How to Get Rid of Pill Bugs? | Stop the Invasion

Pill bugs disappear when you remove the damp places and decaying matter they feed on, then seal the gaps they use to get inside.

For the full breakdown, see our best Pill Bug Insecticide guide.

Pill bugs aren’t harmful — they don’t bite, sting, or damage structures. But when dozens of them creep across your basement floor or munch on tender seedlings, they’re a nuisance worth stopping. The good news: you don’t need a chemical arsenal. The bad news: they’ll keep coming back until you fix the conditions that attract them. That’s the real fight, and this guide walks through it in the order that works.

What Attracts Pill Bugs To Your Home?

Pill bugs (often called roly-polies) need two things to survive: moisture and decaying organic matter. They breathe through gill-like structures that must stay damp, which is why they cluster in wet soil, under rotting leaves, and beneath stones or boards. When your foundation area offers those conditions, they multiply outside — then wander indoors through cracks and gaps.

If you’re finding them inside, it’s almost always an exterior moisture problem, not an indoor infestation. The creatures that enter your home are usually lost, not colonizing. Fix the source outside, and the indoor traffic stops on its own.

Remove Moisture and Their Hiding Spots

Start with the conditions that sustain them, since this single step does more than any other. Walk your home’s perimeter and look for standing water, soggy soil, or humid crawl spaces. Repair leaking faucets, pipes, and A/C units, improve drainage away from the foundation, and ventilate basements and crawl spaces with a dehumidifier if needed.

Then strip away their food and shelter. Remove leaf litter, grass clippings, and heavy mulch piled near the foundation. Clear away boards, stones, boxes, and stacks of wet firewood. Keep mulch shallow and pull it back from plant stems, and raise ripening fruit or seedlings off the soil so pill bugs can’t reach them. For young plants, collars or raised beds offer solid protection.

Once the yard is dry and barren near the house, seal the paths they use to get inside. Caulk cracks in the foundation, weatherstrip doors and windows, and install door sweeps on basement entryways.

How To Remove Pill Bugs Already Inside

For the ones that have already wandered in, skip the sprays. Pest-control professionals consistently recommend vacuuming as the standard removal method. It’s fast, clean, and removes the bugs without leaving residue. Empty the canister or bag right after, since captured pill bugs can survive a while in there.

Traps work well for persistent hot spots. The most effective use what they already love:

• Potato or citrus traps: place halved potatoes or citrus rinds cut-side down on damp soil, check daily, and discard captured bugs.
• Beer traps: sink a shallow container into the soil with the rim at ground level and fill it with beer; they crawl in and drown.
• Newspaper or board traps: lay damp rolled newspaper or flat boards on the ground overnight, then collect and dispose of the bugs gathered underneath.

These traps knock down local numbers but aren’t a permanent fix — they treat the symptom, not the moisture problem that brought the bugs.

When Should You Use A Pesticide?

Pesticides belong in this fight only in specific situations. Extension guidance recommends them when pill bugs are causing severe feeding damage to young seedlings or ripening fruit — not when you spot a few under a board. For targeted treatment, diatomaceous earth works well as a non-chemical dust in dry areas. Apply it thinly where you’ve seen activity, and wear a mask so you don’t inhale the fine particles.

Slug and snail baits also offer some control around garden beds, since they attract the same pests. Whatever you choose, follow the label instructions exactly. Note that dust-based products lose effectiveness in wet conditions — reapply after rain or watering. If you’ve corrected the moisture, cleaned up the yard, and sealed the gaps, but pill bugs still overrun your garden, call a licensed pest control professional.