Cheesie Mack

Sow Bugs (My Favorite "insect") (The stuff on this webpage was mentioned on page 145 in my book)

Sow bugs are my favorite “insects,” mainly because they are not insects. They are actually crustaceans, like lobster and shrimp. Here’s what they look like, just in case you don’t know what a sow bug is.

drawing of two sow bugs, one crawling and one curled into a ball

Sow bug is the name I learned, but in science we learned there lots of other names for the same non-insect: roly-poly, pill bug, woodlouse, etc. If you have other names or know something really interesting about them, please comment below.

I did a report on sow bugs. Here it is.

A typed report on sow bugs. At the top is a teacher's hand written notes: "A - good work! Please remember to take your box of sow bugs home!" Report text: "Sow Bugs Sow bugs are not insects even though they crawl around and have lots of lets. They are crustaceans. Most crustaceans, like lobsters in the Atlantic Ocean near Gloucester, live in water, but sow bugs live on land. Sow bugs have three body parts: head, thorax (chest) and abdomen (belly). They have two eyes, seven pairs of legs, and are colored from dark gray to light brownish. (Some sites on the internet say there are white sow bugs, but I have not been able to find pictures of that.) Like other crustaceans, sow bugs do not have lungs. They breathe with gills, so they have to live where it is moist or watery, like under rocks or logs, in piles of damp leaves, or in wet crevices. They are most active at night, so the sun won't dry them out. Sow bugs roll up into a ball when disturbed. That's why some people call them pill bugs. They hatch from eggs (up to 100) that the females carry in pouches on their abdomens. Baby sow bugs look like adults except smaller. As they grow, they shed their shells several times and grow new, larger shells. Sow bugs are scavengers. They eat dead plants or animals. They can also be a pest in gardens because they sometimes eat live plants. Phylum, Arthropoda; Class, Malacostraca; Order, Isopoda

Book 1

Mystery, mice, and money at the end of fifth grade!

Read
from my book

Buy my book

read some
Reviews

back to the
Genius List

Back to list Back to top Next thing on my list

Comments from my Readers & Friends

    1. That’s weird. I wonder why there are no sow bugs in Hawaii. I went to Hawaii once. We stayed on Oahu in a town called Kailua, and we went to the beach every day!

    1. I don’t think that’s right. Sow bugs are not related to dung beetles.
      But DUNG ROLLER is a cool name.

  9. I know I’m not related to your science teacher or anything but MY last name is Amato too…so when i saw it I was like WHAT!!! And maybe your science teacher can relate to this (Maybe you could ask him for me) Lots of people spell Amato wrong even the computer i wonder if he has the same problem?

    1. I asked, and Mr. Amato said no one EVER misspells his name because he is so well-known in our town! He is a big kidder.

  10. my bff calls them rolly polly ollys u know from the show she thinks there awsame i do to her name is abby.p

  12. ok..look ronald cheesie whatever.
    First, I do not care AT ALL that you don’t believe “I LOVE JUSTIN BIEBER” is my name.
    Second, Hi! Nice to meet you!! I’m Selena Bradford, and imma be on a commercial.
    Third, my teacher Mrs.Smith is plain ANNOYING. You’re lucky you think Mr. Ama-whatever is cool.
    Fourth, i don’t think little 11-10 year olds like you understand much of society. They just wanna do good at school.
    Fifth, thank you for reading my comment.
    Sincerely,
    Selena-Future Moviestar

    1. Dear “fine its not my name whatever”
      You sound like you have lots of energy and self-cnfidence I bet you do end up being a moviestar. Maybe someone will make a Cheesie Mack film, and you’ll be in it.

    2. Dear Cheese lover,
      Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO have a lotta energy. I wore bright pink lipstick today at school and i had ppl SWOON over me!!! im TOTALLY moviestar-worthy. I dont know if I’ll be in a *Cheesie Mack* movie though. Considering how we can’t get along.Yeah. Whatever. Now im just scared of bringing my science grade home two weeks from now, cuz its a D. woo-pee!!!! hurray for me!!!
      -Selena (OBVIOUSLY justin biebers future wife)

    3. So, your name is Selena…and will someday be Selena Bieber! Did you know there is a tiny town in N. California named Bieber?

    4. interesting!! i never knew tht……….well, u do learn something new everyday. ill totally search tht on google, the bieber city. my whole school is now to know tht there is a northern cali city named bieber!! oh and did u know i live in southern cali? i live in san diego. haha!! lol. i wish i lived in la, a EVEN more famous city, but san diego is famous enuf….i guess its ok for a future moviestar to live there.

