Land-living crustaceans with flat, segmented bodies and seven pairs of legs. They breathe through gill-like or lung-like pleopods and need damp places, under logs and stones. Some roll into a ball for defence. They are neither lice nor insects.
Quick answers
What is it?Crustacean
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Usually nocturnal, feeding mostly on dead plant matter.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?Sometimes
Woodlice are popular terrarium pets because of their varied colours and textures and how easy they are to care for.
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inWorldwide
HabitatForest, Towns
ColoursGrey, Brown
SizeTiny
Legs14
Covered inExoskeleton
Lives incolonies
Lives for2–3 years
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- All kinds of habitats worldwide except the polar regions and very high altitudes.
- What it eats
- Dead plant matter, especially partly decayed leaves; they also eat their own droppings for extra nutrients.
Did you know
A crustacean living on land, more closely related to a crab than to any insect.
Females carry their eggs in a brood pouch under the body, so the young appear to be born.
One desert species lives in “the driest habitat conquered by any species of crustacean”.
Often confused with
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