Anyone else in Florida got Lovebug fever!!

[sunflowers]

:confused: I am so sick of them when are they gonna leave? :confused: They are such a pain not to mention a mess to clean off the car.:thumpdown:

If your not familiar with them here is what they are....
http://snap.tbo.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=313466

[Heidi]

That's what those stupid things are called. We were down in FL last week for vacation and our rental car was covered with them and we had to windex the window every day. Not to mention how much they love you if you are wet or sweaty. That was one of the reasons we were glad to be coming home after a week. We're from WA and you guys can just keep those friendly little fellas down there with you.

[MistyWolf]

I never seen them before .. will they be gone in a month? .. lol. I am prepared for the noseeum's!

[LuvBigRip]

Gaaaccckkkk

I am so glad I don't live in the south. I could not handle all the creepy bugs you all have. :willy:

[nanajoanie]

I hated the lovebug season when I lived there over 25 years ago. I had never seen bugs on top of each other on top of each other on top of each other. Toads do that but that was the first time I had ever seen a bug orge. The best thing is to get a bra for your car that fits on the front grill. Use Armorall on your windshield and it makes it easier to clean.

[Sweetberries]

yep they're nuts out here :) I noticed though they only flocked to certain people but will stay away from others I don't know it's weird yep every kind of bug here Florida is bug kingdom here is a pic of love bugs http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v488/sweetberries/lovebugs-large.jpg

[missboots]

Oh those are a pain!! They get in your hair and all over! When you are driving down the road it's like raining lovebugs!

[sunflowers]

They are attracted tot he color WHITE
We have a white car, and today I had white shorts on and sat on them and they made a mess!!

[LuvBigRip]

Oh those are a pain!! They get in your hair and all over! When you are driving down the road it's like raining lovebugs!

In your hair????? Ok I am generally not a girly girl. I do not like bugs that fly, especially if they get in you hair. Oh man. I would not survive. My heart is pounding just thinking about it. http://www.freesmileys.org/emo/scared003.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org) http://www.freesmileys.org/emo/scared002.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

[turbob]

Ugh!!!!!

[SLance68]

I do have to agree that those nasty little bugs do love white cars the most. My company has white F-150 trucks and I drove one on Tuesday to go run some errands - that truck was almost black when I got back to the shop. Thank goodness one of the guys was out back cleaning off the front of his truck and washed mine for me.

Have you noticed if you are in a area that has a lot of smoke (like from those GA fires) that you don't get that many of them on your car? My boss went to Atlanta 2 weeks ago and was surprised that he didn't get many until he got around Ocala area.

[stampdog]

i lived in florida all my life-50 years-and this is the worst i have ever seen them. you should see what some of the trucks look like after driving two or three hundred miles.

[galeane29]

I'm in Alabama and we have them here. This is lovebug season. Just after Hurrican Katrina they were really bad. They would swarm and they stunk to high heaven when they finaly started to die off and we had piles of them in our garage and shop. It was nasty. They arent so bad this year. But...be careful if you hit them with your car...wash it that day, they will eat the paint right off in just a few days.

[SLance68]

They were talking about them on one of the radio stations last week and someone said if you use those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers it makes it really easy to get off your car. I haven't tried them but after this week I might have to.

[lisahiser]

oh my!
Wow I really feel for all of you down south that have to deal with this. I would buy a cover for my car........... and then throw it away.. that is just horrible!
Those car washing places are making big money off this I bet!

[Taterbo]

They don't last all that long..The drought this has not help either...But I will put up with a few bugs for a short time than all of you in the north and having to deal with snow and ice..So I guess this our trade off...

[Shann]

eww! thankfully I don't have to deal with that.. so I'm curious, do they fly around stuck together? do you ever see any that are alone instead of connected? ;) LOL

[pepperpot]

Oh my, they're like doing it all over! ewwwww!.........Don't smile when on a motorcycle....:p

*doing the cootie dance while shaking hands at shoulder height*

[galeane29]

eww! thankfully I don't have to deal with that.. so I'm curious, do they fly around stuck together? do you ever see any that are alone instead of connected? ;) LOL

They do fly around stuck together lol and yes you do see them single too ...



