# Colorful Isopod Photos



## drbio (May 11, 2008)

I know a lot of you have isopods but until now there has not been a dedicated photos thread specifically for them..... so here it is.  Post photos of the most colorful and unique isopods in your colony.

Thanks.


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## Matt K (May 11, 2008)

WOW Cool !!!!  

I like the first one best, but the other two are great also....

:clap: :clap: :clap:


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## Choobaine (May 11, 2008)

I have quite a few that look like the last one there, I love isopods


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 11, 2008)

I'm not sure if this link will work correctly if it's not in your cache:





Full thread link: http://www.roachforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1455


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## drbio (May 11, 2008)

Interesting link,  I was not aware that the orange color morph were susceptible to the IIV.  I also like the white porcellio in that thread.  I wonder how much progress he has made with the breeding.


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## Choobaine (May 12, 2008)

here, finally got some pictures. check some of my colourful isopods!  
they look great, I've got some really vivid ones

not one of these photographs was colour edited!


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## drbio (May 12, 2008)

Thanks for the photos choobaine,  The orange skirted isopods interested me the most. I noticed that the orange color seems to extend the length of the antennae whereas almost all of the skirted variety here only have color at the base.


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## Choobaine (May 12, 2008)

that's absolutely fascinating... I must have a closer look... why do you think this is?


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## drbio (May 12, 2008)

I'm not really sure.  When I first came across the skirted variety I expected to see the skirt color on the entire antennae and was surprised when I couldn't find any like that.  It could possibly be due to the pigment developmental phase occurring while they are still in the mothers birth sack.  If the antennae is folded and tucked into the body when this happens, it would explain why the base of the antennae has the skirt color but the outer part of the antennae is the color of the body. 

Just a theory though, I don't know for sure.


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## petshopguy (May 12, 2008)

I am partial to the speckled isopods. They've got to be awesome at camoflage in native habitats.


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## Choobaine (May 12, 2008)

well then there's only one thing I can think of!
I have many colourful females with big fat brood pouches. I will seperate the mothers and raise their offspring seperately and record how each one turns out.

If they all turn out differently, or the same, and what patterns they have...

getting containers ready now...


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## drbio (May 12, 2008)

That will be an interesting set of data.  You can usually tell what color they will be at around 1 month.  I look forward to seeing your results.


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## Choobaine (May 12, 2008)

still trying to find containers... I can't seem to find enough, I want to vary their diet (yes I have enough brood pouch orange ones for this!!) to see what happens then too!

er... right... I will stick with raising them in the same conditions for now
I am trying to get at least 7 containers so that I will be raising 7 seperate broods. this is a very small sample and therefore not all that accurate however we will know even with one how the individuls turn out. 

I'll photograph each female and label each box. 

Once this generation is fully grown I will do the experiment again but this time varying the conditions.


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## 357wheelgunner (May 12, 2008)

How long do they take to reproduce?


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## drbio (May 12, 2008)

The gestation period is usually around 33 days but can range from 21-40 days depending on temperature, humidity, activity levels and stress on the female.


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## arachyd (May 12, 2008)

It would be helpful if everyone posting a pic would indicate the scientific name if it is known since there really aren't many established common names for them.


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## Choobaine (May 12, 2008)

well what I'm dealing with is Porcellio scaber. 
I haven't seen Oniscus asellus with any particularly amazing colour traits yet...


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## Galapoheros (May 12, 2008)

There are some giant ones that superficially look like the ones in this thread around parts of the Texas coast.  They are about an inch long and running all over the fishing docks and rocks.  They are as hard to catch and as fast as the small crabs that run around on the rocks.  They seem to have very good eyesight.  I wanted to catch some last year, some people were asking for some and I was interested myself.  I just forgot about it last year.  I'm still wondering if the giants next to the coast need something there around the coast to breed or even survive ...like salt.  Anybody looked into it since that old thread?  I think that old thread it was mentioned in is a couple of years old.  Anyway, I think I'm hitting the coast again around July so I'm going to try to pick some up if I do.


