Can Isopods Eat Used Coffee Grounds/Filters?

[pannaking22]

I've been working to decrease waste wherever I can around my apartment and one of the biggest things has been used coffee ground and the associated paper filters (once I'm out of filters I'm getting a metal one). I've got a bucket of red wiggler worms for some of the work, but they take forever to eat anything and can't keep up with the grounds and other little food items I throw in. I've got various roach bins that I use for a lot of the other food items. Heck, I've even got a bin of mealworms that I feed the random pieces of Styrofoam I find all over town. But coffee grounds have been the question mark. I figure that isopods eat darn near anything so they'd be worth trying it out on. Anyone tried this before?

On a somewhat related note, any recommendations for something that'll eat tomatoes? We've got a lot right now and they introduce a ridiculous amount of moisture to any enclosure I put them in. They're like little water balloons.

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

I can’t imagine adding small amounts of coffee grounds would hurt most of these critters, since it’s common to add coffee grounds to compost. I’d be concerned about adding massive amounts since it’s very acidic, though. Will be interested to see if anyone here has experience with this!

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Also, if you cut those tomatoes in half and slow-roast them in the oven, you can freeze them on a tray so they don’t clump together and then switch them into freezer bags once they’re solid and have delicious tomatoes all year round. Just saying.

 

[pannaking22]

Good call on the tomatoes, I'll have to try that. It's insane how many we still have even after making salsa and pasta sauce.

It'd be about one pot's worth of grounds each day. So not a ton, but since it's a daily thing it would add up.

 

[Arthroverts]

Well, Dwarf White isopod are dirt cheap if you know the right sources and in sufficient numbers eat a ridiculous amount of food. Food really does=anything for these, so I would suggest starting with them perhaps to experiment if you can't find any conclusive answers. They can also achieve a really great density of specimens in a small container without issues, so I can only imagine how much waste they could eat in a large(r) enclosure.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[pannaking22]

Well, Dwarf White isopod are dirt cheap if you know the right sources and in sufficient numbers eat a ridiculous amount of food. Food really does=anything for these, so I would suggest starting with them perhaps to experiment if you can't find any conclusive answers. They can also achieve a really great density of specimens in a small container without issues, so I can only imagine how much waste they could eat in a large(r) enclosure.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

Dwarf whites were one I was contemplating as well. I've already got a decent population and they could be the perfect species for one of my older worm buckets that dried out when I was down after knee surgery. Add some moisture and just let them go to town. That bucket already has a giant mix of things, so they'd have an easy time finding something to eat. I'll separate another group and give them higher doses of grounds to see how they do. I figure between those and WC A. vulgare and P. scaber I'll figure something out.

I'll update this thread as well as I go so people can use it as a resource in the future.

 

[SamanthaMarikian]

Dwarf whites were one I was contemplating as well. I've already got a decent population and they could be the perfect species for one of my older worm buckets that dried out when I was down after knee surgery. Add some moisture and just let them go to town. That bucket already has a giant mix of things, so they'd have an easy time finding something to eat. I'll separate another group and give them higher doses of grounds to see how they do. I figure between those and WC A. vulgare and P. scaber I'll figure something out.

I'll update this thread as well as I go so people can use it as a resource in the future.

As long as you dont use the compost for outside it sounds good. Since you could be introducing the dwarf whites n that could be a problem. I have 3 tubs of dwarf whites n half a carrot will be gone from the most prolific one in a few days to a week. The isopods with the largest appetite that i own seems to be the P. laevis. And like someone said above i wouldnt add a lot of coffee grounds to the substrate because of acidity and some people use it for the reason of deterring other bugs in their gardens. I’m kinda imagining caffeine hopped isopods racing around the enclosure too lol.

 

[MasterOogway]

I mentioned in the other thread too; but caffeine has anti-insect properties. It's thought that it originally evolved in plants as a grazing deterrent against inverts. Not worth it in my opinion.

 

[pannaking22]

I mentioned in the other thread too; but caffeine has anti-insect properties. It's thought that it originally evolved in plants as a grazing deterrent against inverts. Not worth it in my opinion.

Yep, I knew about the anti-invert properties, but had read somewhere that after brewing almost all traces of caffeine were gone. However, I can't find that study and have actually found some recent ones showing that while caffeine levels are decreased, there is still a good amount of caffeine present in the used grounds, so I don't think I'm going to give it a try anymore.

 

[MasterOogway]

Yeah, there's for sure still going to be a decent amount of caffeine involved. Even specific decaffeination processes, like the CO2 removal process that they use on coffee and tea still leave some caffeine in the product. I used to work in a tea store a ways back, I probably still have some articles about it all lying around somewhere...

 

[Therra]

I can’t imagine adding small amounts of coffee grounds would hurt most of these critters, since it’s common to add coffee grounds to compost. I’d be concerned about adding massive amounts since it’s very acidic, though. Will be interested to see if anyone here has experience with this!

I use coffee grounds all the time.My isopods,springtails & earwigs lay their eggs in it. I've no problem with my millipedes crawling thru the coffee grounds.

 

[TheraMygale]

How can you have too many tomatoes? That is just not possible. There is such a thing as canning.

i wish i had a problem like too many tomatoes.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I use coffee grounds all the time.My isopods,springtails & earwigs lay their eggs in it. I've no problem with my millipedes crawling thru the coffee grounds.

Wow gotta get pictures of your critters up ! earwigs I don’t see many or anyone keeping those .

 

[drurymercy]

I throw my grounds in my garden every day from a normal coffee pot and my French press and on the yellow grass (thanks dog) lol my coffee addiction has made outside look insanely nice and I have no problems with deterring insects they are everywhere now I feel bad I didn’t know they used coffee for this. And when our tomatoes go crazy and we had the same problem my sister learned how to can now it’s a family thing every year! Makes perfect little gifts