Oh Gazania, you warm my heart. I love that story, and the next time I find a lady bug I will care for her. From time to time I have found one around our window, I always carry it to the plants in the living room. I do have a spiders that live in house, my cleaning lady knows to ignore them.

I hope that if we are locked up that we are next to you and Bill!

That is a wonderful story - crazy? No, I don't think so!

Awww Gazania, you warm my heart!!!!
I put one outside not long ago, because I thought that's where she should be. I hope I see one again soon, because now *I* want a pet ladybug!

I would never have thought of giving her those kinds of food to eat. Anything from yogurt to smoked sausage! Who'dathunk??
Kudos to you for trying all the foods for her.

A Wonderful story, and I'm glad you shared! Hugs to you and your husband!

What a sweet story. I had no idea insects could be so smart! We had some unusually nice warm weather in Long Island, last week I saw a lady bug on my rose bush. Left it alone, it's 38 today and it's gone.

ONE ladybug? We must have hundreds, all trying to get in the house before it freezes outside. Ours are the orange-y variety that are imported to farm fields (NOT nearby, but they sure can spread). When we first open our guest room casement windows in the spring (South side of the house) there will be several dozen bugs on the outside sill under the window.

That's so nice!

Love it!! I've had lots of pet spiders, but no ladybugs so far. I'll have to observe them more closely.

Gazania,
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. You made my day What a wonderful story Please Please write a children's book You could do it right here and self publish. I wish I was an artist. I think it would be a best seller .

ohhh very nice! I had a little tree frog spend two summers in my kitchen. I knew it was the same one, because of the size and placements of the copper colored spots. We called him Cassidy (as in hopalong) and he lived behind my fruit basket and took care of the fruitflies for me. I too would put out a little saucer of water for him. He would disappear in the fall, and the next spring..there he was. I don't know where he went to hibernate. The third spring, he didn't show up, and I sure missed him, but didn't miss cleaning up his froggy poop.

Chisue, we have never been overwhelmed with them. Will encounter maybe a dozen or so in the house over the winter. Most often they are dead when we find them. Two of my sisters-isn-law are in constant battle with huge numbers of them every year. Theirs' are the imported kind also.

Minnie, I don't think there is a book forthcoming. I don't have the book writing gene. LOL

jeaninwa..oh, how neat ! I would love to have a tree frog...but then he would probably eat my ladybug.

I love it and don't think you're crazy. I have brought them in the house but they weren't pets. I had a pet praying mantis years ago and when I moved I brought him with me on a bush. As I said before, I have spiders and never kill them, but none that are pets . But that's a sweet story. I wish I had one.

Ganzia, all you have to do is write the story, just as you did above, and submit it. If the book editors find it an interesting story, they will 'fluff' it and clean it up, making a wonderful, heart-warming story for everyone.

If you find the time, read the biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her series of books were not written by her - her daughter (Rose) submitted all her daily notes (hundreds of notebooks) to a publishing company, who took the stories and published them into the wonderful books we know today!

Also, check out how celebrities 'write' books. They sit in front of a microphone and start talking - the editors clean the story up, make it interesting and the celebrity makes a small fortune!!! I would say 'GO FOR IT' - what have you to lose?!

OK, tell us about your pet spider :o)

Nope, do not think you are crazy at all! I had a gecko who visited my back pourch all summer, and I would put out dried worms that we bought for our birds. He would come and eat them almost every day. He was our pet also. I like your story, and understand you well. You perfectly sane, just a loving caring person in my opinion.

.kayjones
I brought the Laura books home from the library and my MOM read them to me in bed every night When I had my boys they grew up hearing them too. I knew about Rose but didn't know that she was responsible for the books thanks so much for the info.
When I was little my Mom would make up stories about a little teddy bear who went to live with some old people in the woods who made great big sugar cookies. How I wish she had written them down.

I love it too, and I have to say, what a lucky little ladybug. Safety and water and lots of different foods, what more could a little bug want. :o) We occasionally get ladybugs and other critters in the house, and it's always a race to catch them and put them outside before the cats discover them. We do have swallows that nest in our entry every spring, they've come every year for 10 years. Even though they live outside, they are almost like pets and we worry about them.

I have a catbird pet who lives in my yard and comes every year about May 1. I whistled for him around then, and he replies with the same whistle. My friend up the street has one too who comes the same time and sits on her porch where she feeds him raisins. You have me looking for a ladybug pet. I have a spider living in my bathroom who goes in the tub for water.

You are not crazy; you have a wonderful, entertaining houseguest. I'm sure in her little ladybug heart and mind she finds you just as charming, or she wouldn't hang around.

My dear cousin, Christy, was mesmerized by ladybugs her entire life. I've cried every day since she died, but this story made me cry in a "happy" way.

Each year in the past I'd buy a carton of them from the garden center and turn them loose in the yard while singing "Happy Birthday." (Once I moved to ND I had to delay the release because April here is just too cold for them.)

I don't know if I'll be able to do it this Spring.

You have a wonderful talent for telling a story. Please do share about the spider.

I would love to have a lady bug right now to photograph....say next to the x-mas cactus or orchids that are blooming indoors! :0) She could be my resident model! :0) Thanks for sharing the info on what she likes to eat. How clever!

Caroline, what a nice way to remember your cousin. I am sure the ladybugs appreciate it too.

Glenda, my pet spider lives in a corner behind the baseboard next to the front door. It is tiny, it's body less than a 1/8 inch. Very little web is visible, at least from my perspective, but what I do see and clean up every 3 or 4 days is apparent inedible legs, wings, antenae left over from his meals. In warmer weather, I have brought in bugs for him and placed them in what little web that is visable. That apparently causes a vibration that brings Mr. spider out of hiding. Usually he immediently wraps up his prey to make sure it stays put. I don't let on to him that it wasn't just a lucky catch. There are other spiders that come and go around the house and I am content to live and let live, but the web in that particular spot is always there and always occupied by that same kind of spider. He earns his keep and I am more than willing to cater to him.

No, the house in not full of cobwebs. In fact Bill just went through the house with "Webster" yesterday. Webs can be cleaned up without needlessly killing the spiders. Spiders cleanup dust mites. For the most part, spiders are goodguys.

Thank you for a story about the only bug I think is cute.
My son had a "pet" spider years ago. He said the spider was
good because it ate bugs. I said "son, that spider IS a bug!"

You DO know some people will think we're all nuts?

Oh how absolutely wonderful!! I really kind of envy you such tranquillity! I have had the odd butterfly or moth but to have a ladybug stay for a time must be so joyful.
Please keep us updated...it is such a wonderful story to hear about and thank you for sharing it.

sending this to my dil.she's expecting out dgd sometime this month..they decorated her room in ladybug decor..maybe she can adsd this ti her baby book!

My mother had a bunch of Daddy Longleg spiders living in her bathroom. She wouldn't let anyone kill them. She said they were her "pets." I found that a little creepy. Ladybugs are cute. Spiders are not.