The black Portuguese millipede, Ommatoiulus moreleti, is a native of Portugal and was accidentally introduced to Australia, first appearing in South Australia in 1953. They have since invaded all the southern mainland states.
They are attracted to light and will enter buildings at night, although once inside they do not breed and will eventually die.
While there is no evidence they affect human health, they can occur in plague numbers, and can contaminate food and infest carpet and bedding.
Portuguese millipedes are herbivorous, which means in plague proportions they may also destroy seedlings and fruit and vegetable crops.
When disturbed a millipede may release a pungent and distasteful yellowish secretion which discourages predators, such as birds. Note: the secretion may stain skin or clothes and is extremely irritating if rubbed into the eyes. However as it is composed of organic chemicals called quinones, it quickly breaks down in water.
Mature black Portuguese millipedes are smooth and cylindrical, 20-45 mm long and slate-grey to black in colour. Juveniles are light brown and striped. Juveniles hatch from eggs in the soil and reach maturity in two years.
During hot dry weather they will hide in the soil, however rain in spring and particularly in autumn will stimulate activity and breeding.
What can be done?
Lighting
Portuguese millipedes are attracted to light. If you are able to do so, turn off any external lights which are close to your house or other buildings and minimise any escape of light by closing curtains and blinds. Use weather-strips on doors as good door seals will also help prevent entry into the home.
Compost/Mulch
While compost is good for gardens, it also allows higher populations of millipedes to breed. If you can, reduce the area covered by organic matter such as compost, leaf litter and mulch as it decreases a source of food and shelter. Don’t forget your gutters.
Natural predators
While some spiders, beetles and scorpions will eat millipedes, they will not significantly reduce numbers.
Physical barriers
A smooth vertical or rounded barrier can stop millipedes from entering buildings as they are unable to gain a foothold. The barriers can be fixed to walls, below doorsteps, window ledges and vent bricks (make sure you keep them clean and free of vegetation). A barrier must be continuous with no breaks (unless placed under doorways).
Plate glass, 7.5 cm wide and 4.5 mm thick, can also be fitted around the base of a house.
Chemical control
Chemical barriers can be applied to kill the millipedes before they are able to enter your house. Note: Pesticides usually have a limited active life and must be re-applied for ongoing control.
Appropriate chemicals can also be applied to outside walls, paths or garden beds and other areas where millipedes may breed.
Chemicals registered for use against millipedes are available from your local supermarket or hardware store.
Note: Chemicals must always be used in accordance with the instructions on the label.
Light-traps
Method 1 – A simple light trap can be made with a piece of PVC stormwater pipe or a box with holes in it. Place it at ground level near a low voltage garden light or weather-proof fluorescent light to attract the millipedes at night. If you can, place the trap along an outside wall near where the millipedes are entering.
The pipe or floor of the box is then treated with an appropriate insecticide to kill the millipedes after they enter.
Method 2 – A container with smooth and vertical sides i.e. a yoghurt tub is buried flush with the ground away from the house. Place a low voltage garden light or weather-proof light above or as close to the container as possible. As the millipedes are attracted to the light they will fall into the container and not be able to climb out.
Note: You may need to check the traps daily, depending on numbers.
Disclaimer
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Hi from Balchrick, in the Scottish Highlands, where we have the very same millipede problem! Not sure about the attraction to light though…it`s pretty much almost constant daylight here this time of year so they aren`t invading our houses because of light…it`s often lighter outdoors! Every morning, I go out and scrape them off the walls of the house, and must go round every room looking in all corners and cupboards, because the wee beasts invade us daily and in droves. Nobody in Scotland seems to have a solution to the problem though. Interesting reading this article, especially about the chemical methods of control. Will have to look locally online to see if I can find something that can be used here.
Hello Trish,
It seems the Portuguese Millipede has a cousin in Scotland. You could try using a residual surface spray. One’s we have found effective contained cypermethrin, propoxur or permethrin.
