Spanish Orange Isopods Photos and Questions

[becca81]

I received some "Spanish Orange" Isopods as a freebie from GSC with my last order. I've done some research to learn how to keep them (some substrate, leaf litter, etc.) and have a few questions.

Can they climb glass/plastic/walls of a container?
I have about 12 or so, is this enough to begin a breeding colony (I read one post about only putting a few together may not promote breeding)?
What kind of lifespan do these have?
Is it okay to keep them at room temperature or should some type of additional heat be provided?

Thanks!

Some photos...

 

[David_F]

Those are really cool, Becca. Nice pics too. Any idea what species (or even just family) they are?

Since isopods tend to live in cool, damp places (that's where I usually find them anyway) I'd bet room temp would do well for them. Not too sure about any of your other questions though. Keep us posted on how they do.

 

[Czalz]

Those are very nice Becca. If I knew anything about them, I'd try to help you out...Good luck!

 

[Jmadson13]

Very nice Isopods Becca.

 

[xelda]

I keep mine at room temp on damp substrate that's patted down but not packed too tightly in the container. They do like to burrow, so the substrate is several inches deep. They get fed rotten veggies, banana peels (only small pieces), but they also like mushrooms, carrots, squash, and any other scraps I pull from the fridge.

When I sell these, I include some of the substrate that has babies mixed in. You can't see the babies very easily, so it's best to not switch out the substrate if you can help it. Cleaning doesn't even seem to be necessary for these guys since they do their own janitorial work.

Oops, by the way, no they can't climb up plastic, and you should be able to start a colony with a dozen.

 

[Gsc]

Wow. great pictures Becca...

To set them up for breeding, I use a 10 gallon tank (no top...they can't climb glass). Start off with a 1" layer of peat...then add 3"-4" of decaying leaves...the leaves are very important for breeding and humidity gradient. I usually add a few pieces of cork bark or rotting wood on the surface...they like to group together ont he bottom sides of these.

I mist/water them once a week or so...keeping them moist but not wet... sometimes it'll dry out between waterings...they tend to be pretty hardy...the deep substrate allows them to choose their own humidity levels.

I feed them the same basic diet as all my roaches... lots of mixed greens, squash, zuchani, etc. Sometimes when I find dead crickets I too them in.... the isopods eat about anything.

I keep mine in my invert room. It stays between 75 and 85 depending on time of year and nighttime/daytime...

I'm not sure of lifespan but you'll get babies before they pass away....

The colonies take 3-4 months to get established, but once they get going, they really take off.

My original colony came from Orin McMonigle...a great guy who's very knowledgeable about all things "buggy"...lol. I believe I started with a dozen. I've sold HUNDREDS so far and probably have hundreds at home if I dug through the 2 colonies I have going.


Hope this helps....

Your friend,
Graham

 

[OldHag]

Graham sent me some that were about ready to pop with babies!! I already have a whole MESS of babies running around
No one quite gets the glee out of these orange bugzes like I do.... they all smile and freighn intrest. At least I have you guys

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

I'm pretty confident that your orange isopods are a colour-morph of Porcellio sp,
maybe Porcellio scaber!
Very common species, but normally they are greyish.
But I have seen pictures of orange morphs of common "woodlouse" species.

Could someone who owns these please post more close-up pictures of the second antenna? And maybe look if they have two pairs of white "lungs" on their underside behind the legs?

thanks in advance
Bernhard

 

[OldHag]

I have some grey woodlice that throw some orange mottled babies. Heres a close up of one. Doggone thing wouldnt hold still so I had to grab it.

 

[Gsc]

Yes Spaceman Spiff, the Spanish Orange Isopods are a Porcellio sp. colormorph. The stock breeds true and throws only orange babies.

 

[crawldad]

I am also the proud owner of some of these (thank you Graham). I saw it mentioned that these can be put in with Ts as clean up crew, under the right conditions. How about a Community tank, say with Milliopedes and Roachs, as long as they could live under the same conditions?

 

[Gsc]

Hey Michael!

I've used the isopods in both my millipede cages and a few of my roach colonies. I've never tried mixing them all up...I personally like to keep things seperate... Maybe someone who has tried it will comment. I once had some lobster roaches get into my Af. giant millipede cage (that also had isopods)...everyone was fine...

 

[jojobear]

How about a Community tank, say with Milliopedes and Roachs, as long as they could live under the same conditions?

I actually have a 1 gallon clear platic containner that I went out and collected a bunch of leaf litter and soil around the outside of my house and put in it. I originally used it to show my students how to be observant when outside and they could see lots of things. I was then going to just toss the stuff back outside. I forgot to toss it and now I have Isopods, a millipede, some beetles, roaches (surinams?) and at least 1 or 2 baby earthworms. So yes a multi-species enviroment is possible with the right species.

 

[Spaceman_Spiff]

Yes Spaceman Spiff, the Spanish Orange Isopods are a Porcellio sp. colormorph. The stock breeds true and throws only orange babies.

thanks for clearing that up!

And thanks to OldHag for the other picture, still a bit blurry, but it looks like Porcellio sp. for allmost sure!

 

[Alakdan]

isopods and scorps

Hello,

Pardon my ignorance. I'm a newbie to scorpion keeping, but since I live in a tropical climate millipedes and isopods are common sight in the leaf litter. They seem to co-exist well. I don't pay much attention to them, that's why I was surprised that hobbyists used this to maintain an enclosure clean. The isopods I can find here are a bit smaller, about 1/8-1/4" or 5mm, and are grey in color.

Will it be safe to just pick them up and toss them in my scorp tank?:?
If so, I'd do it right away since I can easily collect a hundred with very little effort.

 

[David_F]

Will it be safe to just pick them up and toss them in my scorp tank?:?
If so, I'd do it right away since I can easily collect a hundred with very little effort.

Shouldn't be a problem. I've had a few isopods eaten by tarantulas but for the most part the tarantulas just leave them alone. With sufficient numbers of isopods a few losses to the scorpions won't make much difference. I've also never lost a tarantula from eating the isopods so I don't think contamination is a problem (at least here).

 

[yuanti]

I also just received 18 orange isopods from Graham and they are great! I already had some grey ones in my emp tank that eventually all the adults died out (some drowned themselves in the water dish) but I did have a number of babies from that lot. Before my substrate change due to mites and all I rescued about 8 millimeter sized babies.

I never saw my emp even take an interest in what they were doing, I did see him step on one once or twice but they seemed ok =)

 

[Michael Jacobi]

food preference

By the way, I have been doing some admittedly unscientific food preference studies with my large breeding colony. They have been offered a wide variety of food items that I have on hand for feeding my iguana, tortoise, and bearded dragons. There is a very clear winner.... yellow squash. I have experimented by putting three slices each of yellow squash and zucchini squash on top of the leaf litter and 24 hours later the yellow squash will be almost completely eaten with just the outer "rind" remaining, while the zucchini squash has been almost untouched. Another interesting thing is that I have thought fungi would be relished and have offered several types of mushrooms and these get very little attention and the yellow squash is devoured.

Cheers, Michael

 

[David_F]

There is a very clear winner.... yellow squash.

Glad you posted this. I tried a bit of yellow squash with both my Porcellio sp. and Armadillidium sp. and they do seem to like it. I think I put in too much but it dries up fairly quickly even in the damp conditions so it doesn't seem like mold will be a big problem. I'll have to throw in other veggies, of course, but this looks like it might be a good staple.