Looking for unique isopod food / nuterient ideas

[smoothie4l]

What have you found best for giving your 'pods? ( On top of the usual leaves and wood )
Some favourites that I've found are
- Shed snake skin
- Lobster and shrimp shells
- Pre killed crickets ( Dairy cows are monsters for this! )
- Starchy vegetables like potatoes, parsnips and pumpkin
- Chiclid pellets which I consider their weekly staple


Thanks!

 

[EnigmaNyx]

Potatoes. Why would I ever spend more than 5 minutes trying to find gourmet meals for isopods, who couldn't give 2 craps less.

 

[Reezelbeezelbug]

Mine go crazy for bearded dragon shed skin and I've tossed in mantis molts as well. Fun to try new stuff. I've found the species I have really don't like broccoli at all.

 

[BoyFromLA]

Anyone ever tried with tarantula molt? Anything that is with urticating hair?

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Personally, I think that feeding parts, bodies, waste, etc of one captive to another is best done only when necessary, and only in a deliberative fashion to avoid potential pathogen transfer. It is simply conservative captive husbandry, which leads to more reliable outcomes than just throwing stuff in there.

To answer the question directly, I feed only leaves, Repashy Morning Wood, and the occasional mushroom.

 

[goliathusdavid]

Definitely going to second @Malum Argenteum on this one. Husbandry is best kept simple. I'm all for varying meals but do it with supplemental foods that you know are safe. I have a rotating routine of fruits and veggies along with standard leaves and a calcium fortified substrate. I really do not understand the need to feed unnecessarily unorthodox foods that can potentially cause serious issues.

 

[Polenth]

Outside of vegetables, they've had various fish and invertebrate foods, pre-killed mealworms and baker's yeast. They'll eat most stuff, so they generally get whatever I have extra of at the time. I focus on the fresh food mainly (like the vegetables and mealworms).

The whole point of raising feeders is so I know they've been cared for properly and are safe to feed, so I have no more worries feeding them to my woodlice than I do my tarantulas.

 

[RoachCoach]

Potatoes. Why would I ever spend more than 5 minutes trying to find gourmet meals for isopods, who couldn't give 2 craps less.

Mainly for people that are feeding them to very small vertebrates like dart frogs and the like. Gutload is still applicable in small inverts. If you are just keeping them to propagate, then ya any starch root will work fine.

 

[EnigmaNyx]

Mainly for people that are feeding them to very small vertebrates like dart frogs and the like. Gutload is still applicable in small inverts. If you are just keeping them to propagate, then ya any starch root will work fine.

Ah that makes sense. The way I read it was folks making gourmet meals for isopods similar to people with no kids that baby their dogs with $40 meals and claim to know what it’s like to have children. You know, THOSE people lol.

 

[Polenth]

Ah that makes sense. The way I read it was folks making gourmet meals for isopods similar to people with no kids that baby their dogs with $40 meals and claim to know what it’s like to have children. You know, THOSE people lol.

In my case, I don't live on potatoes alone, so my veg scraps are a lot more varied. I admit, all the "only potatoes!" thing made me think you're all living on this diet:

 

[isopodgeek]

Mine go crazy for carrots! Threw some in on Tueday night. Checked on the carrots in the morning and they were being swarmed by isopods. Just make sure to was them extra good to get rid of pesticides.

I also use springtail and isopods food made by EZbotanicals and they love that.

I have heard rep ashy mourning wood and bug burger are recommended but don't have experience with those.

Just make sure you have leaves, crushed egg shells and wood at all times.

Leaves, wood and egg shells can be given in infant amounts but only give small amounts of supplemental foods. Only give what they can eat in 24 hours as not to attract more mites then isopods.

 

[LizardStudent]

If I feed my snake a frozen mouse and its tail pops off, I'll put the tail in with my pods and they go crazy for it. They also love repashys bug burger, and I give crushed up cuttle bone with various veggies too. They also like my tegus shed, which i always have a ton of and they always nibble the java moss in my terrariums

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Mine mostly get veggie scraps and oak leaves, but I occasionally supplement with bug burger or fish flakes. They seem to be particularly fond of parsley, cilantro and swiss chard, but they also get a fair bit of beets, carrots, and potatoes, all of which are readily accepted. I've only tossed dead crickets to the dwarf whites, because they happen to live right under the cricket enclosure, but they certainly make short work of those.

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Mainly for people that are feeding them to very small vertebrates like dart frogs and the like. Gutload is still applicable in small inverts. If you are just keeping them to propagate, then ya any starch root will work fine.

When used with dart frogs, isopods aren't "gutloaded"* and then fed -- they are introduced to the viv (far) ahead of the frogs so that they can establish a population. The isos are just 'clean up crew' and a very incidental food source for a frog that is a really active forager (which many really aren't since they get manna from heaven every day or two).

Some novice keepers seem to feel the need to add food to an established viv for the isos, but that isn't necessary (they manage just fine on substrate bits, leaf litter and fungus) and I don't know of any experienced keepers who do so because they've figured out it would have no benefit.

* I remember when the term 'gutloading' was first used, as the process of getting a prey item to feed on some very concentrated food that would kill it if used as a regular diet (usually a supplement sort of thing) immediately before feeding. What is done now -- e.g. feeding carrots to an insect that will be consumed by an animal that neither needs nor can digest carrots -- is mostly for the keeper's peace of mind. I think feeding nutritious vegetables to feeder insects is good practice, but it ain't 'gutloading'.

 

[moricollins]

I use:
Repashy bug burger, carrots, leftover calcium powder and dead fruit flies(from feeding my dart frogs), mushrooms, potatoes, yams... Oh... As an interesting feed: desiccated fish dog treats (bought then for our dog but my wife and kids said they made the dog's breath smell bad(duh!)) the Isopods ate them down to the bones.