Before you start working out a way to deal with them, you should hold on for a moment. Yes, they seem weird and maybe slightly gross when you first see them; however, they are not the pesticide villain of your backyard ecosystem. They are a food source for birds and other insect-eaters, and are part of the food web that keeps everything else in balance.
So while you won’t want to snack on them (and try not to even touch them directly), there is nothing inherently wrong with allowing them to stick around. They are not out there devouring your plants on the scale that some pests are. They are mostly just going about their strange little lives, and adding a little color and oddity to the scene.
Not Every Blue is a Berry
The biggest takeaway is simple: believe your eyes but double check before you get any further involved than your eyes or mouth! An overly shiny blue thing in your garden is not always as it appears. Blueberries grow on specific shrubs, not out of random garden plants. If you find something bizarre there is a good chance it is bizarre.
Homaemus proteus and other jewel bugs remind us that nature loves to play tricks, and sometimes survival relies on a trick working. The bug gets to keep predators away from its diet, and you get to learn to not assume that every blue round thing is food.
Next time you are walking in the yard and you see those tempting little blue balls, just remember – they aren’t berries, they are bugs! Obviously, you do not eat them. Let them be, enjoy their strange beauty if the fancy strikes you, and move on to the real munchies! Your garden stays in balance, your hands stay clean, and your tummy stays out of a could’ve-been foul tasting offense..
