# Semi Arid cleanup crew ?'s



## Jordan Sund (Feb 13, 2016)

I am looking for a clean up crews for semi arid enclosure actually for sand boas any suggestions.? I have a few Blue Death Feigning  Beetles. I am just wondering if there are springtails and/or isopods that would work as well. Thanks for your suggestions.


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## RolliePollie (Feb 13, 2016)

I'm tagging along. I'm hoping to find some blue death feigning nettles locally.


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## Aquarimax (Feb 13, 2016)

How arid is the enclosure? Some isopods are said to do all right in a fairly dry enclosure IF they have a moist area  to which to retreat. The idea is that they will tend to spend the day in the moist area, and then come out at night when it's cooler and more humid and perform their cleanup duties.

Giant Canyon isopods (Porcellio dilatatus) and Armadillidium species, especially Armadillidium maculatum, (zebra pillbug) are two good options.  I keep both species, and I would say that of the two, the A. maculatum seem to almost prefer it fairly (not completely) dry. I dampen a small portion of their enclosure a couple of times a week. They love to hang out on the undersides of cork slabs, under which I do not mist. It must be working for them, because they're breeding like mad. : )

Reactions: Like 2


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## Hisserdude (Feb 13, 2016)

I tried so hard to find good cleanup crews for my darkling when they had a particularly bad mite infestation. 

I found some cotton springtails, which love dryness, but unfortunately they did not prove to be that prolific and the mites overran them. 

I also tried booklice, they are also tolerant of extremely dry areas. Sadly, I never saw any signs of reproduction from them.

Isopods didn't work much either, even when provided with a moist spot they would often end up dead in a corner of the cage.


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## Jordan Sund (Feb 14, 2016)

Aquarimax said:


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I have a sand, pea gravel and clay mixture. It is truly not arid it more of low organic mkxture. RH is 50%-60% I could add a small amount of organics to the mix if need be.


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## Aquarimax (Feb 17, 2016)

A


Jordan Sund said:


> I have a sand, pea gravel and clay mixture. It is truly not arid it more of low organic mkxture. RH is 50%-60% I could add a small amount of organics to the mix if need be.


I know that many hermit crab keepers keep isopod with success with substrates that are mostly sand with some coco fiber. The RH is a bit higher, though. What is the ventilation like in your enclosure? Armadillidium isopods like A. maculatum seem to like more ventilation than the Porcellio species.

It might be worth a try to put a small pile of leaves and a piece of cork bark in a corner and see if you can get some Armadillidium isopods to do well in there.


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