Isopods

[Vanilla]

I have 4 sow bugs in my millipede's enclosure right now,as from info I am reading...it says they are good at keeping mite populations to a miminum.I only got these yesterday and only collected 4 to see how they did.

How many more should I add? Any advice for keeping them?

 

[Snipes]

do they eat the mites or just the mite food? I heard about possible isopods eating the babies or weak/molting pedes. If they are wild caught i would breed them a generation so no pesticides are transmitted.

 

[Vanilla]

I have read everywhere over the web on different sites and plus people have told me in forums that the isopods will eat the food from the mites and the mites themselves and it keeps them limited.However a few people told me otherwise...so I am confused now.

My isopods just seem to be hanging out.I didn't notice a change in mites population,it just looks the same.

 

[Bayushi]

isopods eat decaying plant and animal matter. the addition of 4 of them into an enclosure will not be enough to sufficiently out compete mites for food. i added around 20 to one of my scorp enclosures and it took several days before there was a noticable change to the tank.

Also as snipes said, you might wanna culture them just incase they came into contact with any pesticides.

 

[Vanilla]

Oh I have more then 4 now anyway.I have about 15 or so and caught a few breeding,so I expect more soon.Thanks for the info tho!