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## drbio (May 12, 2008)

I believe the giant species you have seen on the texas coast are most likely Ligia pallasii. (rock slaters) I understand that they have the same diet as most other isopods but I have not had experience with them.  If you have any success catching and keeping them, I would be very interested in getting a few from you too.  
Good luck.


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## Galapoheros (May 13, 2008)

I just read today that Rock Slaters can be kept in shallow (an inch?) salt water with rocks exposed above the surface.  Ha!, you will find people that will keep almost any animal known, I can dig it !  Hope I didn't get this thread too far off topic.


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## Elytra and Antenna (May 13, 2008)

Galapoheros said:


> I just read today that Rock Slaters can be kept in shallow (an inch?) salt water with rocks exposed above the surface.  Ha!, you will find people that will keep almost any animal known, I can dig it !  Hope I didn't get this thread too far off topic.


 I've wanted to get the sea slaters for a while since I saw some pics of NW Canadian ones that are monsters. They are considered marine but I keep a few reef tanks and ought to be able to find something they'd eat. One issue is they may take years to get to full size (well past maturity) or require individual space in addition to husbandry difficulties. Isopods can't be selected for size like most inverts because their size and sexual maturity are unrelated.


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## emmille (May 15, 2008)

*hi*

wow, very nice. i only see here dark colored isopods. anyone has a link for isopod caresheet? thanks a lot! :}


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## drbio (May 17, 2008)

We have a basic isopod care sheet posted here.  I will also be posting more photos within a week or two including a nearly white color morph and a dark grey with white skirt (racing stripe) pair.


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## emmille (May 18, 2008)

*nice*



drbio said:


> We have a basic isopod care sheet posted here.  I will also be posting more photos within a week or two including a nearly white color morph and a dark Grey with white skirt (racing stripe) pair.


cool. thank you so much! I'm looking forward successfully raising this stuff & hopefully can see different morphs as well...


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## froggyman (May 18, 2008)

im trying to find some in my woods...whats a good colony size for a 2.5gallon aquarium?


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## drbio (May 19, 2008)

This time of year you will most likely find many pregnant females so you shouldn't have trouble starting a colony.  If your aquarium has deep substrate that they can crawl around in like loose leaves, then you could keep hundreds in a 2.5 gallon container.


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## stablefly (May 20, 2008)

Hey here are some of mine. I only have the freckled ones in a separate colony. Hoping to create a white and pastel colony soon.
The big black one is in there for color comparison.
I also have orange ones that I didn't post. 

Sorry for the crap photos.


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## stablefly (May 20, 2008)

okay, never mind. I guess I cant add attachments.


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## arachyd (May 20, 2008)

You have to upload your pics to a photo hosting site like photobucket.com Most of them don't cost anything to set up an online album. Once your pics are on that site you link to them from your post on here. If you use photobucket (easiest in my opinion) you click the img code under the pic and paste it into your message on here for it to show up as a photo instead of a link. I'm not sure how other sites work but most of them are very similar.


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## drbio (May 27, 2008)

Here are 2 more photos taken last week.  The first is an Armadillidium sp. with reddish brown color morph and the second is the "racing stripe" Porcellio.  The almost white color morph appears to be gravid so she had to sit out this photo shoot.


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## cjm1991 (May 31, 2008)

Where could I get like 100 isopods?? I need to clean my inverts cages, Thanks


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## drbio (May 31, 2008)

There are a lot of classified ads on this forum and others where people are selling isopods.  
science stuff sells 100 for $30.  There are many other sites that sell them too.

fly culture

worm man

bugs in cyberspace

double d's

wards natural science

planet porcellio

strange cargo exotics

kjun snakehaven

Im sure there are more, maybe someone else will chime in with the rest.

