What's The Difference Between A Pill Bug And A Mealie Bug?

[jimscott]

...and will Neem Oil get rid of them?

 

[elgecko]

Why would you want to do that?
I think they eat dead and decaying plant material, so they help clean things up.

 

[scottychaos]

Pill bug:

Mealy bug:

Pill bugs are not harmful..they only feed on decayed plant matter..
I have never, ever, seen them in or on a CP pot..only living under them!
they like to live underneath things..I have never seen them actually crawling up on a plant..
only on the ground..lift up a dead log, or a pot that has been sitting on or near the ground, and you will probably find them..
I have always considered them completely harmless..

Mealy bugs on the other hand, feed ON plants, and should be gotten rid of..

Scot

 

[larry]

And a pillbug is a crustacean.

 

[hcarlton]

Pillbugs (also knwn as woodlice or rolly-pollies) will occasionally go after plant roots in addition to dead matter. However, they're not in any way harmful to CP's

 

[kulamauiman]

close inspection of the pillbugs you will see 2 pairs on antenna. Only one on the mealybugs, but hard to see on the mealybugs unless you are looking at the immature stages. As they mature the seem to lose most of their appendages.... Unless it is a male mealybug and then they look just plain weird...... actually have wings and can fly. like a tiny pink gnat.......

MTF

 

[jimscott]

What I have looks like pill bugs. They leavea trail of white flakes and the sundews die. So that's confusing.

 

[kulamauiman]

white flakes sounds more like the wax secretions that mealybugs make. capture one place into alcohol and see if all the "armor plates" dissolve. If they do they are mealybugs. the waxy secretions they make for that gives them their typical appearance are just that wax. they loose their appearance after being put into a vial of alcohol.....

 

[Wire Man]

My purps have been catching a ton of pillbugs, and it stinks. Mealybugs are destructive, and hard to get rid of.

 

[Not a Number]

There's a matter of size too. The body of female mealybugs, excluding "whiskers" or "tails" will be around 1/8 of an inch. Pill bugs are in the 1/2 inch range. I suppose younger pill bugs will moult their exo-skeletons but these will not dissolve in alcohol.

 

[jimscott]

I'll have to capture one and post a picture.

 

[tommyr]

Mealies are a ***** to get rid of. You can use rubbing alcohol and/or Bonide makes a Mealie killer spray too.

 

[jimscott]

 

[Not a Number]

Pill bugs

 

[tommyr]

Pill bugs

Yup, AKA, "Rollie pollie"!

 

[mylesG]

haha awww they cuteee. my VFTs munch mainly on pill bugs

 

[swords]

I had a colony of orange Isopods (pillbugs) as my vivarium janitors but my vampire crabs also thought they made great snacks... now I have no isopods!

 

[jimscott]

They're ruining my Marston Dragons!

 

[Not a Number]

Remove manually as many as you can find. Clean up any debris, dead matter etc. Diatomaceous Earth or pyrethrim are recommended controls.

 

[mylesG]

how do pillbugs destroy a monster drosera?