Hillman man’s millipede hell

A Hillman resident has told of his hell after an invasion of ‘‘millions’’ of Portuguese millipedes at his home.

Picture: Mark Anscombe with some of the Portuguese millipedes that have invaded his home.

Mark Anscombe has said he was living a constant nightmare with the pests at his Calume Street property.

He said they had filled his outdoor swimming pool, turning it green, left a foul odour in his home and were a nuisance day and night.

‘‘They come in the house, they crawl up the walls and across the ceiling and fall on me in the middle of the night,’’ he said.

Portuguese millipedes come from south-west Europe and were first recorded in WA around Roleystone in 1986.

The millipedes normally live outdoors where they feed on leaf litter, damp and decaying wood, fungus and vegetable matter.

They are attracted to light and often seek refuge in homes.

Mr Anscombe said he was at his wits’ end and had tried to eradicate the millipedes, with some unconventional methods.

‘‘I spray with insecticides every day but it seems they have become immune to it,’’ he said.

‘‘I have even tried pouring engine oil around my back fence but they find another way in.’’

Mr Anscombe said the problem started nine years ago when City of Rockingham workers cut down a diseased tuart tree on vacant bushland behind his property.

He said workers had agreed to pick up the logs but never did — and eight years later they returned to cut grass on the vacant land and split a log, releasing masses of millipedes.

Mr Anscombe said he had to grow the grass in his backyard long to help distract the millipedes from the lights inside his home.

‘‘I have tried to make traps and tried putting plastic along the edge of the grass, nothing works,’’ he said.

A City of Rockingham spokeswoman said the council did not own the vacant block and was therefore not responsible.