Interactive Log Pile

Under a log

Common pill woodlouse

Armadillidium vulgare

A little grey armoured tank that can roll itself into a perfect ball.

Size
Up to 18mm long
Look for it
All year round
Where
Under logs, stones and flowerpots, especially on chalky soil

My spotter's list

Trundles after you, and rolls into a ball if you rush at it. Move your pointer and see.

When to look

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Woodlouse

Good to know

Six things about the woodlouse

Ball

Rolling up

The pill woodlouse can roll into a tight ball to protect its soft underside. Most other woodlice can't do this.

Family

Not an insect

Woodlice are crustaceans, related to crabs and shrimps. They are some of the few that live their whole lives on land.

Legs

Fourteen legs

A woodlouse has seven pairs of legs: one pair for each of its seven main body plates.

Babies

A pouch of babies

The mother carries her eggs, and then her tiny white young, in a pouch of fluid under her body.

Damp

Keeping damp

Woodlice breathe through gills on their back legs, so they have to stay somewhere damp.

Names

Lots of names

Chiggy pig, cheeselog, gramersow, slater: there are well over a hundred local names for woodlice in Britain.

The real thing

Photos of the woodlouse

Common pill woodlouse, photo 1
Photo: Letícia Smania Donanzan from Ubatuba - SP, Brasil, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Common pill woodlouse, photo 2
Photo: AJC1 from UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Common pill woodlouse, photo 3
Photo: Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Out and about

How to spot one

Lift a flowerpot, a log or a stone in a damp corner. The pill woodlouse is the smooth, shiny one that rolls into a perfect ball.

Lend a hand

How to help

Keep a log pile and a compost heap. Woodlice are recyclers, turning dead wood and leaves back into soil.

Keep going

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