LB-C1500 Live Ladybugs, Approximately 1,500 Count

I actually ordered these BEFORE reading the reviews, so relieved at having found ladybugs after every garden shop and nursery in our area looked at me like I was completely insane for thinking that I could buy bugs. My husband actually pointed out all of the "bucket of dead bugs" reviews, and I got nervous enough to pay the extra buck or whatever to expedite shipping... which seems silly, since they take WEEKS to ship anyway but whatever. We started having 85+ degree days, high humidity, and I was pretty sure I'd be getting a bucket of dead bugs in the mail. But then... they arrived. And most of them were alive! As in, I can't say for certain that the number of dead bugs in my bucket was zero, but the number of dead bug SIGHTINGS was zero. Also, these little monsters were RAVENOUS when they came out... we've got an aphid feeding frenzy out there, and it's great! They're fed a high-protein diet before shipping, which apparently signals them that they don't need to fly away so I've still got a yard full of ladybugs weeks later. Yay! Instructions will tell you to spread them 1/3 at a time, and to keep them in the fridge in-between spreadings... but that must be if you've only got a tiny flower bed to cover or something because the whole container went out into my back yard and I actually could have used more... will have to buy two buckets next year if I want anything for the sides and front yard, and mine is a fairly standard suburban lot. Also, I'm not sure how I'd have got the lid back on, since once it was open the ladybugs went NUTS and were climbing out faster than I could handle... if you're squicked out by bugs crawling on you, maybe get somebody else to do that job.

So anyway, who would have thought that Amazon would sell Lady Bugs!! That is so out there that is crazzy cool nutty. Awesome! Got mine in 2 days. The UPS driver came out to my property...said the package is really heavy. I said those are my Lady Bugs that I ordered from Amazon! He looked at like was nuts. Do you fish with them????? Nope I replied. It is for my scurge of Aphids. Lady Bugs from Amazon.....Go figure....We laughed so hard that our stomachs were sore. I am still tickled by it. When I saw that big truck pull up, I thought my L bugs would all be dead. Figured the heat in that truck to be about 900 degrees. This is the first delivery from UPS where the cardboard packages had multiple breathing holes in it. Nice. Well, with a bit of trepidation I opened the box to find zillions of wiggy little Lady bugs. Threw them in the fridge and they are now very very "sleeepy". Gonna throw out 1500 tonight and 1500 next week. There were a few marginal reviews..."my bugs won't stay where I put them". No kidding. Well, they are living creatures. They will go where they want to. I have so many Aphids on my Myrtles and Altheas...they'll have plenty to eat. Better than the Malathion I was putting down before. That almost killed the plants I was trying to protect. Wish they would torch my Armadillo infestation that has ravaged my Southern Living flower beds. If its not one thing, it is another. Gardening is so tough! I feel Like Bill Murry with his "gopher problem" To be continued...Will post how the little buggers do

I purchased this and the praying mantis eggs. I received them both four days after ordering. So the shipping was super quick. I gave four stars instead of five because I thought they could be packaged better. Both items were shipped together in a small box with a half a page of crumpled newspaper for padding. The ladybugs were in a plastic bag with air holes, a sponge (for moisture and food, i think) and a bundle of shredded wood. The sponge was dry and approximately 1/3 arrived dead. I'm wondering if the shipping box had some air holes, more padding and more than one sponge for the ladybugs, would more survive? Even though a fair amount arrived dead, I still think this is a great buy because there are still plenty alive and very active. I am keeping them in a terrarium because my garden isn't set up yet and my daughter and I want to observe them. I am going to release most of them soon but I do want to try to keep some of them long enough for them to reproduce so we can observe their life cycle. So far I have given them leaves with aphids on them and humming bird nectar. I soaked cotton balls in the nectar and right away they were either swarming the nectar or devouring the aphids. Here is a link for more info on how to care for pet ladybugs. [...] I also purchased these because my daughters preschool class is studying insects this month. I am going to give her class a small terrarium with so they all can observe them, then release them. Nature is awesome! Many reasons to buy these very beneficial buggies!

I stared with some Bhut Jolokia plants growing in my basement with an organic soil. Well the soil was laddened with aphid. My plan was to overwinter the plants for spring. The plants ended setting peppers adn thriving. Then cam the aphids. The little boogers set up shop and took over my plants. I had to cut all leaves off. Then they still were there so I started pulling them off by hand. Next I came across these. I ordered the lady bugs and a pack and play bug net. I wrapped th eplants in the net to make a secure space for the lady bugs and and let them loose. THey killed every aphid in two days. So far no more. I live in MN it the ladybugs showed up at my doorstepp and spent 3 hours in -9 degree temps and were still alive. They aer really thriving and re-populating in my basement in 60-65 temps. I woudl definately buy again and if these die I will order again. Just one note, a few have escaped and are in my house but I cna live with it. I just have to find out how they escaped.