    1. I have never heard “pea bugs.” Maybe it’s a version of “pill bug.” But I have heard of “slaters.” Thanks.

  18. I call Sow bugs “Ball bugs” because they look like balls when they are rolled up. They are in my top 5 favorite bugs. My favorite bugs are spiders. What is your favorite bug.

    1. “Ball bugs” is a really good name.

      Like I wrote at the top of this page: Sow bugs are my favorite “insects,” mainly because they are not insects.

      And spiders aren’t insects either. They’re arachnids.

  19. hey look!! we have the same period science!! cool!! except i dont know who u are. and is this is a blog?

    1. • First, I do not believe that your name is “I LOVE JUSTIN BIEBER.”
      • Second, I am Ronald Mack. This is not a blog. This is just my website that lots of kids comment on.
      • Third, I bet there are millions of kids who have 3rd period science, so I don’t think that makes me or you particularly special. But Mr. Amato is very cool. I am going to write about him in Book #3.
      • Fourth, thanks for reading my book.

    2. ok..look ronald cheesie whatever.
      First, I do not care AT ALL that you don’t believe “I LOVE JUSTIN BIEBER” is my name.
      Second, Hi! Nice to meet you!! I’m Selena Bradford, and imma be on a commercial.
      Third, my teacher Mrs.Smith is plain ANNOYING. You’re lucky you think Mr. Ama-whatever is cool.
      Fourth, i don’t think little 11-10 year olds like you understand much of society. They just wanna do good at school.
      Fifth, thank you for reading my comment.
      Sincerely,
      Selena-Future Moviestar

  20. This year my class worked with beetles and ISOPODS,so I got more comfortable with bugs.and what does imo mean?

  22. My mom told me that once I swallowed a sow bug before.The day she told me I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

  23. My dad said that we call them potato bugs because they were originally found in potatoes. I don’t know if this is true or not.

  26. this is the normal life cycle of a woodlouse;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. Metabolic rate is temperature-dependent in woodlice. In contrast to mammals and birds, invertebrates are not “self heating”: the external environmental temperature relates directly to their rate of respiration.

    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.

    Woodlice are not generally regarded as a serious household pest as they do not spread disease and do not damage wood or structures; however, their presence can indicate dampness problems

  27. oh, and by the way, the common names for the crustashun we are talking about are;Names include: “armadillo bug”, “cheeselog”, “cheesy bug”, “doodlebug” (also used for the larva of an antlion), “pill bug” (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium), “potato bug”, “roly-poly”, “sow bug”, “roll up bug”, “chuggypig” or “chucky pig”, “slater”, “gramersow” (Cornwall), “butcher boy” or “butchy boy” (Australia), and “wood bug” (British Columbia, Canada).

    1. Absolutely not. She came to our school once, and I’m sure she’s not an author. I looked up AMATO. According to the 2000 US Census, AMATO ranks #2676 in terms of the most common surnames in the United States.

      AMATO had 12,411 occurrences.

      You can look up your own last name here: http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm

      MACK ranks #441 with 67,154 occurrences.

  33. I call them wood lice! This is what they call them in England! I used to live there. IMO every body should call them that.

  35. I call them pill bugs or mini armadillos! They look and act sort of like armadillos, right?! B-)

    1. They do look like armadillos, but since I’ve never actually seen how armadillos act, I don’t know about that.

  37. They are also call Isopods. They have a huge range in species. If you google image isopod than u can see some of the different types.

  38. I’ve heard people call sow bugs “potato bugs” which makes sense since the kind of roll up to a potato shape…..

    1. I was just looking over comments from a while ago, and I really like your 14-footed word: quadradecapedal.

      It’s a great example of word roots.
      quad = 4
      deca =10
      ped = foot

    2. thanks!
      did you know that a sow bugs classification is:
      Kingdom: Animalia
      Phylum: Arthropoda
      Subphylum: Crustacea
      Class: Malacostraca
      Order: Isopoda
      Suborder: Oniscidea

    3. I had phylum, class, and order at the bottom of my paper for Mr. Amato, but you really did some research!

    1. HAHA! You mean like The Beatles (John, Paul, George, and Ringo)?
      Or maybe you misspelled it, and you meant beetles. Did you know that Georgie’s middle name is Harrison because his mother really liked Beatle George Harrison?

  47. Me and my bff call then
    circus critters. We made it up when we were watching the movie A Bugs Life.

Comments are closed.

Welcome to CheesieMack.com (My real name is Ronald Mack)