A chemical barrier containing cyfluthrin or carbaryl can be applied around the edges of a building. Note: Always follow the manufacturers instructions when using poisons.
A non chemical alternative is to attach a physical barrier such as galvanised iron or glass to the wall as millipedes are unable to climb smooth vertical surfaces.
You could always use a C purlin with a return lip to make a moat. Bury it flush with the ground (keep it free of dirt and debris) and when the millipedes fall in they will die as they can’t climb the overhanging sides.
Hi,
Just wondered if anyone knew of a more natural way to control these pests. I live in Victoria and they are making a meal out of my Veggies. Apart from to have everything raised in the garden which seems to discourage them slightly. I am at a loss.
Would Chickens work?
I am trying to being organic and self sufficient so would rather not introduce chemicals.
Thanks
Hi Jamie,
I believe that chickens may eat the immature millipedes when they scratch around, but are not so keen on eating the adults. This may reduce the numbers. I would suggest trying method two under the light-traps section above.
If anyone has had luck with other organic solutions we would love to hear from you.
I have used ant powder (greys I think) spread around my workshop. It hasn’t got rid of the garden infestation, but it kills them in the thousands in my shop. I sweep up loads of them every day, where I have scatterd the powder.
A few people have mentioned the use of ant powders to create barriers around houses and sheds. There must be an active ingredient that is poisonous to them.
At least you are holding them off from your workshop Baz!
I will def try the yoghurt tub and a light. Im in south western australia, and they are so bad at our house, i vaccum every morning, they stink, and they are everywhere!! i hate them. Yesterday my 8month old son swallowed one, and now i had enough!!
Please post your outcome with the light trap Celeste,
I am intrested in using one around my veggie patches – any plants I put in are instantly devoured over night unless I use chemicals – not very good when trying to be organic!
I’ve discovered they love banana peels, so this makes a good bait.
I drop the banana skins onto my garden ( where they soon shrivel up and compost) but in the meantime the Black Portuguese Millipedes congregate in and around the skins.
In the morning I then spray them with Mortein cockroach surface spray.
I haven’t experimented enough yet to determine for how long the banana skins and Mortein spray combination is effective for.
I live in Perth Australia, our hot climate soon dries up the skins.
We live on acreage near Queanbeyan NSW and are swamped with these revolting millipedes. I am guessing with the ground so sodden and with so much rampant and wet growth that we will have to put up with these things for a long while yet.
Went away for a week and came home to hundreds of writhing millipedes piled in all the corners of the rooms! Spent hours meticulously vacuming them up.I do 3 to 4 sweep ups in the house each day when I can, gathering hundreds. I use surface spray around the windows and doors and in the favourite hiding spots indoors.That does kill most of them eventually but does not stop them entering.
I am going to get some ant sand and try that outdoors to see if that might keep them out.
We are in central Riverland of SA and an infestation has begun (never seen them before now in 13 years, probably due to the extra wet year?). Surface spray works around doorways but for only a few days to a week.
I will be trying the trap idea to lure them away from the house. I note a set of four light traps are available at http://www.millipedecatchers.com/ located in WA for $70.00AU + postage which is tempting.
I am 6km from Hobart, in Mount Nelson, Tasmania surrounded by bushland. Over the past three years the infestation seems to get worse. I have invested in a dedicated hand-held dust-buster that lives on a charger, and I use it about 3 times a day. I suck them up by the hundreds, and then empty the dust-buster into a bucket of hot water – holding my breath to avoid smelling their emitting stench – I then empty the bucket into into my compost bin rendering their curly corpses useful. It may not be the most effective way, but it certainly does not involve any nasty chemicals. For those wanting something a little more stylish (safer?) than a yogurt container, there is also a commercial set of four Millipede Catchers available for $70 – they sell via their website: http://www.millipedecatchers.com
I live in Eden Valley, SA. From March through November I will sweep-up or blow off around 2 kilos (many many thousands) of these things a day from my verandahs. Fortunately they are dead. I’ve been using Bayer Ficam-W for years. It lasts 4 to 6 weeks per application. Costs around $32 for the 20 litres (mixed) I need each time I apply it, but it works. I get a few still inside (maybe 10 a day), but they die within a few metres of the entry point and are manageable.
