Author Topic: Woodlice .... (Read 8285 times)

Admin Dan · « **on:** September 13, 2003, 21:30:33 »

Blinkin' woodlice,

Does anyone know of a way to get rid of them ?

They are all over my yard, and I've just found eaten tomato's, which they seem to have enjoyed :(

Please help ...

Palustris · « **Reply #1 on:** September 13, 2003, 22:24:34 »

They live in dark, damp crevices and under decaying vegetation and cannot survive drying up. So get rid of places where they can live (not easy). They normally only eat dead or dying material unless in large numbers when they can become serious pests. There are chemicals which will kill them if you wish to go down that path, look in your local Garden Centre or Wilkinsons or B&Q etc. Have you ever seen the ones which live on the shore line, slaters? They are about 10 times as big as garden ones. ....shudder...

Hyacinth · « **Reply #2 on:** September 15, 2003, 02:30:10 »

One of my favourite tales I heard on the radio. A vet was talking of his experiences. He lived and worked near a zoo or wildlife park somewhere..one day he had a call from a lady. She'd gone into her greenhouse and found 3 armadillos in there...what should she do?

So the vet told her to close the greenhouse door & he'd be along with a van.

Driving along, he had another phone call from her, in deep distress. One of the armadillos had disappeared and she was sure that one of the others had eaten it.Please, would he come quickly before the second armadillo suffered the same fate..

And when the vet arrived, he found (you've guessed it) two woodlice..

I've always thought of them as baby armadillos since then. ;) Lishka

gavin · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2003, 02:00:42 »

Forgive my spelling - as I wipe the lumps of half-chewed digestive biscuit and coffee spluttered across my screen!

Thank you - Gavin

LynneA · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2003, 13:29:00 »

My former partner of some years back had a phobia of woodlice, made worse by one day picking up what he thought was the spring missing from a pair of secatuers, only to have it unfurl and run away from him!

Speaking of daft fears, I can't touch foam rubber, courtesy of a run in with a large batch hoarded by my grandfather,, who couldn't stand the sight of a lemon being cut in half....But I digress.

Beer_Belly · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2003, 14:12:51 »

I can't touch cotton-wool myself - it squeaks at me !

Hyacinth · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2003, 15:49:04 »

Polystyrene, for me. It's so useful to break it up & fill the bottom portion of a large tub when your planting's not going to utilize all the soil, but I really don't like touching it. Lishka

ps Lynne, could you digress even further, please? Rubber lemons ??? Lishka

Palustris · « **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2003, 22:11:56 »

Earwigs for me, but strangely enough not in the garden, only in the house or worse still on me. Anne once left a pair of my trousers (white) on the washing line overnight. Next morning they were BLACK with guess what. AND my mother (we were staying with her at the time) sat on the door step and picked them off. Me? I was curled up some where in the house having a nice quiet shudder. Nver did wear them again.

Ed^Chigliak · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2003, 22:57:33 »

Rubbing carpet with a cloth... shudder! Horrible sound vibration & texture thing going on simultaneously. Just imagine a low vibrational squeak from the centre of the multiverse. The sort of thing a black hole might do after eating a full planet and two moons.

I have lots of woodlice hanging out in my compost bins just outside my back door. Lots and lots of woodlice like I have never seen so many before. They seem happy in the bins and so far they havn't been any bother to me or ventured out of the bins much. They don't seem to eat my plants and do damage like the slugs and snails.

Ed^

ina · « **Reply #9 on:** September 16, 2003, 23:42:31 »

Hey you guys! I think I now know what woodlice are, thanks to Lish's story about the miniature armadillo's. The dictionary just literally translated the word which meant nothing to me. If I'm correct, it's not a louse at all but a much bigger, grayish creepy crawly.

Beerbelly, maybe you can help me out here to prove it is what I think it is since your allotment is in Holland. Next time you find one, please show it to one of the Dutch allotmenteers and ask him/her what it's called. If they say 'pissebed' ( yes, to you native English speakers, just what it sounds like: piss-the-bed and don't ask me why please), then I'll know for sure. -Ina

Palustris · « **Reply #10 on:** September 17, 2003, 01:19:56 »

Latin name for wood louse Oniscus asellus. Funny enough Armadillidium vulgare is the Latin name not for the Armadilllo, but for a creature called a pill-bug. Any use, Ina?

ina · « **Reply #11 on:** September 17, 2003, 01:22:25 »

Thanks Eric, I will look that one up and let you know later. Greetings, -Ina

ina · « **Reply #12 on:** September 17, 2003, 01:41:18 »

That's it Eric! What would we do without Google? Calling a creature like that a louse in English is almost as silly as calling it a pissebed in Dutch hahaha. -Ina

Beer_Belly · « **Reply #13 on:** September 17, 2003, 14:15:41 »

Sorry Ina - I got here too late to tell you.
I promise to try harder in future
-BB

Palustris · « **Reply #14 on:** September 17, 2003, 21:25:14 »

I take my bow( or curtsey).

ina · « **Reply #15 on:** September 17, 2003, 23:11:50 »

Ha BB, Eric was too fast for you. Did you know it or did you just ask someone at your allotments? Thanks anyway.

I've learned so many words being on the boards. My favorite one was mange tout, I could not figure out why snow peas were called that. The word sounded horrible to me, nothing one would want to eat but that was because I pronounced it the English way. Mange, like a dog disease and tout, like those pests that want to take tourists to a hotel that pays them. Just this past week I learned it's not an English word at all but French, pronounced in the French way it sounds a lot tastier. Ofcourse, mange tout, eat all. So Tim, I felt like a fool once again hahaha. -Ina

Beer_Belly · « **Reply #16 on:** September 18, 2003, 10:55:40 »

I actually knew that one (I've no idea where i picked it up from though) - BB

newboy · « **Reply #17 on:** September 25, 2003, 22:42:16 »

I've actually heard of woodlice been called pissebeds before dont know where or when but i have...........personally i like to call them chucky pigs and have done most of my life I had a farm of them as a child a bit like an ant farm but bigger and more exciting 8) oh to be a child again :'(

Mrs Ava · « **Reply #18 on:** October 04, 2003, 02:27:40 »

aaaahhhh...choogypegs! (aka Woodlice!) Why do I call them choogypegs.....something to do with my childhood I fear. I love them! One of the few things that creeps and crawls that I really do not mind what so ever. Zillions in our compost heap at home but it is made of wood and they are gradually turning it into compost for me. I have never found them eating anything other than decaying wood tho. Baby armadillos.......classic, choogypegs no more! ;D

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Author Topic: Woodlice .... (Read 8285 times)