Roly Pollies and Miss Slug

Call them what you want: pill bugs, roly pollies, sowbugs, woodlice, or whatever. Around my house, they are called roly pollies. Sometimes you might even hear me call them pill bugs.

Pill bugs are grey little critters that live under my flower pots. Sometimes you can see them walking around in the grass. These little creatures are the only land living crustaceans. They are cousins to lobsters, crabs, and shrimp.

Why am I giving you a quick education on pill bugs? Why, you know me. I'm going somewhere with this information....

Roly Poly hunting is serious business....
(It requires great patience and magnificent powers of observation)

You see, there is this little girl at my house that is obsessed with catching pill bugs. After all, they don't bite and they roll up into awesome, little balls. (I think they resemble little armadillos- but that's beside the point.)



After a quick, few minutes of pill bug wrastlin', this is the result- two- count them- two pill bugs. They are there in the picture- you just have to look really hard. (The roly poly catcher thought they they might like to eat grass and clover)


This little guy is playing dead. Really, he is. He is just kind of lying there with his legs up in the air and half rolled up. (Don't worry- he soon rolled over and took off after this photo was snapped...)

The roly poly fasination went on all afternoon with the little girl at my house. She even became quite concerned for the little guys when a thunderstorm rolled on through.

However, the fascination with roly pollies was quickly overshadowed with a new obsession: slug holding.

This is Miss slug. She was found under the same flower pot as the two roly pollies. I'm so proud of my little one to have such a fascination for the creatures in the world around her. But.....later that day I had a run in with Miss slug- that, let's just say, wasn't pleasant for me. But, that's a story for another day.....