how to: isopod colony

[halfwaynowhere]

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

 

[cacoseraph]

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]

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

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]

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]

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]

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]

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~]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

Ill take some pics for you tonight.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

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

Ill take some pics for you tonight.

thanks, i'd appreciate that.

 

[What]

Pictures as promised(click pictures for larger):

Adult 'Giant' Isopod -


Baby 'Giant' Isopods -


*Edit: Size reference is a US quarter.

 

[auroborus]

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

 

[What]

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

But all my others are feeders/cleaners.

 

[halfwaynowhere]

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]

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]

Will these guys be fine with just wood/bark?

 

[What]

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.