home is another way to prevent ladybugs, and other critters, from coming inside. Finding the small cracks, gaps, and drafts can let you know where the bugs are coming in. Some caulk and weather stripping can easily block up these small holes that are allowing the bugs inside.
Image Credit: Pixabay
Are Ladybugs Harmful?
Luckily, ladybugs are completely harmless. They do not bite, they don’t spread disease, and they want nothing to do with people. The worst part about ladybugs is that they are annoying, and they have a bad habit of landing on people and crawling around with their tiny feet. If you find ladybugs in your home, you should not be alarmed. They are not going to do anything to hurt you, your family, or your pets. They are tiny beetles that have no way of hurting anyone.
Some people claim ladybugs bite, and this is not accurate. When ladybugs land on you, they can grab on with a tight grip. This can sometimes cause an uncomfortable feeling, but it is their feet, not their jaws, that are causing that sensation. They cannot break the skin.
Conclusion
If you find ladybugs in your home, don’t panic. These are some of the easiest bugs to get rid of, and some people even find them cute and endearing. They are harmless, and there are a variety of versatile ways to clear your home of pesky invaders. One, or more, of these methods, will ensure that your home sheds itself of ladybugs and remains bug-free for years to come.
Pete has been working in the trades since high school, where he first developed a passion for woodworking. Over the years, he has developed a keen interest in a wide variety of DIY projects around the home. Fascinated by all sort of tools, Pete loves reading and writing about all the latest gadgets and accessories that hit the market. His other interests include astronomy, hiking, and fishing.
As the founder of House Grail, Pete's primary goal is to help consumers make educated decisions about DIY projects at home, in the garage, and in the garden.
