Pill Bugs Behavior

INTRODUCTION Pill bugs are most typically found in an outside environment and studies suggest that they prefer to live in a certain environment. This certain environment is moist, and in order to remain most it is most likely dark and cool as oppose to dry and hot. That is why most often when you turn over a large rock that hasn't been disturbed in a while you will find pill bugs making shelter underneath of it. When pill bugs cannot have a habitat that provides them with enough moisture they tend to group together to prevent further moister loss to the environment. In our laboratory setting we were attempting to determine just how often the pill bugs would chose the moist setting over the dry one, and if they did settle in the dry setting would they group together to prevent moisture loss. A simple experiment, as it is only testing really one of the three previously stated habitat expectations of the pill bug. Our hypothesis was if presented with a choice between a wet environment and a dry environment, then the pill bugs would consistently choose the wet environment. The pill bugs used in this experiment were all acquired from the same source, a habitat consisting of soil, paper towels for shelter and water. The experiment will require the use of two, five chamber arenas as well as two, two chamber arenas. It will also require a pill bug sample of at least twenty specimens, and a supply of filter paper to use as the moist and dry bedding for the pill bugs in the arenas. In similar animal behavior experiments more than one element are tested, as in (2008, 09). Pill Bug Lab. StudyMode.com. Retrieved 09, 2008 they tested the pill bugs movements

METHOD
The experiment was to test which the pill bugs preferred, a moist surface or a dry surface. We took twenty random pill bugs and divided them into individual groups of five. We then placed the four groups into isolated bare arena compartments and they were left to acclimate to the environment for ten