Pill bugs are isopods, the little armored crustaceans that keepers everywhere have fallen for. They are cousins of shrimp and crabs, and part of the only branch of that seagoing family that moved onto dry land for good. You do not need to buy them. Ten to twenty are waiting under the nearest board, and a shoebox-size tub, a handful of dead leaves, and ten minutes will give you a colony that mostly takes care of itself.

This care sheet is the short version of Life of the Pill Bug: A Keeper's Guide for Classrooms, Homeschoolers, and Curious Minds, by Carol Wynn Maier, founder of the original BUG ZOO® in 1997, with a B.Sc. from the University of Guelph.