My new isopods

[moricollins]

Picked these guys up today. Armadillium maculatum

 

[Arthroverts]

Nice! You sure did get a lot of babies with them, how many sub-adults/adults did you get?

Thanks for sharing,

Arthroverts

 

[moricollins]

Nice! You sure did get a lot of babies with them, how many sub-adults/adults did you get?

Thanks for sharing,

Arthroverts

There were three adults and about 15-20 babies.

How long does it take for the babies to mature into adults?

 

[ahas]

Hi Mori,

Where do you get your isopods?

thanks,

Fred / Richie

 

[moricollins]

Hi Mori,

Where do you get your isopods?

thanks,

Fred / Richie

Hey Fred / Ritchie, I bought them at a local pet store.

They're from big bites exotic pet supply. (The company who sells the isopods to the store).

The closest locations to you are likely menagerie pet shop in Toronto, or All Reptiles in Scarborough, you can check out big bites exotic pet supply's Facebook page for a list of locations.

Martin at TC also sells them.(if you're going to the reptile expo next weekend you could PROBABLY preorder with TC and have them bring them to the show for you, or at the last show there were a few vendors selling isopods, depends on if there's a specific species you want).

 

[ahas]

Hey Fred / Ritchie, I bought them at a local pet store.

They're from big bites exotic pet supply. (The company who sells the isopods to the store).

The closest locations to you are likely menagerie pet shop in Toronto, or All Reptiles in Scarborough, you can check out big bites exotic pet supply's Facebook page for a list of locations.

Martin at TC also sells them.(if you're going to the reptile expo next weekend you could PROBABLY preorder with TC and have them bring them to the show for you, or at the last show there were a few vendors selling isopods, depends on if there's a specific species you want).

Thanks man. I’m intrigued with these guys. I had the black normal ones before. Didn’t know that they have different species.

So do you just keep them as pets? Do you feed them to other critters? Etc..?

 

[moricollins]

Thanks man. I’m intrigued with these guys. I had the black normal ones before. Didn’t know that they have different species.

So do you just keep them as pets? Do you feed them to other critters? Etc..?

They're going to be both pets and feeders. I'm building a colony of them then when that's set up I'll add them to my dart frog tank (s) as both cleanup crew and snacks for the frogs.

There are a number of interesting isopod species available

 

[Aquarimax]

Thanks man. I’m intrigued with these guys. I had the black normal ones before. Didn’t know that they have different species.

So do you just keep them as pets? Do you feed them to other critters? Etc..?

There are a lot of species out there...here are just a few:

 

[Aquarimax]

Picked these guys up today. Armadillium maculatum

Nice acquisition! This is one of my favorite species. It looks like you got the spotted type...they come in this morph and a striped one, as well as chocolate, orange, Dalmatian, vanilla, etc...all marvelous.
They do like a decent amount of ventilation and a humidity gradient...in fact this species likes to have a dryish area to hang out. In fact, I have kept them with my leopard gecko successfully.

 

[moricollins]

Nice acquisition! This is one of my favorite species. It looks like you got the spotted type...they come in this morph and a striped one, as well as chocolate, orange, Dalmatian, vanilla, etc...all marvelous.
They do like a decent amount of ventilation and a humidity gradient...in fact this species likes to have a dryish area to hang out. In fact, I have kept them with my leopard gecko successfully.

Thanks. It's hilarious, I had just finished watching your video on these guys when your post showed up.

I'm likely going to be trying to source some of the Porcellio laevis "dairy cow" as well so I can have colonies of both growing

 

[ahas]

There are a lot of species out there...here are just a few:

Cool eh. Yeah I was watching that yesterday. Thanks!

 

[Aquarimax]

Thanks. It's hilarious, I had just finished watching your video on these guys when your post showed up.

I'm likely going to be trying to source some of the Porcellio laevis "dairy cow" as well so I can have colonies of both growing

I love P. laevis ‘Dairy Cow’ —another favorite of mine!

 

[moricollins]

I've ordered another culture of A. maculatum and a culture of P. laevis "dairy cow".

They should arrive next week.

 

[StampFan]

I love P. laevis ‘Dairy Cow’ —another favorite of mine!

Your words and YouTube vid keep haunting my brain -- I had already decided to *not* get the laevis Dairy Cow as they are similar in appearance to the Dalmatian scaber, but you're quite adamant about how awesome these are, so now I may have to get some *tomorrow*.

 

[Aquarimax]

Your words and YouTube vid keep haunting my brain -- I had already decided to *not* get the laevis Dairy Cow as they are similar in appearance to the Dalmatian scaber, but you're quite adamant about how awesome these are, so now I may have to get some *tomorrow*.

I don’t think you will regret it

 

[moricollins]

More new additions . More A. maculatum and some new P. laevis "dairy cow"
@Aquarimax can you give me feedback on my setups?
A. maculatum

P. laevis:

 

[Aquarimax]

Ok

More new additions . More A. maculatum and some new P. laevis "dairy cow"
@Aquarimax can you give me feedback on my setups?
A. maculatum

P. laevis:

I’m pleased to see you took the P. laevis plunge! The enclosures are looking pretty great to me! Ventilation looks sufficient, and I notice that the A. maculatum enclosure is a bit drier than the P. laevis enclosure, which is how I keep my zebras. As long as they have a moist hide, they tend to appreciate some drier areas. You could sprinkle a little more crushed leaf litter on the surface, but with a new culture and fairly small numbers, that is not as critical. Once the numbers increase, you’ll need to add more leaf litter more often, as they’ll clear it out pretty fast.

One more point: I can’t really tell if the screening you are using is window screen, or something fine enough to keep put fungus gnats. If it is window screen, it would recommend a layer of chiffon or similar over it. Those containers look like they seal pretty tightly, so if you have sufficiently fine mesh, you should have a good chance of keeping fungus gnats out.

 

[moricollins]

Ok
I’m pleased to see you took the P. laevis plunge! The enclosures are looking pretty great to me! Ventilation looks sufficient, and I notice that the A. maculatum enclosure is a bit drier than the P. laevis enclosure, which is how I keep my zebras. As long as they have a moist hide, they tend to appreciate some drier areas. You could sprinkle a little more crushed leaf litter on the surface, but with a new culture and fairly small numbers, that is not as critical. Once the numbers increase, you’ll need to add more leaf litter more often, as they’ll clear it out pretty fast.

One more point: I can’t really tell if the screening you are using is window screen, or something fine enough to keep put fungus gnats. If it is window screen, it would recommend a layer of chiffon or similar over it. Those containers look like they seal pretty tightly, so if you have sufficiently fine mesh, you should have a good chance of keeping fungus gnats out.

Thanks for the input.

It's just 2 layers of window screen. I will look for some chiffon or some really fine mesh. I'd like to avoid fungus gnats if I can.

Much appreciated! And the laevis are super active and fun to watch

 

[Aquarimax]

Thanks for the input.

It's just 2 layers of window screen. I will look for some chiffon or some really fine mesh. I'd like to avoid fungus gnats if I can.

Much appreciated! And the laevis are super active and fun to watch

You’re welcome! I’m glad you like the P. laevis

 

[moricollins]

@Aquarimax how do isopods moult? I have an A. maculatum that is laying on its back. Is that how they moult? Or is it more likely that this little guy got beat up while in shipping?