23 January 2006

Bugs!

| jamius maximus
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Has any body else noticed a rapid increase in Canberra bug population over the past week.?

I live in Kaleen and we are getting heaps of the little black ones. After a Saturday night BBQ we had to sweep our balcony clean of them there was so many. I have heard comprable stories.

Is this all brought on by the heat? Will it get worse?

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jamius maximus11:30 am 24 Jan 06

I guess turn as many lights off as possible and try the bucket of water trick if you do turn lights on. Perhaps use those bug repellant candles as the only source of light when sitting outside…?

I have tonnes of those beetles coming inside. They get stuck on their backs on the kitchen floor or get sutch in the carpet, so dumb.
They also fly up to the light, hit themselves on it then fall to the ground.
More tips appreaciated!

I noticed that they turned most of the lights off at the Shell servo at EPIC tonight, as they have had lots of those black beetles there. They had soo many it gave me goosebumps…

they are attracted by light, went out for a walk last night and there were thousands of them on every light pole. Ive never seen them before either

jamius maximus4:42 pm 23 Jan 06

BTW thanks all for the info.

jamius maximus4:40 pm 23 Jan 06

We put a bucket of water under the balcony light which worked rather well as a rudimentary bug catcher.

Terubo, the little fella was probably over-cooked after hitting the electric lamp, and hence a little chewy.

If you’re talking about those long thin black ones, Big James – they taste horrible!
(Makes mental note: do not yawn whilst listening to uncle Bertie’s crappy cricket heroics when standing under electric lamp at family barbeque on hot summer nights).

I’ve since heard that some entomologist has been interviewed on the radio – apparently they are some kind of burrowing beetle, and they come up out of the ground at this time of year to mate. The males die, the females burrow again – hence all the dead bugs around the trappings.

Apparently this is all quite normal for this time of year – can’t say I’ve ever noticed before though.

The gardners at the War Memorial spent the morning with a leaf blower cleaning up the concrete area behind the main building because it was covered in dead beetles.

dry weather is not good for a bug reproduction cycle.

humid weather is perfect ergo more bugs.

Someone at work was just talking about the problem (they live in Watson). Another from Belconnen mentioned it too.

I’ve seen nothing yet (I’m in Swinger Hill)

I hear you jamius – Saturday night was nutso (and having just been to see King Kong that arvo, bugs took on a whole new level of sinister)

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