Every fall when we have a cold day or two and then it warms up again our house gets swarmed with pumpkin bugs. If you don't know what a pumpkin bug is I can tell you that it looks exactly like a ladybug except it is orange and when you squish them they stink really bad. While they're annoying because there are so many of them they are not actually harmful and, if they stayed outside, they're actually quite good for the plants because they eat other bugs (I believe). The funny thing about pumpkin bugs is that they gather in little clusters in the corner where the walls meet or, at bare minimum, at least in the crease between the wall and the ceiling. We don't usually do anything about them for a few days because you want to wait for them to all cluster together plus as long as the weather stays warm they'll continue to multiply in number. Since they're not hurting anything we wait a few days and then we usually suck them down with the hose on the dry-vac. They're pretty entertaining to watch because while they clump together in the corner every now and then one will venture out on its own. As they form in groups it looks something like a pilgrimage. Sometimes you can watch one pumpkin bug make slow progress from one cluster to the next. We often joke that they're being sent out to scavenge for food or are running away from their current family in search of a different one. They're annoying but they provide us with a few brief moments of cheap entertainment every year.
For those of you that have never gotten to enjoy the pleasure of a pumpkin bug, here are some pictures.
Starting to gather:
Headed for the gathering:
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