Backyard Fun: How to Make a Ladybug Habitat

Ladybugs are helpful because they eat aphids. Aphids are nasty pear-shaped little creatures that destroy plants and trees. Because ladybugs eat the aphids, ladybugs are friends of gardeners everywhere.

Ladybugs are interesting insects. They do some things that other animals do. Like the bears, ladybugs like to hibernate in the winter. They cuddle together and spend their winters burrowed under piles of leaves and other tree waste for the warmth. Ladybugs are also a bit like turtles and opossums. Do you know they can play dead? Think about the way a turtle tucks his head inside his shell. Ladybugs tuck their heads, too, and they tuck their little legs so they look dead. They do it to protect themselves.

Remember the nursery rhyme of Ladybug, Ladybug Fly Away Home?

Lady-bug, lady-bug,
Fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children will burn

I remember reciting this rhyme when I was a child and found a ladybug had landed on my arm. While to our standards the rhyme is a bit brutal when its intended audience is made up of children, It goes back to the time in England when farmers, who prized the help they received from the ladybugs, would cry out this warning before they set their fields on fire. The old English version goes like this:

Ladybug ladybug fly away home,
Your house in on fire and your children are gone,
All except one and that's little Ann,
For she crept under the frying pan.

• Image Credits.1) Ladybug body parts illustration from What To Do About Houshold Ants, John Molstad, University of Minnesota Extension Service 2) Image of Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home from Mama Lisa's House of English Nursery Rhymes.

The most basic of ladybug habitats can be made with the following household items:

tall jar or aquarium-type tank

aphids for food

stems and pieces of plants for food

the ladybugs

food scraps and water

gloves, a necessity

Making the habitat is pretty easy. If you want to find ladybugs around your home, check your plants for aphids. Search for small green or black speck-like bugs on your plant stems. Those are your aphids. They suck the life out of the plants. The ladybugs should be close by.

• Before you catch the ladybugs, you might want to get your habitat set up. Break off some plant stems as they'll be good food. Try to get the ones that have the aphids on them. That way you'll have the main food source for your ladybugs at the same time. Stand them up inside the tank or jar so you can get a good view of your little red pets-to-be. Be sure and give a light misting of water. Even ladybugs like to drink.



• Catching the ladybugs is pretty easy. You may already have some when you put the stems with the aphids inside the tank or jar. Check rose bushes and other plants where aphids tend to congregate. When you find the ladybugs, give a gentle nudge or knock against the jar or tank and the ladybug will land inside.



• As with any living creature, you'll want to be sure your ladybugs get plenty of food and water. Make sure they have a good supply of aphids but don't stop there. Drop a bit of a raisin or apple inside the tank or jar and watch how they eat away at the fruit. A gentle daily mist will provide a good amount of moisture for the ladybugs since the plants that they chew on have a lot of water in them.

Don't forget to let your ladybugs fly away at the end of summer. They will want to hibernate through the long winter.

• Image Credits.This image was copied from wikipedia:de. The original description was: == Marienkäfer == Quelle: http://pdphoto.org Lizenz: [Public Domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Once the ladybugs get settled, they may start laying eggs. That's when the fun begins.

Observation is the key to understanding nature. Grab a camera and a notebook and start watching the ladybugs. You'll be able to watch them interact with each other, see how and what they eat, and discover how they move. Tale photos, make notes, and always date everything so you have an accurate record.

Don't forget you can put bits of apples and raisins in there, too, for them to munch on. See which they prefer. Always write down what you see. Note the date and time. Maybe you'll learn some ladybug habits. And don't forget to give them a very light mist now and then.

Watch what happens when your child opens up this kit. I bought this for one of my grandson's and he was up at 7:30 am and ready to explore. Loved it. And he doesn't even like bugs. :)

If you order the ladybugs, they will take a few weeks to arrive. However, you should be able to get live ladybugs locally or collect your own.

I'm happy to report that this page received the Squidoo Purple Star Award in March 2011. I appreciate the honor very much and want to thank all my readers for their support.

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