Porteguese Millipedes in Barossa Valley
 

I've been meaning to post this for a while. In November 2006, we spent our honeymoon in Australia. We were very excited about staying at a b&b in the Barossa Valley near a winery. Our b&b was in an old 1800's building that was overwhelmingly infiltrated by Porteguese millipedes. We woke up and found them everywhere. The Barossa area had a recent rain after quite a long drought, and that tends to bring them out. We ended up spending the night in the car and checked out the next morning and booked into a hotel in more urban location the next day. If you doubt me, I can send you pictures! We loved the Barossa and all its wineries, and only post this as a warning to others.

Why on earth would you post this nearly 2 years after the event. I stayed in the Barossa several weeks ago and did not see one millipede. I live in the Adelaide Hills and see them very rarely at the moment. Like most creatures,ants,wasps etc millipedes come and go depending on the climate. They are completely harmless. To imply that the Barossa is covered with millipedes is absolutely ridiculous.

I'm struggling to find your purpose/point in posting this too, due_pesci.

Were the millipedes in/on your bedding?

If not, why on earth did you not simply get a broom and sweep them out? They were, after all, hardly venomous snakes or man eating crocodiles.

For a while in the mid-70s we lived in an old house in Bridgewater, which I think was the millipede capital of the Adelaide Hills at the time. They were a fact of life that you just learned to deal with -annoying but harmless, non-Portuguese speaking little buggers and hardly a big enough threat to send us fleeing into the night.

I too am puzzled by this odd, belated post, which as we haven't been favoured with the location of the B&B in question has rather limited value as a warning. Warning to do what, anyway? Avoid the Barossa?

I can handle a few creepy crawlies but wouldn't want to be inundated. Was it that bad?

But what I'm really interested in is their "Portuguese-ness". Are they really big or really tiny? Or somewhere in between? Are they natives? If yes, why Portuguese?

But I realise I may have misread and it may not be "Portuguese" at all. Apologies.

afterall, if you Google "portuguese millipede" you'll find a CSIRO fact sheet. They're imports and were first seen in Port Lincoln SA in 1953. They can indeed be a significant nuisance.

I've lived in the Adelaide Hills most of my life. As a kid in the 80s I remember being somewhat inundated with the little blighters. Dad used to walk around inside the house daily, scooping them up and flushing them down the toilet. They didn't always flush down!

The problem doesn't seem as bad these days as back then, but if I turn around I can count at least 3 currently in my study. However, they haven't bitten me yet! I agree they are nuisance value only.

Can't see the point of pesky's post, quite frankly.

We woke up with them crawling on us. I understand they are harmless, but would you like these things crawling on you?
Our room was not equipped with a broom to push them out. Not only were they in the bedding but there were at least 50 in the shower.
When we moved to a hotel, there wasn't one in sight. The B&B owners were very nice about it and understood.
We account the circumstance to being in an older building and the recent rain when there wasn't rain in some time.
I only wanted others to know.

See what happens when we don't have a Department of Homeland Security - these pesky foreign millipedes get in.

What'll be next - I wonder?

So that is what those little pests are? Had a few in my house this past summer but I believe you can get the pest people in to spray the outside areas of the house and they will not come close.
Anyway I think we should send Portugal some of our Cane Toads as a token of thanks for their Millipedes.