How many isodods for vivarium?

[Rhysingstar]

I have a 55 gallon enclosure with 10 inches (deep) of substrate. The substrate is a mixture of top soil, some potting soil, some sand, sphagnum moss and rocks rounding out the mix.

Quite a few deep rooted plants are in the enclosure, so I am thinking that I need more insects that can burrow to keep everything going.

I currently have a dozen red worms, half a dozen millipedes, twenty isopods. With so much soil, I'm thinking that more isopods might be needed, but I don't want to overstock (if that is even possible).

Or maybe I should be looking for something other than isopods????

I know that spring-tails are needed, and as much as I want to get them locally, I may have to break down and just order them online.

 

[StampFan]

Different isopods have preference for different foods and gravitate to different levels of humidity as well. Also, some burrow. I vote different species of isopods.

 

[Rhysingstar]

Different isopods have preference for different foods and gravitate to different levels of humidity as well. Also, some burrow. I vote different species of isopods.

I may very well have more than one species now. I did not run all my finds by the local (almost) entomologist so I have no idea if mine are all the same or not. I just learned that isopods come in colors other than grey the other day when I stumbled across one.

I get all my insects from the same location (park/garden) with the help of the staff and volunteers who work there. They have truly been amazing at getting me started and answering most of my questions. I try to collect on the days that the entomology student is volunteering, but that doesn't work out, so I end up with some specimens that are "guessed" at.

The nice part of collecting there is that my substrate and plants came from there, along with all the misc things like bark and leaves that I throw in. I'm trying to replicate the park/garden environment the best that I can within my limitations. The staff gave me a watering schedule, humidity levels, temp range, etc to kind of get me started but every day I come up with new questions as I observe things happening in the enclosure.

Today I added a small pinch of broken up egg shells and a few of the isopods found it very quickly. I'm going to try a slice of potato in a few days to see if they like that.

I've been trying to read through as many threads here on the forum as I can so I don't make too many mistakes

 

[StampFan]

I may very well have more than one species now. I did not run all my finds by the local (almost) entomologist so I have no idea if mine are all the same or not. I just learned that isopods come in colors other than grey the other day when I stumbled across one.

I get all my insects from the same location (park/garden) with the help of the staff and volunteers who work there. They have truly been amazing at getting me started and answering most of my questions. I try to collect on the days that the entomology student is volunteering, but that doesn't work out, so I end up with some specimens that are "guessed" at.

The nice part of collecting there is that my substrate and plants came from there, along with all the misc things like bark and leaves that I throw in. I'm trying to replicate the park/garden environment the best that I can within my limitations. The staff gave me a watering schedule, humidity levels, temp range, etc to kind of get me started but every day I come up with new questions as I observe things happening in the enclosure.

Today I added a small pinch of broken up egg shells and a few of the isopods found it very quickly. I'm going to try a slice of potato in a few days to see if they like that.

I've been trying to read through as many threads here on the forum as I can so I don't make too many mistakes

Every species is different, but most of mine go nuts for sweet potato or the occasional sweet fruit. You can also feed things like fish flakes, or buy commercial isopod foods as well.