Isopods in roach colony?

[Beardo]

I had a thought yesterday, would it work to have a colony of Isopods in a Lobster Roach (or any roach really) colony if you used coconut fibre as the bedding? I figure the Isopods might break down a lot of the waste/detritus left over by the roaches and make maintenance less necessary. Any thoughts?

 

[koolkid98]

Depends on the humidity and the moisture.Isopods breath through modified gills thus need lots of moisture.

 

[cacoseraph]

i would be afraid of them in an oothecae laying roach colony... but iirc those lobs are live bearers, right?


also, the baby roaches might be able to eat the baby isopods so you might have a hard time getting the pods to be self sustaining... but that is just kind of a guess on my part. could be a non-issue



and finally... i would be a bit hesitant to just pitch WC pods in with my feeder roaches. cb/bought pods are probably a dif story though


interesting idea, for sure!

 

[Beardo]

Yeah, Lobsters give live brith, so no egg cases to deal with.

I would only use CB Isopods....definitely not wild caught ones. I imagine that if fed properly the roaches wouldn't bother the Isopods too much. I might try it out as an experiment.

 

[Galapoheros]

Hi, I have isopods in my two dubia tubs. I've never cleaned out the tubs in 3 years and doesn't smell unless a roach dies. I use tree bark instead of egg crates. Imo, I'd use the slower roaming "pill bugs"(armadillidium) and not the faster running woodlice. Those woodlice seem a little more aggressive to me and might chew on some roach legs as they molt ....but I haven't had big problems with that, well worth it to me.

 

[Beardo]

Thats a very interesting bit of advice, thank you!

 

[OldHag]

I have dwarf isopods in my domino roach cage. They have the egg cases, I havent had problems with them at all. They eat the roach food and the dead roaches.
I did, at one time thanks to my kids, have the big rolly polly type isopod in my giant african millipede cage... I think they ate all the babies...