Reactions: Like 1


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## cjm1991 (Jun 1, 2008)

Thanks! I need to keep mold out of my Subspinipes and cobalts cage noticed some fuzz growin


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## Carlos.e (Jun 2, 2008)

I had some of these 2 years ago:

Armadillium sp. (It'll be fine if someone can ID them)


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## drbio (Jun 2, 2008)

Nice photos Carlos.  I believe what you have there is not Armadillidium but a Cylisticus convexus.

Note in the third photo you can see that the uropods extend beyond the posterior of the body. 

Interesting colors, are most of them you see in your area like that?


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## Carlos.e (Jun 4, 2008)

Thanks for the identification.
A guy sent this animals to me, they were from Murcia (Sud-East of Spain), here in Valencia, that is near to Murcia, I haven't seen any like these.
And I think that coloration was the predominant.


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## drbio (Jun 6, 2008)

Here are some photos of a not so colorful Porcellio dilatatus.













More images in the Porcellio Dilatatus Gallery.


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## OldHag (Jun 9, 2008)

Some woodlice we found in the mountains. We would only let the colored ones breed and this is one of the 6-7th generation. Some are totally orange now as well.


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## Vanilla (Jun 9, 2008)

Nice pictures!

I had a colony of isopods kept with my millipede.However once she died,I ended up getting rid of them.There are hundreds around my house,so I just let them go there.

I am thinking about starting another colony tho.
What do you guys think?


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## drbio (Jun 11, 2008)

OldHag is right,  if you selectively breed the colorful ones, it is possible to remove the gray color entirely.  We are using the same method to try and get an all green porcellio.  In the pictures below you can see the change from gray isopod with green spots to a green isopod with gray spots. We have some right now with even fewer gray spots and a brighter green color. Hopefully in a few more generations we will have an all green variety.


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## talljosh003 (Jul 3, 2008)

that second one is SWEET!


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## drbio (Aug 29, 2008)

Here is a photo of Armadillidium nasatum from my album on InsectGeeks.com.  I will be posting most of my isopod photos there from now on since they added an isopod image category for me.  Check out my album and if you have an account there feel free to say hi and add yourself to my list.


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## Pokerplayer (Dec 14, 2008)

Hmm...i dident really know what a Isopod was until u posted the pictures.
These things are all over the place in Denmark were i live.
We have about 20 different species.

But i guees u guys order them from somewhere right??

Im pretty sure u cant do that here in Denmark.

But then again...i guees it would be a problem if i just went outside and got some because of the chance the T could get infected with something, or might die if she eats them and the contain chemicals right?


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## drbio (Dec 17, 2008)

Probably best to breed them out for a generation before introducing them into your Ts tank.  It should only take around 2 months and its very easy to do.

And while I'm here I might as well add another isopod photo.  







This time the isopod has no color at all.  It is a very rare albino porcellio that I acquired several months ago.  I have him in a 90 gallon community tank where he seems to be putting on mass and has been observed mating on several different occasions.  I am hoping to find more like him during the next clean and sort in a few months.


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## MrCrackerpants (May 22, 2014)

Great old thread...

Anyone got any new Colorful Isopod Photos


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## Bugs In Cyberspace (May 24, 2014)

Here's a video that I took a while back. I see dozens of different color forms all the time (and attempt to raise them for years now) but seeing them and getting them to breed true are two completely different things!

[YOUTUBE]e1meHphQn-4[/YOUTUBE]

Reactions: Like 1


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## Smokehound714 (May 24, 2014)

I'm gonna take some macro shots of my porcellio laevis..


  The enclosure is full of babies now

Reactions: Like 1


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## MrCrackerpants (May 25, 2014)

Bugs In Cyberspace said:


> Here's a video that I took a while back. I see dozens of different color forms all the time (and attempt to raise them for years now) but seeing them and getting them to breed true are two completely different things!
> 
> [YOUTUBE]e1meHphQn-4[/YOUTUBE]


Cool! Thanks for the great video. 

---------- Post added 05-25-2014 at 10:23 AM ----------




Smokehound714 said:


> I'm gonna take some macro shots of my porcellio laevis..
> 
> 
> The enclosure is full of babies now


Yes, please


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