# how to: isopod colony



## kingfarvito (Feb 18, 2008)

i figured some of you might want to know how to breed your own isopods so here you go 
your going to need some isopods 
a container
some leaf litter/coir mix
and some water 






I got these from my front yard






this is the bedding i use its mulberry leaf litter 40% coir 20% peat 20% potting soil 5% and some rotting wood 15% keep this fairly moist






for the purpose of this thread i used this container pack the bedding down a little 






and now add your isopods im not sure how long it takes for them to reproduce...ive had mine for about 3 months and the tub i keep them in is packed with babies and i have about 3 times as many adults as i did when i collected them and i have yet to feed them....they eat the bedding


----------



## Jer (Feb 18, 2008)

My basement is infested with these guys. What would you recommend for bedding that I can buy from a store? Theres 10 feet of snow on the ground.


----------



## kingfarvito (Feb 18, 2008)

Jer said:


> My basement is infested with these guys. What would you recommend for bedding that I can buy from a store? Theres 10 feet of snow on the ground.


PM me ill sell you some leaf litter and you can mix it with coir or peat


----------



## magikscorps (Feb 19, 2008)

I too have the same problem, I just got some orange ones Im a little concerned about the leaf litter.......I too have snow on the ground Is there a suppler.? Do you know is certain types of leafs are good bad ect ?        Thanks   Isaac


----------



## KyuZo (Feb 19, 2008)

just use a little bit of dog/cat kibble and fruits/veggie and some moss and you'll be alright. if you want to add any type of leaves, then i would go with any type of hardwood leaves.   It can be oak leaves (from acorn tree), maple leaves, or whatever.  throw in a decaying piece of wood or twigs if you like.


----------



## Brian S (Feb 19, 2008)

You all need to make sure Old Hag approves all of this. Everyone knows how serious she takes Isopods!


----------



## kingfarvito (Feb 19, 2008)

something i forgot to add.. when starting a new tank for Ts or any tropical animal really i just toss in a hand full of the isopod packed substrate


----------



## OldHag (Feb 19, 2008)

Brian S said:


> You all need to make sure Old Hag approves all of this. Everyone knows how serious she takes Isopods!


I have no idea what your talking about....






I would, IF I had any isopods, use peatmoss and oak leaves with some rotton deciduous wood mixed in for good measure. That is only IF I had isopods, which I dont. I dont even know what they are....


----------



## kupo969 (Feb 20, 2008)

So fruits/veggies are an alternative if you can't get any leaf litter?


----------



## OldHag (Feb 20, 2008)

An occational cucumber is a great treat for them. They absolutly love the stuff.  Dead mice and worms and stuff are appreciated by them as well... not that I would know of course....


----------



## kupo969 (Feb 20, 2008)

OldHag said:


> An occational cucumber is a great treat for them. They absolutly love the stuff.  Dead mice and worms and stuff are appreciated by them as well... not that I would know of course....


Awesome, sounds cool. As for the leaves, just pick them up from the ground and throw them in the enclosure? No baking?


----------



## OldHag (Feb 20, 2008)

You could freeze them. Or cook them in the microwave. I just go out in September and gather oak leaves in the mountains. Garbage bags FULL of the stuff.  It lasts forever.  
I dont personally cook or freeze anything...but if your nervous about it sure, go for it.


----------



## pinkfoot (Feb 21, 2008)

Since you clearly don't know, Mz Hag - Are there many different species of Isopod, and are they all safe to use as T's tank cleaners?

We have some in our garden, but I wouldn't take the chance without advice from someone, and since you don't know....I thought I'd ask you.


----------



## OldHag (Feb 21, 2008)

Well, I really dont know, but I would get some from the yard and let them have babies and use the babies after a few months to make sure they arent dying of some horrible disease.  I may or may not have a colony of thousands for years and years so I know mine to be safe... assuming I had any..

They just die in T tanks anyway because the enclosures are too dry. They need constant moisture to be able to breath. They have weird little gills they breath with.
Yes there are different kinds. Around there there are the Rolly polly kind (roll up in balls) and the wood lice kind (flat, and dont roll up).  They both love insect parts ie crickets n such. They all love the cucumbers and dead mice and worms and snake sheds as well. None will bother the tarantula unless the T is dead and becomes a food item for them.


