Steve: Pillbugs were probably the first bug I remember as a child Art: That was probably the first Crustacean that you came into contact with.

Pillbugs and sowbugs, people know them as Roly polies They're actually crustaceans.

They're more closely related to Lobsters and crabs and crawfish.

They don't have six legs, So they're no an insect They don't have eight legs, So they're not an arachnid They have fourteen legs.

Pick one up they can't hurt you.

and let them walk on your hand and count the number of legs that they have.

They are terrestrial crustaceans And the most common ones that we have are European species inadvertantly introduced with soils containing plants.

We do have some native species here that live in fresh water And some of them are actually rare or endangered species that live in subterranean springs and caves.

Steve: These are big pillbugs or small ones?

Art: The ones that are protected are smaller than the typical pillbugs or sowbugs that you see in the garden There are some huge marine pillbugs found at the bottom of the ocean and And when they sort of curl up they're probably the size of Oh, maybe a little bigger than a softball.

An interesting feature about Roly Polies they're exoskeleton's aren't covered in wax like insects And insects, that waxy coating keeps them from drying out.

Well in the case of roly polies they lack that protective layer of wax and they can become dehydrated very easily.

Which is why they live in very moist habitats They have a little fluid filled pouch on their body called the marsupium, and that's where the female nutures her young.

That's where the eggs hatch.

And every once in a while you can roll over a Pillbug or a sowbug and you can see little ones.

Little tiny pale ones.

underneath her body.

Because they don't have that waxy coating They can also drown very easily.

So that when we have heavy rains, often times youll see them walking up walls and fenceposts and that kind of thing.

They're walking on the edge They're trying to live in places where they don't dry out or drown.

Steve: Brilliant.