Take Care of Your Own Ladybug

This article will teach you how to take care of your very own lady beetles.

10 Second Summary

1.
2. , such as honey, twice a day.
3. on a cotton ball.
4. Handle it gently.
5. Consider releasing it into the wild after 24 hours.

Steps

Locating the Ladybug

1. Find a ladybug. Look in an area where ladybugs shelter. This may be under the leaves of plants where aphids are hanging about (try roses and other flowers or fruit trees in blossom). They also like to hide in crevices and cracks on houses, such as around window frames.
   • Ladybugs love aphids; it's their main source of food.
2. Collect the ladybug. Look around the area and catch the ladybug with a small net or catch it with your finger or hand, but be careful not to let it fly away. Cover it gently with your other hand and be careful not to squeeze it. Place the ladybug gently in the jar and it's ready to be looked after.

Making the Ladybug a Home

1. Use a large plastic container. The container should allow room for flying about and settling down to sleep. Add some twigs, leaves and petals for interest––any leaf or floral material needs to be changed daily to prevent rotting. Give the ladybug something to hide in too, such as a hollow twig or a small toy with holes in it.
   • A bug habitat could be used too.
   • Glass jars are not recommended as they can heat up too much and burn the ladybug, especially if in direct sunlight.
2. If keeping the ladybug for more than 24 hours, use a hermit crab house. They won't be able to get out of it but they'll enjoy it. Place fresh leaves inside daily. You'll need to feed the ladybugs daily.

Caring for the Ladybug

1. Provide food. Feed the ladybug with small amounts of honey or sugar. Use a small bottle cap or similar to contain the food.
   • You can also feed your ladybug raisins or lettuce.
   • Add a piece of bark from a tree. Bark from trees tend to have bug larvae. Your ladybug will spend most of its time on and under the bark.
2. Give them water. Do not use bottle caps for giving them water. Using it will increase the chances that your ladybugs will drown on it. Use wet paper towels or cotton balls instead.
3. Feed the ladybug twice a day. Don't give it too much, just a little.
4. Be gentle when holding a ladybug. Here is how:
   • Lower your finger and leave it near the ladybug. It has to touch the ground it's sitting on.
   • Wait for it to walk or fly on it.
   • Now you are holding a ladybug but be careful!
5. Consider releasing the ladybug back into the wild after 24 hours. After you've had time to observe its habits, then let it get back to the job it has to do, which is keeping the pests down in your garden.

Tips

• In ladybug territory, the insects that look like black bugs are baby ladybugs.
• You need to have some holes or slits in the home so that they can breath.
• If you don't have sugar, try squashing candy into tiny pieces.
• Good times to catch ladybugs are in between May and October in the northern hemisphere and between September and April in the southern hemisphere, although with more warmer days occurring, these seasons may be extending.
• Ladybugs are known as ladybirds in British and Australian English.
• Put a touch of honey on the raisin or lettuce. Ladybugs adore honey.
• Do not move jar side to side this could harm your ladybug.
• Ladybugs often like to crawl around on a scrunchies to get exercise.
• Ladybugs love dried cranberries.
• You can find aphids on the bottom of soft leaves.
• You can give your ladybug a stick with leaves it will sleep and crawl.
• Consider giving the ladybug sugar water (which, as the name suggests, is just sugar mixed into water).
• Make sure that the container you put the ladybug in has holes that aren't big enough to let it escape.

Warnings

• Be careful; any creature brought in from outside could carry diseases. To minimize any risk, always wash your hands after holding it.
• Change the leaves a lot. If you don't, mold can grow and it could kill your bug.
• Don't try to pick up the ladybug with your fingers; doing so will damage it and could crush it.

Things You'll Need

• Sugar, aphids, or honey
• Leaves
• Container
• Bottle caps or little spoons
• Ladybug
• Grass
• Stones
• Stems
• Time to take care of them

Related Articles

• Take Care of Ladybugs
• Build a Ladybug House
• Make a Bug Terrarium

See also

• Build a Ladybug House