Eats Earwigs, not Isopods?

EricSJCA

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
32
I have a temperate bioactive 40-gallon vivarium for gopher snakes I sometimes hibernate.
Earwigs (solid dark-brown ones smaller than Europeans) took over, and then all the isopods disappeared.
In my backyard, Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellio dilatatus thrive much more than earwigs, so I imagine something keeps earwigs populations more than isopods in nature.

Criteria:
  1. I don't want it to bother or potentially harm gopher snakes, especially while hibernating.
  2. It shouldn't need to be kept warm in substrate where the snakes might hibernate in the 40's or 50's .
  3. The lid isn't escape proof for anything that small enough that can climb or fly, so spiders that climb well do come and go. In fact, cellar spider show up and eat flies, moths, and gnats; and probably a few earwigs and isopods, but never enough to make a difference to the earwigs or isopods.
  4. I don't need it to completely eradicate earwigs; I just need the isopods to have a chance to stay established.
I thought of using lizards. Our local western fence lizard could eat them, but they require both heat and lots of UV, and are diurnal, whereas earwigs are nocturnal.
However, anecdotal evidence from someone who used to keep small house geckos, says they would eat crickets and roaches but barely sampled the isopods in their 5-gallon tank. Of course, they're nocturnal and since they can easily climb to the ceiling, I think they can just use a small unobtrusive heat source and a little UV near the lid without me having to heat the whole tank.
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/...ecko-with-earwig-royalty-free-image/501450274
 

mantisfan101

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
1,774
If it goes for earwigs, then I have a feeling that it’d be more inclined for isopods since earwigs can actually fight back with their cerci.
 

EricSJCA

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jan 8, 2016
Messages
32
If it goes for earwigs, then I have a feeling that it’d be more inclined for isopods since earwigs can actually fight back with their cerci.
Yeah, but not every predator has a stomach for isopods. I've had T's that started out eating some, and then refused to eat them, but would take small crickets and mealworms instead.
 

Jurdon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jan 30, 2018
Messages
178
Both of my geckos (neither are house geckos I’d wager this could apply to them too) have tried isopods when offered, but QUICKLY lost the taste for them, and have since refused to go anywhere mear their cleanup crew. I’d say house geckos are a reasonable solution
 
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