Ladybug?

[Benyellow]

Is this ladybug on the cactus? Is it harmful to the cactus? There's a whole lot of them. There appear to be egg sacs on the spine near the top.

[adetheproducer]

They look like scale bugs rather than ladybirds, us a cocktail stick and pick them off and you may want to treat with a systemic to kill any offspring.

[Benyellow]

Thanks a lot I will do that

[Steve Johnson]

They look like scale bugs rather than ladybirds, us a cocktail stick and pick them off and you may want to treat with a systemic to kill any offspring.

Scale insects aren't red, so I think those are ladybugs. Ladybugs go after some cactus pests, and they're the good guys -- if that's what you have, leave them alone and let your cacti do some biological pest control!

By the way -- if you want to know what scale infestations look like, see this:

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactipests/#scale" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Benyellow]

Oh, I think I can leave it be, see what happens then, hope it will do no harm. Thanks a lot

[adetheproducer]

While I do agreed ladybirds would be beneficial to the cacti these do not look like ladybirds. If you take a look at the picture in this link

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=h ... CMQMygEMAQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

there are many types of scale bug and not all make that stereotypical scale shaped shell.

I can see one wondering about on the top dressing rocks so could well be some other type of beetle/bug but it is suspicious them congregating around the new growth I would think they are at least sucking sap from the cacti or if not the unknown feeding habits of these insects make me think they need to be got rid of.

[Steve Johnson]

Oh, I think I can leave it be, see what happens then, hope it will do no harm. Thanks a lot

I'll admit that it's really hard to tell what you have based on your photos. Can you zoom your camera in for a closer look?

[Benyellow]

I will try to snap a better photo, will be uploading soon, thanks a lot

[hegar]

This is a difficult one to identify, because the insects do not appear big enough on the image to figure out, what kind of animal is involved here.
Also, it would be helpful to find out the size of the pest or predator.
Based on the glossiness and shape of the specimen present on the pebble, I do not think, that this is an armored scale insect. There are also soft scales found in nature. It could be one of those. However, if these things are moving around, they are definitely not scale insects. Those would not be found sitting on a pebble either. My best guess is, that it is indeed a beetle of some kind, not necessarily a ladybeetle.

Harald

[Benyellow]

Thanks a lot Harald, I'm 100% sure they are not harming my cactus now, as they are not there anymore, can't find them anywhere. But the egg sacs are still there. The melocactus above is barely one centimeter wide, it's a baby melo, so I guess the bug is just a few milimeters, and yes they are crawling around. Thanks for the info guys