Did a search on "pill bug control" & checked out "pestcontrolcanada.com".
They recommend diatomaceous earth to keep pill bugs from eating new plant growth. Don't know if it would help in your bin.
They also say that cantaloupe placed upside-down will attract them & then you throw the melon away. I'd just scrape them into a container for disposal & reuse the melon.
I do about the same thing when my mite population gets out of control.
Hope this helps

bruce

the only successful method of getting rid of pill bugs is to start over with new everything. You can collect the worms and transfer them by hand. However the pill bugs will return!

Penny

so, stuck with them am I? good for the bin are they? HMMM? keep it or I will help you not? they just don't have the personality of the worms. my daughter seems to like them tho.
thanks,
John

When I was 8 I had a pill bug farm. And I have read in UCCE publications that their poop is just as good as the worms.

Penny

Do not use diatomaceous earth in a worm bin as it will kill all the worms. Yes, it's true, sow bugs do make great contributions to compost.
jt

If you want to keep some of the other creatures from invading your worm bin, put legs on your worm bin. Put each leg of the worm bin into a can/small bucket of water. Anything from a tuna can to larger sizes will usually work. If you put wooden legs, you may have to replace them occasioinally. An alternative liquid might be some sort of oil, but I've never tried that.

Diatomaceous earth is basically the glass skeletons of tiny microscopic creatures. The microscopic particles of glass in it irritates and cuts other creatures but is too small to cut human skin. It will discourage snails, slugs, worms, etc. if placed on the ground or scratched into the top few inches of soil. Swimming pool filters sometimes use it for filtering media. If you want it outside of your worm bin for some reason, you can probably get a better price on larger quantities at a pool supply than at a garden center.

i thought de doesn't hurt worms........?

Just bumping this up to add a plea - any other information here? I don't mind pill bugs in general. They are good for the bin, they don't squick me out when I open the bin or anything. But I have THOUSANDS of them. THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS. And they don't stay IN the bin. My bin is in a guest room closet. For the last few months everytime I go into the room for something there are a few hundred dead pill bugs all over the floor of the entire room. Yuck!

My boyfriend is moving in here with me in a week. I have got to get the damn bug population down, or the worms are going to get banashed outside and they will never live through a South Florida summer.

Can anyone assist? More water? Less water? More acid? Less acid? Anything to just get the population down to managable numbers?

Help?

--Lisa

yes, drier will help, especially on the surface, also don't leave wet chunky organic material at the top to provide an ideal 'nesting' space for the pills - might try covering the surface of the bedding with fly screen to keep them in and out so that eventually they diasppear - and be careful about the material you put in the bin that may be importing them, like leaves and other plant trash from outdoors

Bill

Thanks, Bill. In desperation, I redid the bin this weekend, and of course topped it off with big chunks of banana leaves. I will add another layer of plain unshredded newspaper on top tomorrow. I have the lid off at the moment since I distrubed everyone, so the top should be drier.

I very much appreciate the response!

--Lisa

lisa Im wondering how they got in there since it's an indoor bin. did you use compost or soil in there at some stage?

I think starting over is the best way to go about it and keeping them out of the worm bin to begin with so they dont get a foothold. I get loads of them in my garden soil from adding compost but I also have an outdoor worm bin on legs and I dont get them in there, I guess theyve just never figured out how to get in :)

TG

A shallow saucer of beer, just like that used to catch slugs, covered with something to let in the bugs, but keep out the light, is another great way to get rid of the pill bugs. I know your frustration with these bugs. In an indoor bin, they are most unwelcome, and can spread all over the house.
Renais

I just got home from being out of town for two weeks, and the redoing the bin seems to have done the trick. I still have pills, but not massive amounts of them. I have been keeping the bin drier, which is probably helpful as well.

Hi lisak:

I am a south Florida native, and I can tell you that earthworms do just fine and dandy outside in the SHADE in south Florida summers. Just place the bin in a position where it is shaded, especially from 10 am to 4 or 5 pm. Full shade is even better. I put mine under tree and bush canopy, and have had glorious worms for years. We have a native earthworm population here. If they can get into the bin from the bottom, they will. My bin is made from cinder blocks and is completely open on the bottom - no bottom to it at all. I never added worms or eggs. Just waited for the natives.

Lisa said: "My boyfriend is moving in here with me in a week. I have got to get the damn bug population down, or the worms are going to get banashed outside and they will never live through a South Florida summer."

Vacuum up them bugs every day. Get him to do it for you...that could put a little test into the relationship...you know, bond it. It's only February now. The bugs, or the boyfriend, should be taken care of by summer.

"I am a south Florida native, and I can tell you that earthworms do just fine and dandy outside in the SHADE in south Florida summers."

oh I agree! I didnt even look where you were located but if you dont get freezing temps the worm bin will be fine outside under a tree. my temps get down to and just below 0C (32F or lower) and the worms are fine outside. they slow down a bit over winter but it doesnt kill them or hurt them. We do get hot summers (over 100F at times) very dry and still, and under the shade of a tree where I keep my worm bin they cope just fine as long as they are kept moist enough, so maybe you could move them outside as avalon suggested and keep the b/f happy at the same time :)