Porcellio magnificus care info

CitizensOfTheWomb

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
85
I know these are a Spanish species so should be kept mostly dry at temps around 70-80f.
Can anyone tell me anything else I should know about their care?
 

All About Arthropods

Arachnoknight
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
181
I know these are a Spanish species so should be kept mostly dry at temps around 70-80f.
Can anyone tell me anything else I should know about their care?
In most cases, they can be kept with a completely moist substrate and a lidless enclosure since low humidity is supposed to be one of the only crucial things about their care. Some big Porcellio species will simply all huddle around the moist corner of their enclosure 24/7 if kept almost completely dry and with high ventilation as is generally suggested for their kind. As an even more extreme example, Porcellio bolivari individuals would die off every now and then and the females would die pretty much 100% of the time once they got pregnant when I was keeping them in the aforementioned manner, but once I switched them to a lidless enclosure with completely moist substrate, all of that seemed to stop. Heck, I've since put the lid back on and only left them with whatever ventilation was left before and they still seem to be doing excellent! So......simply put, I'm not sure that these big Porcellio species really need as low of humidity as is commonly thought. lol

With this said, magnificus might be one of those species that does completely fine when kept dryer like the related P.hoffmannseggi and P.ornatus, but I haven't tested it for myself too much yet.
 

CitizensOfTheWomb

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
85
@All About Arthropods
Thank you for that detailed response. I will be keeping them in an enclosure with screen over the entire lid. I may leave the lid off completely anyway. I was going to keep one quarter of the energy moist but maybe I will increase it to a third of the enclosure.

@Aquarimax
Thank you for the info. Have yours breed successful in those conditions?
 

Jimbob

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 25, 2019
Messages
79
In most cases, they can be kept with a completely moist substrate and a lidless enclosure since low humidity is supposed to be one of the only crucial things about their care. Some big Porcellio species will simply all huddle around the moist corner of their enclosure 24/7 if kept almost completely dry and with high ventilation as is generally suggested for their kind. As an even more extreme example, Porcellio bolivari individuals would die off every now and then and the females would die pretty much 100% of the time once they got pregnant when I was keeping them in the aforementioned manner, but once I switched them to a lidless enclosure with completely moist substrate, all of that seemed to stop. Heck, I've since put the lid back on and only left them with whatever ventilation was left before and they still seem to be doing excellent! So......simply put, I'm not sure that these big Porcellio species really need as low of humidity as is commonly thought. lol

With this said, magnificus might be one of those species that does completely fine when kept dryer like the related P.hoffmannseggi and P.ornatus, but I haven't tested it for myself too much yet.
This is interesting. I don't know if you'd consider p. Dilatatus in this group, but I've noticed they do best in very high humidity and moist substrate. They seem hardy in any conditions though. On the other hand, I was doing well with a little colony of Sevilla, growing pretty large. I had a slightly moist section, but overall very dry with no lid. I thought it was too dry so I added more water so the substrate was a little moist... they all died off 1 by 1 over the course of a few days. My humidity in the room did sit around 40-50s sometimes higher, I wonder if that just set it over too much. Or my night drops in the winter got down to the 50s(these were kept in my room with chameleons), but they never seemed bothered before that.
 

All About Arthropods

Arachnoknight
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
181
@All About Arthropods
Thank you for that detailed response. I will be keeping them in an enclosure with screen over the entire lid. I may leave the lid off completely anyway. I was going to keep one quarter of the energy moist but maybe I will increase it to a third of the enclosure.
No problemo. Sounds good. The humidity over there should be a bit less than over here, so you could always moisten more of the enclosure without risking the safety of the colony. :)
This is interesting. I don't know if you'd consider p. Dilatatus in this group, but I've noticed they do best in very high humidity and moist substrate. They seem hardy in any conditions though. On the other hand, I was doing well with a little colony of Sevilla, growing pretty large. I had a slightly moist section, but overall very dry with no lid. I thought it was too dry so I added more water so the substrate was a little moist... they all died off 1 by 1 over the course of a few days. My humidity in the room did sit around 40-50s sometimes higher, I wonder if that just set it over too much. Or my night drops in the winter got down to the 50s(these were kept in my room with chameleons), but they never seemed bothered before that.
I was more referring to stuff like P.haasi, P.bolivari, P.expansus, etc.; dilatatus seems like scaber in the regard that they accept almost all conditions that include some moisture. Sorry to hear that. :( Ambient humidity is definitely something to consider when contemplating adding more moisture to/taking away moisture from a colony. Did they explore the whole enclosure when it was kept drier? If so, they were almost surely already fine with the moisture levels and the extra moisture just pushed things over the end.
 

Jimbob

Arachnosquire
Joined
Apr 25, 2019
Messages
79
No problemo. Sounds good. The humidity over there should be a bit less than over here, so you could always moisten more of the enclosure without risking the safety of the colony. :)

I was more referring to stuff like P.haasi, P.bolivari, P.expansus, etc.; dilatatus seems like scaber in the regard that they accept almost all conditions that include some moisture. Sorry to hear that. :( Ambient humidity is definitely something to consider when contemplating adding more moisture to/taking away moisture from a colony. Did they explore the whole enclosure when it was kept drier? If so, they were almost surely already fine with the moisture levels and the extra moisture just pushed things over the end.
Yes they seemed fairly active and were growing a lot. I have hoffs and ornatus now that I just got a few weeks ago. I've been keeping them pretty dry with a moist section, but they seem to stay hidden a lot more.
 

Aquarimax

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 1, 2014
Messages
1,086
@Aquarimax
Thank you for the info. Have yours breed successful in those conditions?[/QUOTE]

Mine are relatively recent acquisitions, and quite young, so they haven’t bred yet, but seem to be doing well and growing.
 
Top