Comments on: ‘Red bug’ makes first American appearance — in O.C.

By: kim

kim — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:25:47 +0000

I have millions of these bugs in my backyard and they are multipling like crazy. I live in riverside. My chickens wont eat them, lizards dont eat them. My entire backyard is full of them. I hope they stop multipling, they are taking over my 5 acres.

By: Rene Allison

Rene Allison — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:50:47 +0000

I have many of these on our property in Hemet. We moved in about one month ago. We have never encountered anything like it, so we were searching the web and saw your pictures. We have one colony that are living at the base of a young fruitless Mulberry tree. Are they eating it? The tree is in distress and not doing well, but we thought it was due to gophers. We have dry weeds in back and there are colonies there too. Sept. 6, 2009

By: HBcurious

HBcurious — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:00:38 +0000

I would swear I saw these at the Butterfly Park when they had the festival there a couple weeks back (the morning they found the tops of the trees cut off)

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:17:11 +0000

We live in SW Riverside as well. A few days ago, we noticed about a hundred or so wandering around our entire backyard. Now…We have maybe a thousand of them (not even joking) ALL over our backyard. I thought at first that they were milkweeds or box-elders, but there are no milkweeds or trees…so…It is a new house, so there’s only dirt, plywood, and about 10 tall green weeds- we also removed a bunch of tumbled weeds a few days before we first noticed them. Anyways…There seem to be HUNDREDS coming from the roots of each of these weeds, and a bunch all over in between. The adults are black and red/orange, and the younger ones are soild red.

By: april dawn

april dawn — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:02:49 +0000

my boyfriend just found one in our backyard, in Westside Costa Mesa on 8/11/09 at 7pm on a leaf of our butternut squash plant

By: Denise

Denise — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:50:14 +0000

Recd a call from a gentleman in Lake Elsinsore that has these bugs in his backyard. Please email me for his information.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:51:42 +0000

I’m close to Lake Forest (in Laguna Hills) and I’ve seen some as well. They’re in the open space near the intersection of Lake Forest Blvd and Santa Vittoria. I’m afraid that I don’t know what cheese weed looks like, but I’d lay good odds that it is near that area as well.

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:48:59 +0000

Peter and Jutta,
I just sent an email (sorry Jutta, I spelled your name wrong) that I saw this bug in my backyard a couple of days ago on one of our corn flowers, but I don’t recall it being this bright red. I’ll send pictures and details if I see it again. I live just down the street, in Turtle Rock.

By: Peter Bryant

Peter Bryant — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:15:31 +0000

Can you send the exact location (and date if possible?)

By: Peter Bryant

Peter Bryant — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:10:05 +0000

PLEASE send a picture! As close up as possible.