Love bug larvae grow up in grassy areas and feed on dead vegetation. The adult love bug does not eat, but subsists solely on the food taken in during its larval stage. Upon reaching maturity the love bug spends the entirety of its life copulating with its mate, hence its numerous romantic nicknames. The male and female attach themselves at the rear of the abdomen and remain that way at all times, even in flight. In fact, after mating, the male dies and is dragged around by the female until she lays her eggs. Females lay up to 350 eggs in debris, and about 20 days later the eggs hatch into larvae. The larvae may live for months before passing into adulthood.

Commercial use of cut sod for "instant" green lawns transports great numbers of the larvae of this insect, once found only in agricultural areas, to all of the newly built developments sprouting up in the towns of the regions where its numbers are increasing so rapidly as a new phenomenon.

Love bug swarms can number in the hundreds of thousand and blanket an entire small town in a dense cloud of insects. The thick swarming of these slow flying, almost drifting, insects almost is reminiscent of snow fall. The swarms occur twice each year, first in late spring, then again in late summer. The spring swarm occurs during late April and May. The summer swarm occurs during late August and September. Swarms extend over periods of 4 to 5 weeks. Mating takes place almost immediately after emergence of the females. Adult females live only 2-3 days

Its character as a public nuisance is due not to its bite or sting (as it is not capable of either), but to its apparently highly acidic body chemistry. Because airborne love bugs exist in enormous numbers near highways, they die en masse on automobile windshields, hoods, and radiator grills when the vehicles travel faster than fifty miles an hour. If left for more than an hour or two, the remains become dried and extremely difficult to remove, and their acidity pits and etches automotive paint and chrome [1]. Scrubbing deceased love bugs off the front of one's car immediately after the evening rush hour each day of their three-week "breeding season" is sometimes described as a twice-yearly ritual for high speed drivers in the Gulf South[citation needed]. The use of dryer sheets makes cleaning love bugs off your car much easier[citation needed]. Pouring soda on your windshield can also make the cleaning process easier. Driving on local streets at lower speeds for the breeding season is another alternative to having to scrape them off daily

[sunflowers]

They don't last all that long.....

A month to a month and a half is long enough cleaning them everyday off your car so the paint isnt ruined...So they should be leaving soon I hope!!!

[PrincessArky]

thank goodness we dont have those they are pretty creepy looking

[buglebe]

It is true they are a terrible nuisance but they are not scary. I am scared of just about every bug there is, but these don't bother me, except for the time when I was about 6 yrs old ,and Daddy drove us down to Key West.This was before we had air cond so the windows were open and I had never seen them before. Being suddenly covered in black bugs piled on top of each other at 6 yrs old is scary. But honestly even when they get in my hair it is just a nuisance. Oh yes give me Florida or Alabama anytime over all the snow.!!!

[realheaven]

buglebe It is true they are a terrible nuisance but they are not scary. I am scared of just about every bug there is, but these don't bother me, except for the time when I was about 6 yrs old ,and Daddy drove us down to Key West.This was before we had air cond so the windows were open and I had never seen them before. Being suddenly covered in black bugs piled on top of each other at 6 yrs old is scary. But honestly even when they get in my hair it is just a nuisance. Oh yes give me Florida or Alabama anytime over all the snow.!!!

ITA buglebe!! I actually like lovebugs..they don't bite, sting, or kill. I lived in Franklin Tennessee and they have way worse problems..killer problems called brown recluse spiders..also large populations of wasps due to the all their woodsy environment.

We don't even need to talk about living conditions of the north...Remember Dr. Atkins the author of The Adkins Diet???? He DIED slipping on ice in NEW YORK. Give me lovebugs or give me death...haha!!! Bazillions must love this land of paradise known as Florida-it is the tourism capital of the U.S. We have our gazillions of tourist every day!!!!