I gave this three stars because I have live ladybugs, however, Amazon does need to look into the shipping time and packaging for these items. I ordered these ladybugs on June 26 with the hope that I would receive them within a week (I have Amazon Prime 2 day shipping but the item stated there would be an extra few days of processing). It was a full 12 days before I received the package. The status of my order stated 'left seller facility' on June 27, however, there was no update to this status until two days ago. Upon receipt, I noticed that the outer cardboard box had a hole in it that had been taped over - apparently by UPS. Upon opening the box - the ladybugs started flying out right in my kitchen. I could not even retrieve the instruction sheet. I tried to close the box - but with the tape cut - they were squeezing out through the edges - determined to escape! I ran out to my garden with them flying everywhere and had to release them as best I could in the middle of the day. Many of them flew away since they were supposed to be released at night. I did my best to hold the box underneath the plants so that they would fly up into the plants (which had plenty of aphid food waiting for them). I finally got the plastic container out of the box and discovered that the lid was partially open which had allowed them to escape inside the box. There were a few left inside the plastic container - only a small percentage of the total number of bugs in the box. I can safely say, however, that almost ALL of the bugs were alive. There were few dead ones other than those that were apparently crushed when the hole in the cardboard was taped over and the few I had to crush to put the lid back on the plastic container. I wanted to preserve as many as I could for night release. The other issue is that I had ordered lacewing eggs at the same time. They were packed with sawdust in a plastic bag with a 'fold over' type opening (i.e. not really sealed in any way). It was just laying in the box on top of the ladybug container. There were ladybugs all inside the plastic bag. Since you cannot see the eggs, I have no way of knowing if the ladybugs ate them before they even arrived. I will update this review when I know if (a) the ladybugs that were released are still around and (b) if/when I figure out if the lacewings survived.

This year my garden became heavily infested with whiteflies which had never happened before. I realize it's very hard if not impossible to kill or get rid of these things so I decided to order Lady Bugs. There was plenty of food for them and I hoped they would annihilate the plague killing everything in my garden. I ordered what was supposed to be approximately 1500 live Lady Bugs from Orcon. Shipment was fast and when the package arrived via UPS, I immediately put it in the refrigerator. Later that evening, after the sun had set, my husband took the package outside to give the bugs time to warm up and start stirring while he soaked down everything in the garden. When he opened the package he said this doesn't look good and that there was nowhere near 1500 Lady Bugs in the container. After observing the bugs for several minutes three of them had actually moved. He put those back into the original container and got a large deep plastic pan from the shed then gently scattered the bugs around the bottom. While watching for signs of life he started removing the wood shavings the bugs were packed in. By the time most of the shavings had been removed 7 more of the bugs were moving to some extent. He returned these to the original container as well and watched for further movement. After waiting another 20 minutes or so we had not seen any more movement at all so he got a plant mister and lightly dampened the remaining bugs. Eventually a few more started to slightly move; as they did, he put them back into the original container with the others. After all was said and done we had 23 living Lady Bugs. In addition, he was correct about the number not being anywhere close to 1500. Since they were dead it was easy to count them and what was supposed to be approximately 1500 Lady Bugs was in fact 483 Lady Bugs and 460 of them were dead. I don't know what condition the Lady Bugs were in when they left Orcon; however, it's possible they died somewhere along the way particularly since the UPS trucks have no air conditioning and it's very hot on the Gulf this time of year. Nevertheless, they should have been packed to survive the trip. Needless to say, we are not happy with this purchase. As of today the whiteflies are still on a rampage like a Biblical plague. Hopefully the 23 that lived will breed and lay eggs. If I order more it will not be from Orcon particularly since I received less than a third of the amount I ordered and paid for! I understand approximation; however, being off over 1000 bugs is ridiculous!

Very happy with my order. The container alone I believe is what made the major difference as more ladybugs arrived alive compared to the mesh bags other breeders use. Also Orcon uses actual big chunks of bark chips & a cotton ball with some sort of liquid food on it. Expect some to be DOA, but most of what I received were alive, I highly recommend Orcon. If you want to keep your ladybugs around for awhile I suggest building them a home, which is fairly simple. Basically any cloning dome will work. Place a wet sponge in one corner (check daily to make sure it is moist), put a few raisins on the other side (yes the will eat them), and place your ladybugs in the middle. Make sure there is a small opening at the top of your dome so your ladybugs can get out. A lot will get out, but a few will stay behind and start breeding, which helps keep them around. You can do this outdoors (weather permitting), in a green house, or for an indoor grow. When you release your ladybugs if you don't need to use them all you can release a few and put the rest in the fridge. They will last a couple months in the fridge. When you are ready to release them, take them out of the fridge for a few hours before opening the container & it is best to release them at night or when your lights are off. Hope this helps someone :)

I was very hesitant about ordering these through the mail, but as none of our local nurseries had them in stock, and I have a huge aphid infestation on my houseplants, I saw no option. The shipping was seriously delayed...I was told they shipped on the 22nd and would arrive on the 28th and I was worried about them surviving such long transit. They actually shipped on the 29th, though, and arrived 3 days later. Since they're living and I needed them pronto, I was concerned about this. When I buy these at the nursery, there are usually a significant number of them already dead. They have short life spans and have probably been at the nursery for awhile. The ones I received here, however, even though the same brand as at the nursery, were amazingly different. Most all were alive, and incredibly active. I've never bought any this energetic before...I opened the container to transfer them to a holding tank for staggered release and they were all over me, the walls and the plants in a nanosecond. Hopefully they're chomping the bugs, while the ones I did manage to get into the holding tank are snacking on soaked organic raisins. They'll get their chance next week.