----------



## Jer (Feb 21, 2008)

I live in Canada so shipping leaf litter from Arizona doesn't seem worthwhile.

I am interested in not bringing leaf litter (and whatever is living in it) into my house. I already have enough of a problem with mold and spiders and fruit flies and mites, I don't need to bring something else into the picture.

What commercially available prodcuts could be used as an alternative?


----------



## kupo969 (Feb 22, 2008)

OldHag said:


> You could freeze them. Or cook them in the microwave. I just go out in September and gather oak leaves in the mountains. Garbage bags FULL of the stuff.  It lasts forever.
> I dont personally cook or freeze anything...but if your nervous about it sure, go for it.


How long would you microwave/freeze them for?


----------



## pinkfoot (Feb 22, 2008)

OldHag said:


> Well, I really dont know, but I would get some from the yard and let them have babies and use the babies after a few months to make sure they arent dying of some horrible disease.  I may or may not have a colony of thousands for years and years so I know mine to be safe... assuming I had any..
> 
> They just die in T tanks anyway because the enclosures are too dry. They need constant moisture to be able to breath. They have weird little gills they breath with.
> Yes there are different kinds. Around there there are the Rolly polly kind (roll up in balls) and the wood lice kind (flat, and dont roll up).  They both love insect parts ie crickets n such. They all love the cucumbers and dead mice and worms and snake sheds as well. None will bother the tarantula unless the T is dead and becomes a food item for them.


Solid advice, Thanks!  

PS You really should get some...they sound like fun!


----------



## jbrd (Feb 22, 2008)

*My .02*

Isopods are actually really good for T enclosures, especially if you keep a high humidity enclosure.
We use to have a dry P.murinus communal tank for approximately two years that had isopods in it. I kept a large water dish in the center that i would over flow to keep the substrate moist for them, plus I would add a leaf or two under the dish periodically to add to there diet. I can honestly say I never had to pull one bolus or a dead prey item out in the two years I had the tank going.
I have also had good luck with them in a T.blondi enclosures too.


----------



## ArachnoBasement (Feb 26, 2008)

This is a great thread as I've had mixed results with my isopods.  I was keeping them in a sealed container with about 3 or 4 inches of cocoa bedding and a good 2 or 3 inches of leaf litter on the top.  Naturally, I would always see them on the leaf litter mostly, but for some reason, it never crossed my mind to make ALL of the substrate leaf litter.  I'm going to go give that a shot now as I just obtained a new start culture of orange guys.  Hey Old Hag, I figured I'd just ask you for some reason.... do you have any idea where one can find a culture of the dwarf white iso's???:?


----------



## OldHag (Feb 26, 2008)

DoubleDs has white isopods.. or he did.  I have a colony of them.. somewhere..


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Feb 26, 2008)

how big of a container is needed for them? After reading this thread, I'm very tempted to start my own isopod colony.


----------



## cacoseraph (Feb 26, 2008)

halfwaynowhere said:


> how big of a container is needed for them? After reading this thread, I'm very tempted to start my own isopod colony.


i think we should join forces

i have a $0.05 bounty on isopods for my neighborhood kids


and a $0.25 on iridovirus positives =P


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Feb 26, 2008)

cacoseraph said:


> i think we should join forces
> 
> i have a $0.05 bounty on isopods for my neighborhood kids
> 
> ...


5 cents apiece for roly-polies? I used to find tons of them as a kid, and considering my yard hasn't changed much in these few years, I'm sure they are all still there!


----------



## cacoseraph (Feb 26, 2008)

yeah... i'm always a little nervous that one day some kid is going to come with buckets of the little things.  i hope he takes checks hehehehee


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Feb 26, 2008)

I'd give you a bunch for free, if I ever have some free time to poke around in the dirt. Don't think I've ever seen any with iridovirus, though.


