Derivative
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2018
- Messages
- 53
First I want to preface this by saying I am not even close to an expert by any means and that you should take this with 20 grains of salt. My speculation is that Isopods aren't harmless and that under certain circumstances can be dangerous towards tarantulas and that people should be more mindful of isopods populations in their tarantula enclosures.
On Tom Moran's most recent podcast he mentions finding a few of his Tityus Stigmurus scorpion adults dead and being eaten by isopods. He said that he suspects that what may have happened is that the isopod population got out of control and due to there not being enough food for the isopods they resorted to swarming some adult scorpions who were on the ground. He speculates that the reason the baby scorpions weren't eaten is because they live up on the cork bark and not on the ground. It is important to note that this was his speculation he does not know for sure if maybe the scorpions died and than the isopods ate them or if the isopods attacked them. Although he doesnt know what else could have happened to those scorpions. So this may be a possible piece of evidence towards Isopods not being as harmless as previously thought.
Another piece of evidence I found of Isopods not being harmless and even being potentially dangerous is an old thread here on arachnoboards called "anoles under attack" it was posted by the user auroboros. On this thread auroboros says "I just bought a mating pair of brown anoles for a terrarium I already had set up for a while. It had a plant or 2, a few sticks poking out of the ground, a giant land snail and about 100 or so isopods that were originally used to keep the tank clean until there numbers got too high. I introduced the anoles to keep the isopod population down but it seems they wont give up there supremacy without a fight.Despite the lizards gobbling up countless isopods, they made a counter attack upon the alpha male and devoured over an inch from his tail (nothing but bone left) he still has lots of tail left but I really don't like the idea of my lizard being eaten alive. Its a ten gallon fish tank I keep them in, so theres not a lot of space for a fancy set up. Any suggestions on keeping my lizards on top of the food chain instead of a spiraling cycle of Predator vs Pseudo-predator? " Later in the post he says "well, the problem sort of fixed its self. The Isopods only were attacking the male, its been less than a week since I bought them and the male just died today . Im gonna go bring it back to the store and get a new one.
I think the Isopods could sense he was weak and took advantage."I personally think that this could be a case of an overabundance of isopods with not enough food and I cant help but imagine what would have happened had it been a molting tarantula in the cage .
A third piece of evidence I found is a thread titled " MEAT EATING isopods" on the website chameleonforums.com where the user little leaf tested if Isopods would eat animal meat by putting red meat with isopods and observing them eat it. This is not what I consider as evidence though due to the fact that isopods are known to eat dead and decaying organic matter. What I consider evidence in this post is when the user says " because the HOLE in my cham is not pretty". Later on in the thread when asked if maybe the flesh was dead or decaying before the isopod attacked the chameleon the user little leaf responds with "no, he had nothing on him before it bit him- I had to pick the isopod off , and then the mark was there in the am - and grew to the scab -".
It is also important to note that the giant isopods of the oceans are carnivores and that it wouldn't be far fetched for the commonly used isopods to be carnivorous and dangerous towards tarantulas in certain circumstances.
I am not saying to stop using Isopods. What I am saying is to be careful with them and monitor there populations while making sure they have enough food so that they don't revert to swarming and eating your tarantulas. There are many instances of Isopods being extremely helpful at keeping moist enclosures mold free and healthy. It is only when there is an overabundance of isopods and an underabundance of food in which they could be potentially harmful to your tarantulas.
Here are the links to the webpages on isopod attacks.
anoles under attack
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/anoles-under-attack.214189/
Toms Big spiders Podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/148967
MEAT EATING isopods
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/meat-eating-isopods.135733/
On Tom Moran's most recent podcast he mentions finding a few of his Tityus Stigmurus scorpion adults dead and being eaten by isopods. He said that he suspects that what may have happened is that the isopod population got out of control and due to there not being enough food for the isopods they resorted to swarming some adult scorpions who were on the ground. He speculates that the reason the baby scorpions weren't eaten is because they live up on the cork bark and not on the ground. It is important to note that this was his speculation he does not know for sure if maybe the scorpions died and than the isopods ate them or if the isopods attacked them. Although he doesnt know what else could have happened to those scorpions. So this may be a possible piece of evidence towards Isopods not being as harmless as previously thought.
Another piece of evidence I found of Isopods not being harmless and even being potentially dangerous is an old thread here on arachnoboards called "anoles under attack" it was posted by the user auroboros. On this thread auroboros says "I just bought a mating pair of brown anoles for a terrarium I already had set up for a while. It had a plant or 2, a few sticks poking out of the ground, a giant land snail and about 100 or so isopods that were originally used to keep the tank clean until there numbers got too high. I introduced the anoles to keep the isopod population down but it seems they wont give up there supremacy without a fight.Despite the lizards gobbling up countless isopods, they made a counter attack upon the alpha male and devoured over an inch from his tail (nothing but bone left) he still has lots of tail left but I really don't like the idea of my lizard being eaten alive. Its a ten gallon fish tank I keep them in, so theres not a lot of space for a fancy set up. Any suggestions on keeping my lizards on top of the food chain instead of a spiraling cycle of Predator vs Pseudo-predator? " Later in the post he says "well, the problem sort of fixed its self. The Isopods only were attacking the male, its been less than a week since I bought them and the male just died today . Im gonna go bring it back to the store and get a new one.
I think the Isopods could sense he was weak and took advantage."I personally think that this could be a case of an overabundance of isopods with not enough food and I cant help but imagine what would have happened had it been a molting tarantula in the cage .
A third piece of evidence I found is a thread titled " MEAT EATING isopods" on the website chameleonforums.com where the user little leaf tested if Isopods would eat animal meat by putting red meat with isopods and observing them eat it. This is not what I consider as evidence though due to the fact that isopods are known to eat dead and decaying organic matter. What I consider evidence in this post is when the user says " because the HOLE in my cham is not pretty". Later on in the thread when asked if maybe the flesh was dead or decaying before the isopod attacked the chameleon the user little leaf responds with "no, he had nothing on him before it bit him- I had to pick the isopod off , and then the mark was there in the am - and grew to the scab -".
It is also important to note that the giant isopods of the oceans are carnivores and that it wouldn't be far fetched for the commonly used isopods to be carnivorous and dangerous towards tarantulas in certain circumstances.
I am not saying to stop using Isopods. What I am saying is to be careful with them and monitor there populations while making sure they have enough food so that they don't revert to swarming and eating your tarantulas. There are many instances of Isopods being extremely helpful at keeping moist enclosures mold free and healthy. It is only when there is an overabundance of isopods and an underabundance of food in which they could be potentially harmful to your tarantulas.
Here are the links to the webpages on isopod attacks.
anoles under attack
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/anoles-under-attack.214189/
Toms Big spiders Podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/148967
MEAT EATING isopods
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/meat-eating-isopods.135733/