I have a property in Northern Victoria. Suffering a major plague at the moment. We will walk into the hills and they are everywhere. Hence, you can’t get rid of them. Only help is a physical barrier. Have tried the “millepede tape” but it didn’t work too well. Notice no pedes on the corrugated iron so may have to try that around the house. Also sealing every door and window with silver foil is a good barrier
Although we don’t have a huge infestation I have noticed large numbers in my newly acquired compost bin, which I am now concerned will become a breeding ground for them. Does anyone have any suggestions how I deal with this?
Greg – we are for Red creek, SA. and like most people on this page we have also got this problem – where to you get the Bayer Ficam-w from ??
I am just out of Geelong in Victoria, and they are unbelievable here. I vacuum them up every few hours of a night and first thing in the morning, horrid little critters. I will try the yogurt container. We have 7 chooks and they rarely eat them. Fly spray doesn’t seem to be be effective with them either
We moved late last year to an acre just outside of Bathurst NSW. I have lived in Bathurst my whole life and have never seen them before, I had to do a search just to find out what they were!! We have had a lot of rain over the past few months and our outside walls have been covered in them, then the march starts inside! Yesterday I sprayed the perimiter of the house with mortein barrier spray & this morning they are dead everywhere! Time will tell if this is a successful method. I will also try to turn the outside lights off!
We live at Swansea on the east coast of Tasmania. I have been using Mortein Outdoor Spider or cockroach barrier spray around the base of the exterior walls of the house, the wall/eaves junctions, window/door frames and anywhere a space is present in which the millipedes can enter. Over the 7-8years I have used this method I have had a noticeable reduction in the amount of dead millipedes I collect each morning. The spray lasts about 3-4 months and I spray as soon as the beasties start to become active. The main way they enter my house is by dropping down thru the halogen down lights and the gap in the base of sliding doors. I have a similar problem with slaters.
We were recently invaded by the little beasties and coincidentally had an ant problem at several points around the house. I went to the local hardware store looking for a product which would therefore “kill two pests with the one stone”. The closest I figured I had come to was a Chemspray Ant, Spider & Cockroach Killer. Its main ingredient was Permethrin and it worked a wonder.
I sprayed around our entire house particularly in areas where leaf litter had built up and within minutes the little creatures were writhing in agony. I also sprayed a band around the house about 10cms above ground level, but am not sure if this had any beneficial effect.
A day later we went off on a nine day short holiday. On return we were greeted with a pest free house and piles of dead millipedes around the house. I lied just a bit, we found two inside the house and two on the outside, but that compares with hundreds outside and scores inside prior to spraying.
I suspect that other than having the right product, my spraying procedure was of benefit. I made sure that I moistened all areas which had a mulch type appearance and contained any likelihood of rotting material.
Subsequent to our short holiday we have found no pests inside and only a couple outside. We have had some wet weather which seems to drive their breeding and movement, and no increase in infestation.
Good luck
I live in blakeview South Australia, I am using a product called Coopex sold at Bunnings I spray around the foundation and all the concrete that kills them and stops them climbing the walls but i have to clean up enough dead ones to fill 3 ice cream containers every day. Our house has grass paddocks opposite and the just keep coming in there thousands.
have a rental in South Hobart, and noticed the infestation crawling across carpet and lino. Like you have said they die once inside so have not had to sweep many up but they are in huge numbers outside. The trick of a barrier at doors and windows seems to work here as window frames are metal and I keep them closed in this cols weather and the door draft stoppers seems to work on my entry. have not seen them in such numbers before. They seems to have made a global invasion. Will try pyrethium but I suspect dry conditions inside do not suit them and they die.
