Portuguese Millipedes

[rogerg]

Gez I hate these things.

Anyone else have bad experiences with these pests?

Last year they were bad, this year they're worse. I swept up 8 dust-pan full's of them yesterday from just 2 sides of our house, and took quite a few dead & live ones out of my observatory.

The house has a barrier of residual pesticide around it to kill them so they don't enter the house, the observatory is more tricky, as it would just get washed off by rain. Not quite sure what I'm going to do to stop them being a problem in the observatory.

I don't like using the pesticide but it does stop them getting inside. Especially don't want to use it in the observatory where there are friendly gekko's living.

They say (CSIRO & AGWA fact sheets) there's no known impact to the native critters... but there's got to be with so many of the millipedes eating everything within reach. It's just amazing how many there are.

Roger.

[acropolite]

Yep, they seem to be getting worse every year, even in Tassie. I didn't realise that was what they were.

[mickoking]

There are heaps of these millipedes where I work and live, but I am not particuly botherd by them. Thanks roger,now I know what they are.

[slice of heaven]

Aren't they horrors !!!
They are not so bad here but in the Adelaide hills their in plague proportions. I suffered 2 years living up there with the pests. Outside lights are a no-no, they come from everywhere chasing the light.
Primary Industries had various trials on combatting them at Bridgewater where I was.
They distributed containers of nematodes that had a very good effect on the millipedes. It didn't wipe out the millipedes but drastically reduced the numbers to a bearable level.
Other gadgets that I can remember
Light traps...A simple light over a container
Barriers...Various, some worked...
Electric strip... 2 metal strips with a low voltage current..Good for around doorways.

Maybe you can adapt one of those ideas to your observatory.

[Jonathan]

Yes, they're certainly a pest in the Adelaide Hills. I heard that last week they had to use buses in the hills to replace the train service because the little buggers were on the rails and the trains couldn't get any traction. I'm glad we don't get many (if any) here closer to the city.

[asimov]

Yeah, we have a "few" over our way west of Adelaide too. Were getting less than normal, but there bigger.

[iceman]

Show me a picture of them? Just want to see if they're like the ones we get at home.

[Vermin]

http://www.ento.csiro.au/aicn/name_c/a_3267.htm

[rogerg]

Hey everyone.. . didn't get back to this thread last night...

I heard they started in Adelaide and are worst in the hills there. I live in the hills here in Perth, that's where they're worst here too.

The nematode option sounds great, wish they'd distribute the nematodes more.

We collected 3 litres of them from just our side patio and front door area last night. Numbers had reduced from the previous night.

As an astronomer what I'm usually anoyed at street lights, but livinig with these things, I'm even more anoyed about street lights. In the hills here there's all they could ever want: Street lights, leech drains, plenty of bush with organic material to much on .. etc. The front of our house is always worse for them than the back, purely because of the street light.

Anoying critters.

Electricution.. that's one I hadn't thought of, interesting!

Roger.

[cjmarsh81]

Hi guys. I stayed with my brother a few weeks back in Sydney and we found a large infestation of these things in the neighbours yard. There were thousands of them. We dug them out, poured petrol on them and had a bit of a bonfire. Believe it or not, it did not kill them! We had to squash every last one of them. By the way, don't burn them. We were itchy for a week, these little things are rather nasty when burnt.

[cjmarsh81]

Actually, looking at that picture again I am not sure they were the same millpedes. The ones we had were furry.

[slice of heaven]

I've found a fact sheet from PIRSA that might help.
The ideas shown for physical deterants might be usable

http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/pages/agriculture/agfactsheets/pastures/milipede.pdf

[rogerg]

I've received a reply to an enquiry of mine with Ag. WA, suggesting that the native nematode Rhabditis necromena is present in the Perth area and apparently it takes a couple of years to take effect. The say that after those couple of years a more normal balance in numbers should be returned and maintained.

I guess I'll have to wait another year at least to see if that is the case. I'm surprised however if that's the case then in the Adelaide hills I would have expected that balance to occur years before here. I suppose there will always be local troughs and peaks in the population.

Not holding high hopes.

Roger.

[ving]

er... i've had a few.
do they actually do anything except craw around?

[rogerg]

They live on organic material, so if you have a vege garden you'll lose some vege's, and your general plants might get affected but unlikely. There' a bit of a problem for crops.

The main problem for me is inconvenience - I like having a clean house inside & out ... if you walk across our patio right now you'd squash about 50 in a single pass of 5m, leaving a mess & stench (they stink when squashed). Not good especially when I normally walk bare foot out to my observatory to do astronomy.

A few wouldn't be a problem, it's when they're covering the ground enough that you can't avoid them it's a problem. I should take a photo sometime and post it, maybe tonight.

Roger.

[beren]

Millipedes......wonder if "Bufo marinus" aka the infamous Qld cane toad would control them :P Looks like there knocking on WAs border. Stepping on a big fat toad on the way to a backyard observatory wouldn't be to pleasant :sadeyes:

[rogerg]

Argh! yes that would be a real problem!

As promised, some attached image. It wan't such a bad night last night, this is fairly light coverage.

Roger.

[ving]

crickey! i have never see so many of them in one place!!!!

[Lester]

yeah gottem here on Eyre Peninsula too; they enter the house and take over like they own the place. They don't pay rent or nothing. Worst is when you go to the loo at night bare foot and step on em. YUCK!

[cjmarsh81]

Looks like you need a floating grate on your patio. The bugs can fall in and you can walk over the top.

[danielsun]

We get a few here in Melb but not at plague proportions, just a few here and there. So far anyway.