Sow Bug/Woodlouse (Porcellio Scaber)

Habitat

Woodlice need moisture because they breathe through gills, called pseudotrachea, and so are usually found in damp, dark places, such as under rocks and logs. They are usually nocturnal and are detritivores, feeding mostly on dead plant matter, although they have been known to feed on cultivated plants, such as ripening strawberries and tender seedlings. Woodlice then recycle the nutrients back into the soil. In artificial environments such as greenhouses where it can be very moist, woodlice may become abundant and damage young plants.

Identification

The woodlouse has a shell-like exoskeleton, which it must progressively shed as it grows. The moult takes place in two stages; the back half is lost first, followed two or three days later by the front. This method of moulting is different from that of most arthropods, which shed their cuticle in a single process. A female woodlouse will keep fertilised eggs in a marsupium on the underside of her body until they hatch into small, white offspring. The mother then appears to "give birth" to her offspring.

Some species of woodlouse are able to roll into a ball-like form when threatened by predators, leaving only their armoured back exposed. This ability, or dominant behavior, explains many of the woodlouse's common names.

Treatment

Safe and Effective Pest Control

Chuck Sullivan's method of application and choice of products is safe for your family and pets but eliminates the bug problems.

We use synthetic pyrethroids, a botanical-based material derived from chrysanthemum flowers that works in the same way as our own pharmaceutical products, which are simply designed to speed up the body's metabolism. The formula applied to insects, being on a much smaller scale, will result in their metabolism increasing to the point of extermination.

You might call it... 'Bug-Speed'. To put it in perspective, for example, flea control products are made from synthetic pyrethroids and are designed to be placed directly on the pet's skin. The dog or cat is too large to be affected by the material, but is destructive to the much smaller flea.

Therefore, when applied by a trained exterminator, pyrethroids are safe for human and pet health as well as the environment as they are used in very small doses and often diluted in water or oil. The formula breaks down in the environment, heat and sunlight speeding this process.

Chuck Sullivan Exterminators provides an All Pest Service Guarantee so you won't have to worry about insects in your home or commercial building after treatment has been applied.

Sow Bugs/Woodlice are INCLUDED in the All Pest Service guarantee.

 

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