How to Identify & Get Rid of Love Bugs | Orkin (2024)

FAQs

How to Identify & Get Rid of Love Bugs | Orkin? ›

Make a DIY love bug repellent by mixing 3 tablespoons of mouthwash and 3 tablespoons of citrus dish soap into 1 cup of water. Use a spray bottle to apply on plants, walls, and any other affected areas. Use fans to deter flying love bugs

Use Light Colored Traps

Love bugs are especially attracted to light colors. This is why you often find them swarming around light-colored surfaces, such as walls and vehicles. Because of this, one effective way to control the love bug population in your vicinity is to use light-colored traps.

When grass is cut and the excess falls to the ground, it creates a covering known as thatch, where immature lovebugs live and eat.

Lavender

While we humans love the relaxing scent of lavender, bugs don't care for it. In fact, they try their best to avoid it at all costs!

Make a DIY love bug repellent by mixing 3 tablespoons of mouthwash and 3 tablespoons of citrus dish soap into 1 cup of water. Use a spray bottle to apply on plants, walls, and any other affected areas. Use fans to deter flying love bugs and a vacuum to physically remove them.

In fact, lovebug larvae has been found in the gizzards of robins and quail, showing that they are vulnerable to foraging birds. Armadillos and invertebrate predators, including earwigs, beetle larvae and centipedes, have also been known to consume lovebug larvae. Lovebugs pose no risk to humans or pets.

There are two major flights of lovebugs throughout the year: one in late spring from April to May, the other from August through September. The fall flight is the larger of the two. The size and population of lovebugs for the year is determined by the winter season.

Lovebug swarms typically only happen during daylight hours and temperatures above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. At night, they rest on plants.

Female lovebugs can lay as many as 100-350 eggs and regularly lay these eggs around decaying material on the top layer of ground soil. Lovebug eggs generally hatch after 2–4 days, depending on flight season.

What is the lifespan of a love bug? ›

Adult lovebugs have a relatively short lifespan ranging from several days to a few weeks. During this time, they focus on mating and reproducing to ensure the survival of their species. Lovebugs are notorious for their swarming behavior during mating season. Mating occurs while in flight or perched on vegetation.

It is more likely that lovebugs have been attacked by a parasite or pathogen. If so, these organisms require hosts for continued reproduction and may not be limited to lovebugs. This hypothesized situation would keep lovebugs from resurging.

1. Lovebugs are actually good for the environment. When grass is cut and the excess falls to the ground, it creates a covering known as thatch, where immature lovebugs live and eat. Through this process, they redistribute essential nutrients back into the ground that are beneficial to plants and the environment.

Bugs hate the smells associated with repellency, such as lavender, citronella, vinegar, peppermint, and geranium. These oils are considered a natural way of driving away bugs from your home without harming you, your family, and other animals.

Lovebugs tend to be attracted to car emissions and black top roads, Harrel said. But they do not fly at night. Their acidic bodies can cause damage to car paint if their remains are left untouched for long, Siemann said.

Laboratory studies using invertebrate predators found in lovebug-infested pastures indicated they were voracious predators also. These included earwigs, beetle largae and a centipede.

An adult love bug only lives for three to four days, and those days are mostly filled with mating. Unfortunately, lovebugs are here to stay. May marks the mating season for the nuisance bugs, and it lasts four weeks. Then, they do it again in September.

After mating and laying eggs, adult lovebugs die within a few days or weeks. The eggs hatch into larvae that live in decaying plant material before pupating into adult insects themselves. This natural life cycle helps regulate the population of lovebugs over time.

The lovebug (Plecia nearctica) is a species of march fly found in parts of Central America and the southeastern United States, especially along the Gulf Coast. It is also known as the honeymoon fly or double-headed bug. During and after mating, matured pairs remain together, even in flight, for up to several days.