Swift woodlouse
The swift woodlouse is a big woodlouse with a smooth, shiny back. As its name says, it can run off really fast when something bothers it. It is one of the biggest woodlice, up to 2 centimetres long.
How big is it?
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How fast is it?
Fun facts
The mother carries her eggs and babies in a pouch full of liquid under her body, a bit like a kangaroo.
To escape, it runs in zigzags, left, right, left, to confuse whoever is chasing it.
People keep it as a pet in terrariums, and there are many colour types.
It probably first came from North Africa, but it was already in Britain about 800 years ago.
Birds, lizards and small mammals love to eat it.
Most asked questions about Swift woodlouse
?Are woodlice insects?
No. Woodlice are crustaceans, related to crabs and shrimps. They have 14 legs, not 6.
?What does the swift woodlouse eat?
Dead plants, rotting wood, moss and droppings.
?Can you keep a swift woodlouse as a pet?
Yes. It is easy to keep in a damp terrarium with leaves and bark.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Porcellio laevis
- Group
- Woodlice
- Family
- Porcellionidae
- Classification
- Malacostraca > Isopoda > Porcellionidae
- Lives on
- Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Smooth slater
Where the facts come from
- Porcellio laevis (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Pudding4brains. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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