The formidable fight against sowbugs

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/10/2016 (3420 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

This year our yard was inundated with sowbugs. We have never seen as many in the 14 years we have lived in our home. Large and small, they were everywhere.

Lift a flower pot and underneath were dozens of them squirming. Put up the garage door and around the bottom flap, there they were wriggling. Move the patio umbrella stand and discover more of them crawling around.

In the spring, we swept in and compacted new sand between our patio bricks. The oddest thing was watching the sand appear to come alive day after day. It poked in upright mounds higher than the bricks, and in some cases covered a few of them. If we dug into the wet sand, the sowbugs were prolific.

These flat, oval creatures that we call sowbugs, also known as woodlice, are not really bugs at all. They are land-living crustaceans mostly active at night. An online source describes them as about one centimetre in length with several body segments, seven pairs of legs and two pair of antennae. They eat “organic debris and decaying plants.”

Normally they live outdoors but can come into homes through ground level doors, especially sliding doors, and cracks. Although they can appear anywhere in the house, they particularly like basements and crawl spaces where there is usually more humidity.

To keep the numbers down out-of-doors, don’t over-mulch flower beds and keep the mulch as well as boards, debris, leaf litter and any other items that can provide nesting places away from the foundation. Check downspouts and gutters. Seal any cracks around the foundation and basement windows.

Indoors, use a dehumidifier to remove excess humidity. In the basement don’t store boxes tightly in corners or against the basement walls as these will keep the area cooler and perhaps moisture will collect. Check crawlspaces for dampness. Also check the sump pump area.

In addition, on the main floor, check closet corners. If they are packed tightly, a bit of moisture might be trapped in them. If so, sowbugs could be attracted to these areas.

Because sowbugs can’t retain moisture, they need damp places to live or they wither and die.
Are sowbugs harmful to humans? The Government of Canada’s website says “Sowbugs and pillbugs can sometimes enter damp areas of your house in large numbers. However, they do not bite, sting, or transmit diseases, and they don’t infest food, clothing, or wood.”

Jeannette Timmerman is a community correspondent for Richmond West.