Pill bug shells look like armor and they are known for their ability to roll into a ball. Sometimes kids call them rollie-pollies. Most pill bugs live for up to two years.

Apply Insect Killer Granules around foundations, lawns and landscaped areas to eliminate or repel all kinds of troublesome pests. Scatter Monterey Ant Control, a safe and organic bait containing iron phosphate and spinosad, evenly over the soil around or near problem areas.

If there is a lack of dead plant material, Roly Polys are known to eat young and tender plants and some gardeners have declared them the culprits that destroy the marigolds, but other gardeners dispute this and insist that the wrongdoers are more likely the slugs.

Roly-polies are detritivores who consume a wide variety of organic material. They primarily consume dead plants or animals, but they will occasionally eat live plants. In captivity, they will thrive on a diet of raw fruit and vegetable slices. Potatoes, carrots, apples and pears are good choices.

You can tell by looking sat their undersides. Males will have a darker coloring and a female will be noticeably lighter. Also if they have a clear “line” of exoskeleton down the middle of their abdomen than they are female. Males will also have longer antennae than females.

Pill bugs do have some rather peculiar feeding habits since they are known to eat their own feces, as well as feces from other animals. Additionally, sometimes pill bugs will feed on decomposing animal flesh.

Roly-polies a little prehistoric-looking and creepy, but they pose no harm to you, your family, or your pets. Pill bugs don’t carry any diseases, nor do they sting or bite.

Pill bugs can also be controlled in other natural ways. Cayenne pepper sauce, chili pepper oil, garlic spray or garden-grade diatomaceous earth can be used to safely battle the pill bug. Pill bugs may also be trapped using apple cider, vinegar or whiskey.

“I have used and recommended coffee grounds as an organic fertilizer for years, but they have another important use. To control slugs, snails and pillbugs, broadcast coffee grounds around plants troubled by the little beasts.

Diatomaceous earth is a safe way to desiccate or dry out pill bugs, therefore killing them. Spread Diatomaceous along edges of your planting beds where pill bugs like to live.

Here are some tips to reducing moisture inside and around your home:

1. Mulch: Mulch in flowerbeds should be no deeper then 2 in.
2. Wood: Stack firewood off the ground.
3. Plants: Flowerpots should be on racks or stands off the ground.
4. Gutters: Gutters and downspouts should drain away from the foundation.

Many people do not know that pill bugs are edible. Not only are they edible but from my experience some of them do in fact taste similar to shrimp. Any bug should be cooked before eaten, but some people eat them raw. There are a lot of other ways to cook them including, mixed with, dough, egg, or rice.

Sowbugs and pillbugs general do little or no harm to plants. In large numbers they may feed on plants at ground level or on small roots, but the only real threat they present is that the feeding locations can provide openings for bacteria or fungi which could result in rot setting in.

These little roly-polies can also be great for your garden. If you’re a compost fan, you’ll want a bunch of them in your pile. They can break down plant parts rapidly, chewing them into smaller bits. This speeds the compost process along.

Due to the fact they’re easy to handle, many people enjoy keeping pillbugs as pets. You can find pillbugs outdoors, usually under rocks or in other moist areas. If you want to keep pillbugs in your home, make sure you know how to create and maintain the proper environment and feed the pill bugs the correct diet.

Creatures known to eat roly poly bugs include spiders, centipedes, ants, birds, toads and frogs. The roly poly bugs also prey on each other.

Pill bugs can also be avoided by eliminating food sources such as vegetable or plant debris.

1. Remove leaves, grass clippings, heavy accumulations of mulch, boards, stones, boxes, and similar items laying on the ground near the foundation.
2. Items that cannot be removed should be elevated off the ground.

Carefully lift out the potato, in the hollow you should find lots of pill bugs eating the potato. If you don’t have chickens, make sure to dispose of these bugs in an area where they cannot get back to your garden. If you find that you need another organic pill bug control, we would recommend the product Sluggo Plus.

Do Rolly Pollies Eat Dog Poop? Yes, indeed, they do. Also, they eat their own excretion, which is known as self-coprophagy.

In contrast, pill bugs have the shell-like covering that marks them as more closely related to the shrimp and the crayfish than to some of their fellow garden creatures. For this reason, soap spray is not effective because it can’t penetrate pill bugs’ protective coating.

If you crouch to grab one it will curl up. You have to stomp them once to render them unconscious and then they can be picked up or killed to get the mushroom. Killing a Pillbug will produce a Lifeshroom. Like most beasts, it has a rare golden variant, the Golden Pillbug.

Pill bugs hide under trash during the day. Sometimes you can loosen up the trash and handpick them. Another home remedy consists of one tablespoon of cayenne pepper, 2 tbs of household detergent, 1 quart of rubbing alcohol, all added to a gallon of water. Spray this in the area, or drench infested places.

Pill bugs typically enter buildings through door thresholds, especially homes with sliding-glass doors on the ground level. Seeing a pill bug in the home usually means that there is a large population outdoors. Pill bugs do not survive more than a few days indoors without moist conditions and a food supply.

Neither pillbugs nor sowbugs will infest or harm anything in the house. They will probably remain in the houseplant and if they wander away they will not survive long.

Pill bugs are important for ridding the soil of heavy metal ions by taking in copper, zinc, lead, arsenic, and cadmium, which they crystallize in their midgut. Thus, they can survive in contaminated soil where other species can’t.