To Jill of South Hobart
from Rod Barry.
Just in case you have mis-read my entry,of 11April the main component of the product I used is Permethrin, not Pyrethrum. I believe it is of a similar family, and probably similar,but not that which I used.
If you place a good load of millipedes in the blender with some water and metho (only a little) and blend to a smooth paste you can make boot polish. Some say vegemite is made from millipedes.
We’re in the Adelaide Hills and are tired of these little buggers coming inside. I’ve found that they love eating Baysol Snail & Slug Bait (active ingredient methiocarb). I put a ring of this (1kg box) around the house in the garden (lawn, ivy, mulch, etc). It certainly slows them down by heavily reducing the numbers that make it to the walls of the house.
I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who has tried the Millipede Catcher. I’ve no doubt they are attracted to light and have thought about creating something similar myself. Now that someone has made one I might give it a try.
I have the “millipede catchers”. Although they caught quite a few, it didn’t really make a big dint on the numbers on the walls. A knowledgable builder will millipede proof your house ( windows, doors etc)
I live in the South East of South Australia. We’ve had the millipedes in this district for some years and I believe there is a natural parasite which kills them. I seem to remember that it was used by local councils during one particularly bad period, both here and in the Adelaide Hills. Sorry I can’t provide more information.
On a lighter note, a month or so back I came across some very old bottles of beer and rather than discard it, decided to set some snail traps. Didn’t get many snails but found lots of drowned millipedes. What a stench! Probably of little use in bad infestations but interesting.
We live in McLaren Vale, SA on an acreage and have plague numbers mainly March and October each year,we are talking hundreds of thousands. I have also found the Coopex works the best, spray regularly (4-6 weeks and that stops them climbing walls. Still have to sweep up everyday from verandahs and vacuum some inside, but has made a huge difference. you can’t stop them breeding.
Hi
Could someone ols advise whether ant powder is toxic to vegitables. There are millipedes in my vegetable patch and the only way to kill them is using ant powder.
Perry Moore
Answer to Perry Moore
(Could someone ols advise whether ant powder is toxic to vegitables)
Short answer is yes. Possibly no worse than the sprays for commercially grown veges but one thing I noticed is that if you set a dark coloured container with a 2″ hole at each end and fill with rat bait grain (arsenic) that the milipedes are attracted and will die inside.
I discovered this in setting bait for rats but it now has a double purpose. Hope this helps.
Thanks Martin i live in Western Australia too. Just over the last 6 mths they have got really bad. I am going to try the Banana & Mortein trick and will also try the yoghurt container & light
I live out of Cootamundra NSW. The heavier rains did increase the numbers to alarming proportions. We have purchased the nematode and placed them at the recommended distances from the house. These nematodes can be purchased online. The website is http://www.bugcentral.com.au/products/millipede_control.php
The are not an instant killer and will not completely eliminate the problem. We are hoping they will reduce the numbers significantly, as advised on the web page. We also spray carbaryl on and around the house. We then blow them into the garden the next day. They break down to make a fine addition to the soil.
We use the yoghurt container method and they do fall in the trap!!!!! I have also just put snail pellets in the garden and covering the piles with earthenware pots to keep other creatures at bay. I don’t know how effective this will be as yet.
Check out that website they give good information.
I live in the Perth Hills and this year we have been invaded as never before! We have lived here for 10 years and although other suburbs have reported infestations, we have managed to remain free. They seem attracted to our pool and have a lemming type of behaviour. Of course they die but our pool has millions of them in it. We go around the property every morning and squish them. Numbers seem to be down just by sheer tenacity. We have seen Magpies cleaning them up too. Good luck to those of you who can afford Bananas without a mortgage!
we live near swan hill and have a total invasion spraring metho will kill them but thy still keep coming
Craigmore SA. I was establishing some gardens there recently and found nest of the things under the soil. They are stuck to the wall and eaves outside and everywhere you look they are crawling around. I have just laid 100 metres of roll out turf and am concerned that these things will look at the turf as ‘meals on wheels’ . Does anyone know if they eat lawn roots like black beetles? They do seem to be in plague proportion
Hi Greg,
The millipedes like to live in moist environments provided by decaying matter, compost and mulch as they like to feed on decaying vegetation, fungi and bacteria.
