Natural Predators to Japanese Beetles?

So, what types of animals eat Japanese beetles? Most commonly the Japanese beetle becomes prey to various species of birds and flying insects, such as the wasp.

Very many kinds of birds will feed on beetles such as the starling, sparrows, and bluejays. Rodents may also eat Japanese beetles, such as the possum which can even dig Japanese beetle larva out of the ground before they hatch and turn them into a tasty snack.

But it’s not best to rely on natural predators to control a Japanese beetle infestation in your garden. The beetles come on strong in the early summer and then fizzle out after only a couple of months, so it’s a quick surge that we are dealing with.

There are way too many beetles during Japanese beetle season for natural predators to do much damage to their population, anyway. And almost all the Japanese beetles will die on their own anyways after they have mated in reproduced.

So if you are reading this article in hopes of finding a Japanese beetle predator that you could introduce into your garden, I am sorry to disappoint you. If you have Japanese beetles on your property you should rather rely on a natural Japanese beetle insecticide, as that is what it will take to get rid of them.

In Japan, where Japanese beetles are from originally, they are better controlled by natural predators than they are here in the United States. Here, their populations can quickly overwhelm and devour vegetation without much of a real threat from predators.