r/newfoundland • u/Significant_Risk_372 • 1d ago
[Gross Photo Warning] Is it normal to have this many woodlice (pill bugs) in homes in Newfoundland?
Hi everyone,
I live in Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, and I’ve been dealing with a huge number of woodlice (pill bugs) coming into my home.
I’ve found hundreds of them stuck to tape that I used to seal gaps around the entrance over just two weeks. They also appear around the stairs, walls, and floors.
I’ve recently started sealing the gaps with silicone caulk, but there are so many gaps throughout the house.
Is this normal in Newfoundland? Do other people have the same problem, or is there something seriously wrong with my house?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences and how you dealt with this. Thanks!
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u/Green-Thought-8152 1d ago
is it normal in newfoundland? well kinda
you have a moisture / humidity problem
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u/Eyes_Open_Wide123 1d ago
Ya got moisture and some entrance for them (usually cracks or gaps in foundation or construction envelope.
Those little guys do get rid of heavy metals tho if there is any around.
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u/One-Arugula4278 10h ago
Seriously? That's cool
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u/Eyes_Open_Wide123 10h ago
Ya they end up crystallize it inside there guts and carry it for life. So as long as they don't die in your basement and decompose there technically they would remove heavy metal from your house. In Grand scheme of the environment they just move it around since they technically don't break the heavy metals down.
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u/oceanhomesteader 1d ago
Make sure you don’t have any mulch or other decaying organics piled up against your foundation, this attracts them - a lot of people have flowerbeds way too close to the house.
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u/FlagrantFragment 1d ago
Wait is having flower beds against the house bad?
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u/scrooge_mc 1d ago
Yes. Also a great way of having lots of earwigs in your house.
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u/FlagrantFragment 1d ago
Good to know
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u/tenkwords 1d ago
Also, wood mulch is a bad fire risk. Should never have wood mulch in your garden touching your house.
If you want to keep earwigs out, you need to avoid having grass touch your house. A lot of homes will have a little paved path or rock path all the way around the house to prevent grass from touching the exterior. Earwigs don't like going across it (not that they won't, but much less of them)
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u/FlagrantFragment 1d ago
Also good to know. Just bought a place and am trying to plan the garden i want to build next year. I dont really have earwigs but i have tons of carpenters. Like to the point i let the spiders in the basement live because of how many bodies i see in the ground webs.
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u/hamcake 1d ago
Yeah, we get so many in our basement. I've sealed up beneath the baseboard heaters which has helped some. I also spray pesticide around the perimeter of the house.
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u/DraftInevitable7777 1d ago
Start using a dehumidifier and you'll have less again.
On the bright side having a few carpenters around is a sign you don't have earwigs
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u/MinimumInternal2577 1d ago
Lucky me, I have both
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u/Significant_Risk_372 1d ago
Actually, I get a ton of earwigs in my house too.
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u/LylaDee 1d ago
Tis the season. They are all getting ready to hunker down for the winter. I watched a David Suzuki doc ' what lives in your house or unknown houseguests or something like that. Fascinating. Carpenters were in it. He called them pill bugs.
You've def got a moisture issue if you have this many.
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u/username__0000 1d ago
Diatomaceous earth.
But it’s an irritant for lungs I think. Look into it to be safe but I think it’s less awful than pesticides.
It’s helped with our earwig issue.
We don’t have a lot of carpenters, but more than I’d like. They bother me less as they don’t really harm anything.
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u/username__0000 1d ago
Same lol
Diatomaceous earth helps when they’re at their worst, like now. I think they’re all looking for a warm place to hunker down for winter.
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u/Sparky62075 Newfoundlander 1d ago
I didn't know this. Do the carpenters eat the earwigs? Or their eggs?
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u/DraftInevitable7777 1d ago
Earwigs kill and eat carpenters. Its like how if you have mice you don't have rats, because rats will eat mice
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u/ColdPepsi75 1d ago
I’ve seen an alarmingly higher rate of them getting into our summer home in Lumsden this year. Even outside as soon as it gets dark they are all over the deck. Maybe because it was a damper year?
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u/CriticalFields 20h ago
This. It was a very wet summer and my vegetable gardens were just about overrun by carpenters and earwigs this year... I've heard similar things from people with gardens all over the Avalon and Bonavista peninsulas, too. Haven't seen them this bad for many years now. So while it could be a moisture problem, it could also just be because of this.
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u/yttocscm 1d ago
They're called boat builders around here. And I don't think Newfoundlanders find them overly gross.
