Isopod Staple Foods and Moisture

[cmacky]

What’s up guys, long time lurker first time poster.
I absolutely love isopods and millipedes; I have 8 small colonies of several isopods and 2 colonies of millipedes (I’ll put lists at the bottom).
I need a bit of help. Although I’ve been keeping isopods for a few years now, I never feel like I have their staple diets just right. In their substrates I use top soil, compost, a bit of coco coir (for texture more than nutrition), and worm castings. I also mix in crushed up dead leaves and soft, rotting wood that I shred. Then I put in pieces of rotting hardwood on the surface and top it off with dead leaves. Substrate is kept deep, deeper on the wet side of the enclosure.
So my question is this: should their rotting wood pieces be kept moist or should they be allowed to dry out? Obviously wet wood is softer, but is it better for them to eat dry or moist rotting wood? I keep one side drier than the other and only mist the wet side, that way they can regulate their own internal hydration levels.
So tldr: should rotting wood be allowed to dry out, or kept moist for isopods to eat?
Thanks y’all!
C

My colonies:
Armadillidium vulgare
Porcellio scaber
Porcellio laevis “Dairy Cow”
Porcellio laevis “White”
Porcellio laevis (breeding experiment)
Porcellio spinicornis
Porcellionides pruinosis “Orange”
Oxidus gracilis
Narceus americanus

 

[SpookySpooder]

Calcium and protein?

I only have one species of isopod, and I have to supplement their diet with fish flake and powdered eggshells

I slightly wet the wood to aid the decomposition process so they can eat it. They will munch on any sort of decomposing wood, dry or wet, but wet is easier.

 

[cmacky]

Calcium and protein?

I only have one species of isopod, and I have to supplement their diet with fish flake and powdered eggshells

I slightly wet the wood to aid the decomposition process so they can eat it. They will munch on any sort of decomposing wood, dry or wet, but wet is easier.

They have cuttlebones in each enclosure, and I feed them fish food once every week or less. They also have springtails living with them. I’ll have to start misting the wood more often! Thanks <3

 

[ArynAlba]

I'm definitely not an expert, so please take this with a grain of salt!

But I've found that if you're curious, isopods are usually pretty resilient when it comes to a bit of experimenting--maybe try including two smaller chunks of rotting wood in each enclosure, and mist just one, and see which one disappears faster? Porcellio in general tend to tolerate/prefer drier conditions, in my experience, but as you mentioned, rotting wood is naturally softer and might be easier for them to nibble on. I think it'd be interesting to just see what they prefer, haha.

I did personally find, when I kept a lot of Porcellio spp., that they were very protein-hungry for isopods (especially the P. laevis, my goodness.) You might even try introducing different kinds of protein for variety, if you have access to those (such as dried mealworms, dried shrimp, Repashy Grub Pie, etc.)

 

[Kada]

I'm definitely not an expert, so please take this with a grain of salt!

But I've found that if you're curious, isopods are usually pretty resilient when it comes to a bit of experimenting--maybe try including two smaller chunks of rotting wood in each enclosure, and mist just one, and see which one disappears faster? Porcellio in general tend to tolerate/prefer drier conditions, in my experience, but as you mentioned, rotting wood is naturally softer and might be easier for them to nibble on. I think it'd be interesting to just see what they prefer, haha.

I did personally find, when I kept a lot of Porcellio spp., that they were very protein-hungry for isopods (especially the P. laevis, my goodness.) You might even try introducing different kinds of protein for variety, if you have access to those (such as dried mealworms, dried shrimp, Repashy Grub Pie, etc.)

This is what I do too. I have wood on both the "dry" side and the "wet" side. let them choose, and have a decent gradient

Otherwise I do much like your setup. frass (I generally use poop from the cockroach bins cause they're clean and its easy), soil, wood, leaves and supplement with a protein. Sometimes will throw in an uneaten prekilled roach the spiders didnt want. and a small chunk of cuttlebone.

edit. I'm no expert either, but it's worked seemingly well so far

 

[ArynAlba]

This is what I do too. I have wood on both the "dry" side and the "wet" side. let them choose, and have a decent gradient

Otherwise I do much like your setup. frass (I generally use poop from the cockroach bins cause they're clean and its easy), soil, wood, leaves and supplement with a protein. Sometimes will throw in an uneaten prekilled roach the spiders didnt want. and a small chunk of cuttlebone.

edit. I'm no expert either, but it's worked seemingly well so far

Hey, that all sounds like a great setup! I'll have to try some of the prey that my gecko/spiders don't eat too, haha. I'm sure the pods love that!
I'd also recommend tossing in some fruits or veggies every now and again, if you can! I found that while my Porcellio/Porcellionoides spp. were very protein-hungry, my A. vulgare cultures loved different kinds of fruits and vegetables (or equivalent powdered diets) even more. Also, I just noticed that you have Narceus americanus on your list too--and they really loved the different fruits/veggies from what I saw when I kept them as well!
Some things that I've found my colonies liked are: powdered diets (such as crested gecko diet, Repashy "Morning Wood" --yes, that really is its name--,) sweet potato, squash, and cucumber. But really, anything that you'd use for gutload for feeders is worth trying with you isopods and millipedes as well, just to see if they'd like them! It's totally optional, but I've found that mine liked the variety--and sometimes, feeding them a wide variety of supplemental foods seemed to make them breed more, though that's just anecdotal of course. Your setup sounds perfect, though! Good luck with everyone! <3

 

[Kada]

Indeed, some fresh stuff always good. we grow a type of firm eggplant (sort of similar to the green Thai eggolants) I usually cut in quarters and throw in a chunk. For me I prefer firmer things as they tend to spoil more slowly. If I grew or had access to real organic I would use nearly anything. carrots, sweet potato, broccoli stems and other brassica stems etc

I have been scared about supermarket stuff labelled organic that has killed a few different insect colonies in the past (presumed spray) . now I just use what I grow which Ican be assured is organic

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I’ve been just feeding my pillbugs leaves .. from my palm plant .

 

[ArynAlba]

Indeed, some fresh stuff always good. we grow a type of firm eggplant (sort of similar to the green Thai eggolants) I usually cut in quarters and throw in a chunk. For me I prefer firmer things as they tend to spoil more slowly. If I grew or had access to real organic I would use nearly anything. carrots, sweet potato, broccoli stems and other brassica stems etc

I have been scared about supermarket stuff labelled organic that has killed a few different insect colonies in the past (presumed spray) . now I just use what I grow which Ican be assured is organic

Ahh, I getcha! D: I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your colonies! </3 Unfortunately, "organic" doesn't really mean "pesticide-free" (at least, in the USA it doesn't)--it really just means "only uses pesticides that meet our standards, so we still consider it 'organic.'"
I personally do use veggies I get from the store, but I usually wash and/or peel them before I use them. Haven't had any issues so far (knock on wood!) But your method is definitely the safest! My little isos went absolutely crazyyyy for sweet potato--especially the Cubaris spp. (which is nice, because my Duckies can be pretty "hit or miss" when it comes to what they really like, haha.)