While I have seen them emerge from lawn after the first rains, the lawn was still healthy.
For those using Ant granules try Lawn Beetle Granules instead. It is the same ingredient, stronger and is meant to be washed in, ideal for this time of year (in Perth)Do not use in the veggie patch though.
Hope this helps
My friend has just ordred the Millipedecatcher so will keep you posted
Can anyone please tell me if these bugs lay eggs before they emerge or do they mate and then return to lay their eggs ,because this could be the reason they are so hard to iradicate .
Hi Doreen,
A mature female lays about 200 pinhead sized, yellowish white eggs in a small hole they make in the soil.
I have read with interest everyones comments on eradicating these pasky millipedes. I have used Coopex twice now, about 6 weeks apart and will be doing it again tomorrow, I spray about a meter barrier around my house. I find it kills them and minimises the amount that enter the house. I have also recently treated my lawn for beetles, using the granules, and noticed it also killed a lot of millipedes, so will be repeating it again in a weeks time. They sure are a pain.
I now have a 5lt garden sprayer on at my back door we put two large shots of dish washing liquid in it and fill with water we then spray them this brakes down the water repellent on the body of the millipede and they die we seam to be having some success as they are not as many we are in WA we use trix liquid
Thanks Arthur for that tip, I also live in Perth WA and I have never seen so many millipedes around my home as I have this last week,especially after the humid wet days we have been experiencing. I have used spider killer and that seems to work but does not stop them from breeding. I have put a spider spray barrier around my doors and windows but some still manage to bypass this. Tomorrow I will try your tip Trix and water in a 5 litre spray bottle.
Hi, I live in Attwood in Melbourne and recently used Baysol snail and slug pellets with great results. It kills them in their thousands. I built a light trap which worked very well but I was attracting the pests from neighbors gardens also. Since using the pellets, I am not getting as many in the house. I have vacant land behind me and I put the pellets all along the back fence. Hope this helps
Hi, I live South of Perth & have never seen such an infestation in 22 years. I’ve been advised to use David Grays ant & termite spray (available from hardware stores) & although it hasn’t stopped them completely, it’s slowed them up. The other day however, whilst out at one of our local wineries, the owner has used a powder called ‘Carbryl’ again from Grays. He reckons it’s the only long lasting control. I’ll see!!
thank you Chris for your help and thanks to everyone for their helpful comments I will try some of these ideas, ever hopeful!
Like you I have had problems with millipedes for a couple of years now and find that using a light does attract them but this is what I don’t want. I use a spray called Coopex, this spray is very affective as I use it to spray the garden and pavers around the house as well as the house itself. I hope this is useful to you.
Thanks Frank. Worth trying anything to stop this. We had some heavy rain 8/11/11 & this morning it was an infestation to say the least!!
My sympathies to everyone. I also have this problem. I spray Terminant all over the concrete, the walls all around the doors and windows, and around the base of the house(I have a transportable). This is usually available from Mitre 10. This is also a residual, so they soak it up as they head for the house. I also user Bayer Ant and Wasp dust. They really don’t seem to like that. I sweep them up, put them in a plastic bag and sprinkle dust on them. I also sprinkle the dust on the concrete when they are at their worst. Once they crawl through this they die quite soon. I have tried a version of a light trap, but I need to make a better one. Our town was flooded out last December, so I was hoping they would all drown underground. No such luck
Good luck everyone.
SALT. Buy large quantities of salt and lay it on the ground. This seems to kill the milipedes.