Pill bug invasion of my pool

9 years ago

I have read at least 100 posts about how to deal with Pill Bugs in gardens and everywhere else but I have a different and strange problem. Every night hundreds of pill bugs go and drown themselves in our swimming pool, it is rather disgusting. We have to vacuum the pool daily to clean them out. Any ideas how to keep them out of our pool. There is a cement deck around the pool that is at it's minimum eight feet wide. The deck is kept dry except for periods when we are in the pool or small areas that are hit by the sprinkles in the early morning. Please Help!!

Featured Answer

Kimmsr

9 years ago

Pill Bugs, Sow Bugs, Potato Bugs, Wood Lice, there are so many names for these land dwelling relatives of lobsters that I cannot keep track. The preferred dwelling place of these "Armadillidiidae" is a cool, moist environment such as under stones, rocks, boards, and mulches so if any of those are near (8 feet of concrete is not a problem for them) they will be around in fairly large numbers and in scouting for food (mostly decaying vegetative waste) they could end up in the pool.
The solution is to change the habitat they are found in and not to place materials that will poison them, and other critters as well as potentially humans.

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Comments (8)

morz8 - Washington Coast
9 years ago
I wonder if it would help to alter their habitat, find where they are when not swimming in your pool.

In my former home years ago, I had let a little 1" spreading sedum fill in solidly as ground cover in a perennial/shrub bed. Pill bugs were doing some damage to plants, and after a storm or heavy rain I would find them in my unfinished storage basement. I removed the sedum and problem was solved, it was making the perfect cool dark protected place they loved to live in.

In this house, it seemed like too many for a normal population around my patio and doorway lights at night. When I began working on restoring the landscaping (much of it original to the 1955 house), discovered along the hill in back - thick layers of wet newspaper with deep mulch over so another damp dark hidy abode in this coastal area. I pulled off the mulch and newspaper bending rather than down on my usual all fours, there was literaly many thousands of pill bugs rudely exposed.

Just altering their living quarters solved my issue, but there are pill bug baits on the market you could place away from your pool.
Read the labels and make sure any children or pets would not be exposed to any pesticides that could be harmful to them.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
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lay some boards around the area ... they will tend to congregate under them during the day ... scrap pieces of 2 x 4 .. or even damp newspaper held down with some rocks ....

and find out where the majority are hiding ...

once you find them then you can attack them ... thru a variety of means ...

either with chemicals ... organics... or switching out groundcovers etc ..

they need a place to hide.. they dont lay around in full site.. fat and happy ... so once you find them.. you can react accordingly ...

as with any bugs.. there are years of plague ... and other years not ..... this may never happen again .... dont get carried away ... such as tearing up the whole yard .... not yet anyway ...

ken
Kat Arbacheski
6 years ago
OMG been here 10 years first time ever, it's gross exact as poster 8 foot cement around pool, how are they getting in, no was crawling over cement I cleaned during day was outside turned around and they are back
Bill Poremba
last year
IveI’ve witness witnessed pillbugs flying out of my pump water into the pool. Either theres a cracked pipe or theyve hatched in my filter exchange. Hundreds at the bottom of my pool. To be vaccuumed up to be shot out again like a cannon. I never noticed hundreds of pillbugs crawling on my deck to drown themselves. They would all around the edges instead of bring sprawled thruout the bottom.
Laurie Sullivan
last year
What can be done about this problem??
Brinda Cassidy
8 months ago
Please tell. Anyone come up with solution to pull bugs coming from pipes in pool?
Fori
8 months ago
Explain exactly what's happening, Brinda. They aren't coming in from the pool pipes, but their dead corpses can get stirred around and sucked into the plumbing. Is that what's happening?

How long has this been happening? (Are you new to the home and don't know?) Is there new landscaping or odd weather that might have influenced their habitat?

The advice above about finding their homes and dealing with them there is still good advice, even though previous posters didn't post any followup.

They aren't living in the water--any pillbugs in the pool or pool plumbing are there from bad luck. They can't swim and they don't wanna die. :)

Pill bug invasion of my pool

Kimmsr

Comments (8)

morz8 - Washington Coast

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