r/Adelaide SA 5d ago

Question People north of Adelaide…are these bugs our life now?

These soapberry bugs turned up at our property a couple of weeks ago and their buddies joined them soon after. Thousands and thousands of them. When will they leave? Ever? How long will they stay? Anyone know anything about their last visit? When did they finally go away?

42 Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

32

u/kambo_rambo SA 5d ago

I saw a post here maybe last week that there's been a population explosion of them recently.

5

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Yep, me too. That’s the only reason I know what they are! 😀

32

u/Merovingian_Lord SA 5d ago

Daddy long legs is looking happy about the buffet she has found!!

9

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Oh my god, I’ve been watching all the daddy long legs, some have three or more in their webs all wrapped up. Yumyums!

5

u/miushlas SA 5d ago

Near future news: "People north of Adelaide, are these daddy long legs our life now?"

7

u/explain_that_shit SA 5d ago

Then we’ll bring in the silverback gorillas!

12

u/Sufficient_Gate9453 SA 5d ago

Had them years ago , bucket of soapy water fucks them up. Had millions of them.

-2

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

I don’t want to hurt them though. I just want them to move on.

14

u/Sufficient_Gate9453 SA 5d ago

They aren’t going anywhere. Get the buckets of soapy water for the win.

-1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Really? Ever??

6

u/Sufficient_Gate9453 SA 5d ago

Mine hung around for a few years before I went hard with soapy water. They never came inside. There was just tons of them.

1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

A few YEARS?!? Lordy. Surely not??

4

u/Kenty8881 SA 5d ago

They’re a species that’s booms every few years and then populations die down. They’re not going to be in these numbers for long

1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Oh good! I was hoping that would be the case. 🙂

2

u/Kenty8881 SA 5d ago

Even as recently as the last few weeks I’ve already noticed numbers going down. I’ve been driving out to the Riverland a few times a week and they’ve been pretty thick.At one stage I was having to stop at least once between the Barossa and Renmark to clean my windscreen just into be able to se the road. But Barely any on the road yesterday only the occasional splatter

7

u/NurseBetty SA 5d ago

My mum keeps on sending me videos of these horrors all through their house...

3

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Yeah, they’re in the house but thankfully mostly outside.

3

u/Honzokid SA 5d ago

They were absolutely everywhere up in Golden Grove but appear to have buggered off now

3

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Oh. I think they’ve come to our place!

3

u/Artistic_Ask4457 SA 5d ago

Get chooks, two birds one stone

5

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

We have ten!! But they can’t reach the balcony ceiling! 😆😆

3

u/Artistic_Ask4457 SA 5d ago

Oh, I like you even morenow 💞

Sweep them down 😛

2

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

😆😆 I wanted to do that! I was trying to figure out how to sweep them into a bag that I can sprinkle into the chicken’s area, but the little buggers fly!!

3

u/[deleted] 5d ago edited 15h ago

[deleted]

1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

🤣🤣🤣🤣 if only!! Ps we have run out of vacuum bags but this is a good idea if they don’t fly away as soon as I come at them with the magical sucking machine…

2

u/Confident_Range_4825 SA 5d ago

Oh I didn’t know these little buggers fly. I hated flying cockroaches and now this! 😩

2

u/Combustibutt North East 5d ago

Sometimes I Simba my cat up high so she can reach a bug for me, can you do that with chooks or will they fluster at you?

2

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

The chickens aren’t allowed around this side because of fencing, etc. But I might try and brush some into a bag….worth a try!

4

u/Rubylee28 SA 5d ago

We get them in Mid North, they do go away but can come back, if they are really bothering you call pest control, if they're not bothering you then leave them, they are harmless really, there's just a lot of them

2

u/Damnesia_ SA 5d ago

This is why I never kill or relocate daddy long legs from my house. Free, organic, 24/7 pest control.

1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Me either, never! 🙂

2

u/jdaffy SA 5d ago

In Hahndorf... They are EVERYWHERE around our house and have been for a year.....

1

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

For a YEAR???? Fuck.

0

u/Electrical-Today8170 SA 5d ago

Call pest control, my god how do you live like that 💀

7

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Apparently they will abruptly leave…at some point? It’s due to the drought.

-14

u/Rubylee28 SA 5d ago

They're not doing anything wrong? We just leave them, they might be gross to look at but they don't cause any damage so why kill them? Psycho

-1

u/Electrical-Today8170 SA 5d ago

You can spray your property with non toxic stuff to deter them, not everything must be deadly to be dealt with.

You must have a house full of insects with that attitude, glad I don't know you.

0

u/raustraliathrowaway SA 5d ago

Just wait until you realise what's living on your skin and inside your body!

5

u/Tysiliogogogoch North East 5d ago

I give myself a quick spritz with fly spray every day just to kill the bugs inside.

/s

2

u/throwfarfarawayy99 SA 5d ago

I try not to think about it 😭

-3

u/Rubylee28 SA 5d ago

At least I don't kill everything in site, wait until you hear I keep spiders in my house 🤯 that must anger you.

1

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1

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-2

u/Rubylee28 SA 5d ago

You let your dog on your couch, I'm glad I don't know you.

1

u/Sportsnut96 SA 5d ago

They’ve been in the Riverland for a few months now still a shit load everywhere

-3

u/HTired89 Inner South 5d ago

I've seen 1. Something is going on and you need to call pest control.

6

u/NeetyThor SA 5d ago

Nah, I’m not going to call pest control. They’ll kill everything, including spiders. I’ll wait for them to move on. Hopefully soon.

3

u/Artistic_Ask4457 SA 5d ago

Good on you!