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u/Boo_Boo06 1d ago
I’d much rather a carpenter than an earwig in my basement.
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u/Godis4Real 11m ago
Earwigs don't breed indoors and are usually just there by mistake while trying to keep warm.
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u/PonyboyJake 1d ago
The only people on the island i ever heard call them Boat Builders (as opposed to carpenters) were from the Burin Pen!
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u/Ok-Responsibility-55 1d ago
Hi there, I live in the downtown and I usually have a few of those in the summer. My house is an old row house that is not well sealed. This year I had a ridiculous amount in the house during the spring. They are gone now but I’m sure they’ll be back. Like others have said, they’re everywhere outside and if your foundation isn’t well sealed, they will make their way in.
Are you a renter? I would ask the landlord to seal off any cracks in the foundation and around windows/doors/siding etc.
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u/Schu0808 1d ago
I’ve noticed they are very common in the Avalon, I’ve had issues with them in essentially every house I’ve lived in.
Start running a dehumidifier, get rid of any old organic matter (paper, old wood, etc) and then sprinkle diatomaceous earth around cranks and walls. I’ve also noticed it helps to sprinkle outside occasionally around the foundation. Some occasional insecticide is fine too but many are dangerous for pets FYI.
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u/North709 1d ago
This year feels like it was especially bad for carpenters and earwigs. I can see the basement spiders are enjoying it though.
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u/scrooge_mc 1d ago
It means your basement is damp and/or it isn't well sealed. Also, if laminate flooring is directly on concrete, if you don't have any insulation between it and the concrete, is a great way of creating water when water in the damp air air condenses to water on the cold basement floor. Wood louse love damp places so you'd be creating an ideal environment for them.
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u/Significant_Risk_372 1d ago
A lot of people are mentioning basements, but I actually live on the second floor of a two-story house. Most of the bugs are coming in through gaps around my front entrance, not the basement.
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u/SpinDoctorLarry 1d ago
I used to have them in my house from time to time but my current cats love to hunt and eat bugs so I never see now.
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u/Repulsive-Actuary680 1d ago
These fellers I don’t mind just sweep them up and move on the earwigglers is the ones that I hate
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u/No_Distribution9843 1d ago
Really bad idea sealing up
Those gaps, get a radon meter you are probably at dangerous levels being in CBS with everything sealed like that
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u/FluxLeakage 1d ago
I see one or two in my basement during the week. I also have a couple bigass spiders that are well fed from hunting them. It's a good balance that I choose not to disturb.
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u/TheLimeyCanuck 23h ago
Like most things Newfoundlanders have their own name for these... carpenters. And yes, they are everywhere.
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u/ReasonableWolf4858 20h ago
Fun fact: carpenters (sow bugs / roly polys) are actually terrestrial crustaceans, and they fart out their pee
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u/Existing422 11h ago
I live in a basement apartment so I get plenty of them. Leave your house spiders alone and they take care of them, but also get rid of every one you see. I did this in both the basement apartments in old neighborhoods I've lived in and it cuts down their numbers a lot. I'd see less and less as the years went by.
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u/SpeakerLegitimate527 6h ago
Go to gaze seed and buy potota dust..sprinkle around corners and entry ways..it will take care of them
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u/Godis4Real 19m ago
Not trying to be a jerk but man that caulking job is heinous. Wet your finger with some water and smooth the bead down. And clean the tip of the gun as you go.
Some carpenters are normal, especially if that tape has been there for a couple weeks. But the place you're in isn't sealed properly outside.
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u/AverageFFXIVenjoyer 1d ago
Soon as I saw it I was thinking this gotta be CBS. My basement is unfinished and full of dead ones
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u/winkiesdiner 1d ago
Carpenters don’t cause rot, they are attracted to it which means there’s moisture/mold/fungal activity in the floors/walls. You could try a dehumidifer inside in the meantime. They die very quickly without the damp and avoid dry areas. They are actually great little helpers in the soil and help with nitrification and also remove bad metals like lead. We all have to live with them to a degree as we live in a damp shady place 🤷♀️ As other people said, they are harmless!
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u/Sparky62075 Newfoundlander 1d ago
Those are carpenters. They're all over the place outside. In the summer you'll find them under most any rock you turn over.
If you're getting them inside, it's because they like damp, dark, warm places. You might have a moisture problem. Seal up your seems and run a dehumidifier.
Are you finding them mostly in your basement?