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Feb 26, 2008)

poked around in the dirt for about 15 minutes and found about 3 dozen or so. tossed them into a small kritter keeper with damp leaf litter and coco coir. if the sun hadn't gone down to the point where I had no usable daylight, I would have poked around a bit longer.


----------



## kingfarvito (Feb 29, 2008)

halfwaynowhere said:


> how big of a container is needed for them? After reading this thread, I'm very tempted to start my own isopod colony.


im useing a 38 liter sterilite tub....this is only untill i stop being lazy and dig a hole in my back yard....then there getting out into an old fridge im also breeding earthworms with them


----------



## ~Abyss~ (Feb 29, 2008)

You know I have succes with these guys breeding and all i really did was throw some in my empty(no bug) tropical enclosure and let them do their thing. I still have them breeding. And dont really use them any more.
-Eddy


----------



## Louise E. Rothstein (Mar 4, 2008)

I also tried to breed isopods with earthworms...but within a year or two I ended up without any earthworms...I rather suspect that the isopods had taken to eating the earthworms' eggcases until the adult earthworms died.

They might have also eaten the (dead) adult earthworms.
Or,maybe those were what ended up attracting woodland "fruit" flies (Drosophila hydei); whose appetites are clearly not confined to fruit.

Then certain escapist banana bugs (Panchlora nivea) decided to get in on the action...(they LOVE fly pupae); and whenever they infiltrated a mixed colony the isopods would "disappear" until I separated a LOT of the banana bugs;whereupon the isopods would return to view.

The earthworms did not. Although an occasional BABY earthworm turns up (in an entirely unexpected location) my ADULT earthworms have NOT come back.

I have been able to breed isopods in mixed colonies with woodland fruit flies,(D. hydei) moth flies (Psychodidae),and springtails (Carambola). However, I find that banana bugs tend to suppress isopod populations...and that either of the above seem able to suppress all kinds of earthworms.

The "suppressions" took a awhile.

But that is what happened here.


----------



## ArachnoBasement (Mar 5, 2008)

Interesting.  I do know that the isopods are hailed for their taste for mites.  One of my millipede enclosures developed a crazy infestation of the larger white decomposition mites.  Not that they were really bothering anything, but I has so many that it was kind of gross looking.  I threw in a decent pile of isopods and they cleared the tank up in the matter of days.  However, I never got the pedes to reproduce either.  Perhaps the eggs were being consumed by the isopods??? :?


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Mar 11, 2008)

what do baby isopods look like? 
I saw some little specks moving around this morning, and I was wondering if they were baby isopods, or if they were mites or something. Isopods eat mites though, right? So there shouldn't be mites in there...


----------



## What (Mar 11, 2008)

I have some very small isopods from my really large colony...

Ill take some pics for you tonight.


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Mar 11, 2008)

What said:


> I have some very small isopods from my really large colony...
> 
> Ill take some pics for you tonight.


thanks, i'd appreciate that.


----------



## What (Mar 12, 2008)

Pictures as promised(click pictures for larger):

Adult 'Giant' Isopod - 


Baby 'Giant' Isopods - 


*Edit: Size reference is a US quarter.


----------



## auroborus (Mar 12, 2008)

so, do you guys rear isopods as feaders or just because there cool?


----------



## What (Mar 12, 2008)

I have the 'giant' ones I keep just b/c they are cool.

But all my others are feeders/cleaners.


----------



## halfwaynowhere (Mar 13, 2008)

okay, so i'm pretty sure there are mites in there (but I did see some baby isopods!)... Shouldn't they get eaten, though? I don't want the mites in my room...

thanks for the pics, What.


----------



## desertdweller (Mar 15, 2008)

Great thread.  Just what I needed, I have a twenty G tank full of the little white mites.  Now can someone sell me some isopods?  I live in the desert!  We have rock, sand, more rock and cacti.  Oh, no leaves either.

Thanks everyone for all this great info.


----------



## kupo969 (Mar 16, 2008)

Will these guys be fine with just wood/bark?


----------



## What (Mar 16, 2008)

I use decaying oak, peat, and some home made compost(garden clippings). I also add in a dead roach or similar to get them protein/chitin/calcium.


