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

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Comments from my Readers & Friends

  1. Sow bugs and pillbugs (roly-polys) are actually different species. Sow bugs can’t curl up and the edge of their “armor” is shaped differently. (Along with some other differences.)

    1. That is really fascinating. I tried to find something on the web to support what you said, but I can’t Please write back and tell me how you learned this!!

  2. I call them Potato bugs. My brother and his friend splits them in half and you can see the guts. It is VERY disgusting!! But I love them i hold them and they crawl on you. They are 99.9% harmless.

  3. I call them cute! Also when my dad was a kid he called them Potato Bugs and my sister stuck one up her nose when she was three.

  4. We call them Potato Bugs but a good name for them would be: Crumb Armadillos or Brown Peas. I ate one once when I was 2 years old.

  5. Cheesie I have a question for ya for homework I have to adopt a macro invertebrate but I don’t know the life cycle of a pillbug or Sowbug

    Signed,
    Nathan

    1. I don’t remember what their life cycle is, but I did look it up when I wrote about them, so I know there is a lot of info online. Good luck.

  6. Idk. I call sow bugs roly poly and doodle bugs. (my mom calls them that too. She’s from Texas.)

  7. I like to collect rolly pollies. I have a vacuum catcher that allows me to catch them. We just finished your first book. My mom got it from her school…you signed it for us! I really liked your book. It was totally awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. Once when the first time I saw a sow bug, I thought it was a rock because it was in a rough ball shape so I picked it up and it came out its shell and I got so scared, I almost threw it! Total not lie[of course I lied a little bit]!

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