Against the law to kill ladybugs in NC? Who knew...problem at HP South Stream CLT.
 

Actual conversation held at the front desk of the HP South Stream CLT this AM:

Mr. Sophie: "I just wanted to let you know that there are at least 12 ladybugs on the ceiling of my room".

HP Front Desk: "I'm sorry about that. We are having a huge problem with ladybugs, especially on the 6th floor. Guests have been complaining for weeks. I will give you 500 extra GP's."

Mr. Sophie: "So last night, the front desk knew there was a bug problem when they gave me the room?"

HP Front Desk: "Yes, sir. It is a problem in those rooms for all of November and December."

Mr Sophie: "May I speak to the manager, please".

HP Manager: "We have talked to Hyatt Corporate, and they have told us it is against the law in NC to kill ladybugs. There is nothing we can do."

Mr. Sophie: " I know that ladybugs are not dangerous, but I don't want them in my room. You do realize that I will never stay in this hotel again?"

HP Manager: "It only happens in November and December. The rest of the year you wouldn't have a problem."

....everyone was quite pleasant and courteous, but still......:rolleyes:

Very odd, we get millions of them here in the Midwest every fall and the stores usually run low on the chemicals to kill them. If they are protected in NC, they could certainly come here and take them....we wouldn't mind :)

maybe this should be moved to OMNI

The thing in NC is that many of these bugs aren't lady bugs but are in fact a foreign beetle that imitates the lady bug and then preys on them.

Well I guess I am off to prison. I will kill any bug that gets in my way.

exactly how we felt....but the hotel's attitude was "this is no big deal..."

not sure about now, but it wasn't illegal in 2006:
http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekl.../ladybugs.php3

however, i do believe its illegal in tennessee

Here is a dumb question: Couldn't they have moved you to another room?

Or how about a butterfly net to catch them and release them outside?

a vacuum (like one with the tube) works well also

Kill the Orange Ones
 

From what I understand, the orange ladybugs are the foreign invaders that are outcompeting the native, less aggressive red ladybugs. Therefore, in theory, if you kill only orange ladybugs, you should be fine. If the ladybugs are red, let 'em be.

1) we did not see them the night we arrived; as it was quite late; but - might not have mattered; we were 3rd in line in the AM complaining, and the hotel told all of us the problem was in multiple rooms.

2) we tend not to carry one in our luggage; as we found it was too rarely used

1) evidently that is what housekeeping does. how that is OK and calling an exterminator is not is beyond me...as I find it hard to believe all vacuums are carried outside by the staff and carefully emptied.

My biggest issue is that the staff knows about the problem in these rooms, and are using them anyway. (or perhaps it is happening in so many rooms, they no longer can know for certain which rooms are affected)

If killing them is illegal, I can surmise that Hyatt corporate DID advise them against an exterminator...but cannot think they would encourage them to still use the rooms!

And although we certainly did not enjoy the stay, nor how the staff handled the problem, I have to say that we do feel some degree of sympathy for the hotel - knowing you have a bug problem; being unable to correct it, and having to listen to complaints every morning for 2 months of the year cannot be enjoyable!

icky sticky bugs
 

Sounds like the asian lady beetles that we have in South Dakota from late summer on. They get indoors when it gets cold, usually find live and dead ones throughout the winter in various nooks and crannies of the house. They do look similar but are more of a dark orange and are more difficult to kill, and when you do kill them they leave an ugly, smelly stain. When they land and walk on the skin they stick, which makes it feel like they're biting. Nasty critters that were brought to the US to kill aphids and now they're taking over. In SoDak it's open hunting season on these little beasties.

after a little bit more research, it seems like in tennessee the exterminators are not allowed to exterminate them, but there is no law specifically forbidding people from killing the lady bugs. i was able to find out that the reason for the ban on killing is that the lady bug is the state insect in tennessee. still can't find anything that gives me any reason to believe NC has a similar law.

while i do have some sympathy for the hotel, there has to be some way they can at least minimize the problem. what do other hotels in the area do? what if they were to somehow seal the doors more properly. there has to be something

I meant the hotel... :p

Well apparently the house spray i put on my baseboards killed over 60 of them because I just vacuumed up a ton of dead ones around a window.

...the beetles, not real lady bugs. gotta count the spots. One has odd and one has even.