----------



## rasta4ian (Apr 1, 2008)

So, are isopods safe for feeding them to the T's? I've seen hundreds of them in my back yard, and I am thinking of making my self a colony if they cand be used for feeding.
Can there be some unsafe/predetory/poisonous species of isopods?


----------



## arachyd (Apr 28, 2008)

I've got some philoscia muscorum in a gallon pickle jar. I'm waiting to see if the mites and the small, hovering cloud of gnat-like things that suddenly appeared in the jar will be consumed by them or not before I even think about using them in another animal's cage. I put them in the jar just to be on the safe side since they appeared "clean" when I caught them but I was unable to avoid picking up bits of leaf litter and soil with them. Almost overnight the substrate in the jar was teeming with unidentified critters.


----------



## saminthemiddle (Apr 29, 2008)

To everyone who wants to use isopods as feeders:

They make terrible feeders, I don't have any Ts but I have some plain-jane true spiders and they won't touch em.

At least as far as Rollie Pollies go, they can turn themselves into an armored ball. I know when I introduce a polie to a tank the spider often tries to take it down but fails as the polie's armor is far to thick for the fangs to penetrate.

As for Ts, I don't imagine they would have much luck, even with their awesome strength as they are kind of small and, I imagine, hard for the T to grip.

Spiders seem to learn they aren't worth the effort and leave them alone.

Just be careful that you don't have too many that the spider doesn't have a place to get away or else you might stress out your T.

On the plus side the combination of their scavenging nature and the fact that they don't become a meal for the spider makes them excellent tank-mates for arachnids as long as they aren't stressing the T.


----------



## What (Apr 30, 2008)

I have fed them to both trapdoor spiders and widow spiders. They all take them eagerly and do eat them. 

Just putting that out there.


----------



## pinkfoot (Apr 30, 2008)

The OP has really opened up a can of worms (isopods?) with this thread!  

I finally took the plunge and went rooting through our firewood this weekend, as Winter approaches us in the Southern Hemisphere. I found dozens of the grey ones living mostly under the bark of logs in the shade where damp was prevalent.

Many were in areas where mould and fungi had grown onto the wood, so clearly humidity is hugely important, and I'll feed them cucumber, leaf litter, dead worms, etc as suggested by Old Hag. *wink*


----------



## JohnEDove (May 4, 2008)

Humidity or damp substrate is a must because these Isopods, Genus Armadillidium (Woodlouse), are land Crustaceans with modified gills that must remain moist for them to breath.
The nymphs do indeed look like a white mite and remain sub-surface for the most part until they get their grayish harder shell.


----------



## pinkfoot (May 5, 2008)

Thanks for the confirmation, and heads-up regarding the scientific name.


----------



## kingfarvito (May 5, 2008)

id be careful with the cucumber it may mold fast


----------



## pinkfoot (May 6, 2008)

Surely mould is agreeable to these guys? The ones I've caught seem to prefer it...


----------



## petshopguy (May 6, 2008)

I solely use the dwarf white isopods. They are definitely too small for my T's to grab. I suspect the T's prob don't even notice them. They do a great job cleaning everything up and I don't have to worry about the T getting confused/stressed about whether or not a critter is considered food, or just a tank maid.


----------



## arachyd (May 10, 2008)

Here are some of mine. They don't roll up, they run pretty fast (compared to other isopods). The mite things in the jar were not baby isopods so I separated out the isopods and put them in a new jar. So far no mites showing. I like the color variations these have. Sorry for the dark pic.


----------



## drbio (May 11, 2008)

Those are Philoscia Muscorum.  We have some of them too.  They are very fast runners, but not on carpet.


----------



## arachyd (May 11, 2008)

Yes, that is what they are. My favorites are the ones with the most yellow tint to them.


----------



## Rick McJimsey (May 24, 2008)

very nice how to, cody.
i have a somewhat small Armadillidium vulgare colony going right now.
i also have a rather large Oniscus asellus colony going, i, personaly, use a mix of moss, soil, and bark mulch.


----------

