Hi all. First post. I've owned a male Shetland Sheepdog (named Fasb) for nine years now, and he's easily the most spoiled member of our family. Great breed.
We have a little issue that I'm wondering if anyone else has, and how they've handled it. We're had a very dry spring/summer here in my part of the country, and - for the first time in the 20+ years I've lived in this house - we have millipedes invading on our ground floor. Basically, due to the dry conditions, they're migrating out of the trees to search for food.
I've talked to both my vet and the local (agricultural) extension office. What I know so far is that millipedes are basically harmless. They don't bite or sting, they don't carry disease. They probably aren't going to harm Fasb if he ingests one, etc.
Has anyone else had experience with these critters? How did you handle it with a dog in the house? We let Fasb have the run of the house. 10 months out of the year, he sleeps with us. In July and August, he prefers to sleep downstairs where it is cooler. Millipedes are mostly nocturnal. They come to the house at night and get in through cracks in the foundation, under the doors, etc. We don't seem to have a severe problem. I know of people who get hundreds in their house every morning. We rarely see more than 20 or so at a time, spread out over two rooms and a foyer. Basically, we find and kill a few dozen after dark and before 10 am, then see a few here and there the rest of the day, then see them in little larger numbers after dark. A few mornings, we have woken up to hundreds.
I want to make sure Fasb is safe around these critters. I also don't want to curtail his routine if I can avoid it. I've been told by both the extension service and the vet that he can probably continue his normal pattern and sleep downstairs if he wants. Fasb pays no attention to them, so it doesn't seem like he'll try to eat them. Fasb sleeps on the ground floor during the day. During the day, the millipedes seem to give him a wide berth and he ignores them. At night, I have found a couple climbing through his fur while he laid on the carpet (fur, not skin. The vet told me he can just harmlessly shake them off).
I don't really like the idea of bugs crawling on him while we sleep, so I'm debating if I need to confine him somewhere if it's too stuffy upstairs to sleep with us. Our house is laid out such that it's hard to block off the ground floor without confining him to the basement. We did that nightly when he was a puppy, but he outgrew that years ago and we just started letting him come upstairs with us. We do sometimes confine him to a few rooms of the house when no one is going to be home with him. A couple of nights lately, he's come upstairs with us and I've put a baby gate across a stairwell to basically keep him to the top two levels. Not quite liking that plan either for various reasons.
Just curious if anyone else has this experience and how they handled it/what happened. We've only had the bugs for a week and a half. These are atypical circumstances, but usually, when they invade homes, they only do so for a few weeks then move on. The extension office has told me if we get some rain, the millipedes will resume their normal habits. It rained a decent bit last night, and there's a decent chance of storms this coming week, so I'm hoping this is a short-lived issue.
Thank you.
We have a little issue that I'm wondering if anyone else has, and how they've handled it. We're had a very dry spring/summer here in my part of the country, and - for the first time in the 20+ years I've lived in this house - we have millipedes invading on our ground floor. Basically, due to the dry conditions, they're migrating out of the trees to search for food.
I've talked to both my vet and the local (agricultural) extension office. What I know so far is that millipedes are basically harmless. They don't bite or sting, they don't carry disease. They probably aren't going to harm Fasb if he ingests one, etc.
Has anyone else had experience with these critters? How did you handle it with a dog in the house? We let Fasb have the run of the house. 10 months out of the year, he sleeps with us. In July and August, he prefers to sleep downstairs where it is cooler. Millipedes are mostly nocturnal. They come to the house at night and get in through cracks in the foundation, under the doors, etc. We don't seem to have a severe problem. I know of people who get hundreds in their house every morning. We rarely see more than 20 or so at a time, spread out over two rooms and a foyer. Basically, we find and kill a few dozen after dark and before 10 am, then see a few here and there the rest of the day, then see them in little larger numbers after dark. A few mornings, we have woken up to hundreds.
I want to make sure Fasb is safe around these critters. I also don't want to curtail his routine if I can avoid it. I've been told by both the extension service and the vet that he can probably continue his normal pattern and sleep downstairs if he wants. Fasb pays no attention to them, so it doesn't seem like he'll try to eat them. Fasb sleeps on the ground floor during the day. During the day, the millipedes seem to give him a wide berth and he ignores them. At night, I have found a couple climbing through his fur while he laid on the carpet (fur, not skin. The vet told me he can just harmlessly shake them off).
I don't really like the idea of bugs crawling on him while we sleep, so I'm debating if I need to confine him somewhere if it's too stuffy upstairs to sleep with us. Our house is laid out such that it's hard to block off the ground floor without confining him to the basement. We did that nightly when he was a puppy, but he outgrew that years ago and we just started letting him come upstairs with us. We do sometimes confine him to a few rooms of the house when no one is going to be home with him. A couple of nights lately, he's come upstairs with us and I've put a baby gate across a stairwell to basically keep him to the top two levels. Not quite liking that plan either for various reasons.
Just curious if anyone else has this experience and how they handled it/what happened. We've only had the bugs for a week and a half. These are atypical circumstances, but usually, when they invade homes, they only do so for a few weeks then move on. The extension office has told me if we get some rain, the millipedes will resume their normal habits. It rained a decent bit last night, and there's a decent chance of storms this coming week, so I'm hoping this is a short-lived issue.
Thank you.
