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. They rarely live long after coming indoors because it’s too dry for them.
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. They rarely live long after coming indoors because it’s too dry for them.
If you uncover a bunch of rolly pollies under a log, you don’t expect to find a bright blue one crawling among all the usual grays and browns. But it turns out your fun surprise is some very bad luck for that terrestrial isopod.
Some of the global symbolism for the Insect Class include:
Fertility. Sustenance. Productivity. Natural order.
Pill bugs are drawn to moist areas. Since their bodies can’t hold in water, they rely on damp areas with high moisture content to survive. If you have discovered pill bugs inside your home, it is most likely due to a broken or leaky pipe or faucet where the pill bug is drawn to the moisture.
Life Cycle
In approximately two months, the young roly-polies emerge. They look like small roly-poly bugs, and if it is a species that can roll, it can do so at birth. These isopods molt up to a dozen times in their lifetime, and the average lifespan of a roly-poly is between two and five years.
The pillbug, Armadillidium vulgare (Latreille), is an isopod, a type of non-insect arthropod also known as a terrestrial crustacean. It is sometimes called a roly-poly due to its ability to roll into ball when disturbed (Figure 1).
Pill bugs don’t have a typical brain.
Rather than a single complex brain, the neural ganglia in each of the 7 thorax sections exerts independent control over the different body parts.
Happily, roly-polies are not dangerous. They don’t bite, sting, poke or pinch, and instead of running away, they form an easy-to-pick-up, hard ball when you touch them. Roly-polies live interesting lives in yards and gardens near you. Gather up some raisin-size roly-polies and see what you can detect about them.
Instead of stalks, pill bugs have eyes on each side of the head. These eyes consist of only a few simple cells capable of light detection. Other than that, they really can’t see.
“The butterflies released at Wings of Hope are an important symbol of hope and healing,” said Kristy Caradori, Spartanburg Regional Foundation executive director.
Butterflies. Because butterflies are born from a cocoon, they symbolize transformation, strength, vitality, and life.
Your Blood Type. Another insect attractant, unfortunately, is your blood. Your blood type contains specific chemicals that may be very appealing to certain insects, especially mosquitoes, who can smell your blood right through your skin.
The Insect’s Role is As A Teaching Symbol
All those references to these tiny creatures were put there for a reason: to symbolize to all believers what to do and not to do as we try to better follow the teachings of the Lord.
Major Factors of Attraction. The human skin emits many odors, and scientists are still learning exactly which ones attract insects to us. Scientists do know that pesky bugs such as mosquitoes and no-see-ums are attracted to humans mainly because we emit carbon dioxide and heat.
Pill bugs are part of nature’s garbage disposal system. Consuming mostly decaying plant matter, and eat rotting vegetation, a pill bug or several are wonderful in a compost pile. In a perfect world, the seven pairs of legs of pill bugs and sow bugs would only touch dead plant parts.
Most gardeners consider Roly Polys an asset to a garden as opposed to a pest problem because they work such wonders with the moist decaying material that will be compost one day soon.
Pill bugs, sometimes also referred to as roly-pollies, primarily consume plant matter that is either decaying or is already dead and decomposed. Their preferred foods are soft decaying plants like grasses and leaves, but they may also eat mulch used in landscaping around the house.
Roly Poly
Known for its ability to curl up into a ball when it is disturbed, these pill bugs can be found in the damp soil under rocks or rotting pieces of wood. Like most wild edibles, they are the tastiest when they are roasted or fried and have a shrimp-like taste.
Roly-poly bugs also have three main body parts – head, thorax and abdomen – as well as simple eyes, uropods, a pair of prominent antennae, gills and lunglike adaptations. As terrestrial creatures related to marine animals, they need moisture to survive but cannot live submerged in water.
Female rolly pollies lay eggs, and plenty of them. They can produce as many as 150 eggs in a year, in three different broods. It takes about 2 months for the eggs to hatch.
She carries the eggs on her underside, between her legs, in a brood pouch called a marsupium. The gestation period for roly polies is 4-6 weeks. When hatched, they are fully formed but barely visible due to their small size. Roly polies develop into adults in about a year.
Pill bugs are more closely related to shrimp and lobsters than crickets or butterflies. Their ancestors lived in the sea, but ancient pill bugs crawled out millions of years ago to carve a life for themselves on dry land.
Did you know a roly-poly is actually not an insect, but a relative of the lobster? They sleep mostly during the day and are active at night.
She carries the eggs on her underside, between her legs, in a brood pouch called a marsupium. The gestation period for roly polies is 4-6 weeks. When hatched, they are fully formed but barely visible due to their small size. Roly polies develop into adults in about a year.