# Sowbugs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sowbugs/266160
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 26, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sowbugs/266160 "2004-09-26T14:28:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sowbugs/266160/1 "2004-09-26T14:28:57Z")
My house is 70 years old. I have no idea how old the shed is out back, but it’s younger than the house. The shed is about eight feet square. It has a wooden (two-by-four) frame, and is covered with ½" planks. The floor is plywood; as is the roof, which is covered with asphalt shingles. With a little fixing, it would actually make a decent little “guest room”.
Now, the planks are old and grey. I decided the shed needed a coat of paint. I started painting under the eaves, and “sowbugs” started crawling out of the cracks. Lots of them. I guess they didn’t like the odour of the paint. I didn’t see any sowbugs coming out of the planks when I was painting them. (Not finished painting, BTW. Just did the front so far.)
There’s an old cedar stump in the front yard that I hack at with a pick-axe whenever I think of it. Inside the rotten parts are sowbugs.
First: Are these really sowbugs? I’ve never seen one roll up into a sphere, as I did when I was a kid in San Diego. These guys up here in the PNW are similar, but more flattened.
Second: As a child, I only saw “pillbugs” in the lawn. Why do I find these little crustaceans in wood? Do they eat wood? Are they doing any harm to the shed?
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sowbugs/266160/2 "2004-09-26T14:34:48Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#):
>
> First: Are these really sowbugs? I’ve never seen one roll up into a sphere, as I did when I was a kid in San Diego. These guys up here in the PNW are similar, but more flattened.
>
> Second: As a child, I only saw “pillbugs” in the lawn. Why do I find these little crustaceans in wood? Do they eat wood? Are they doing any harm to the shed?
Its probably a [woodlouse](http://www.gardensafari.net/english/centipedes.htm) (scroll about halfway down)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2004, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sowbugs/266160/3 "2004-09-26T14:42:00Z")
Thanks, **drachillix**! These are overall light grey, BTW.
I see that they feed on decaying organic matter. No doubt there’s rot at the edges of the shed’s roof. Strangely, the inside of the shed stays nice and dry; even though the window (in back) is not glassed. (And by “dry”, I mean “no standing water or water stains”. Obviously, there is dampness; though no mold or mildew. In any case the lawnmowers don’t seem to mind.)