Edoggerson
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2021
- Messages
- 52
Firstly, thank you so much for all the help finding what's best to use and how to manage these guys! Starting this has been smooth and fruitful.
I am currently keeping twenty Porcellio Laevis "Dairy Cows", and a culture of springtails.
This is the enclosure for the isopods. The packed substrate is 50% ABG Mix, and 50% coir fiber. I've also gone and sprinkled some egg shell morsels on top of it, in order for the isopods to take in more calcium (I noticed that all of it was gone from the surface, so I sprinkled more in!) The heating pad on the left allows for both a temperature and moisture gradient, which the isopods have been regulating themselves with. People were right about the moss, it does get dry pretty quickly if you're not attentive to it. I mist about 3 times a week, and allow that moisture on the walls to seep down into the substrate. The cork fiber makes great group homes, especially when they need a little bit more moisture or to escape from heat. The isos are supplied with deli meat scrap, sweet potato, and the occasional Morning Wood morsel, which does them just fine.
As for the springtails, these guys did NOT need a 6 quart container. They take up hardly 1/16th of the surface area, but I'm sure they'll need more of it as time goes on I'm sure. I have big chunks of hardwood charcoal (not briquettes) along the edges and at the surface, while between I have wet, shredded springtail substrate from my local pet store. They're fed with grains of rice, one or two that I let them munch on. I've also gone and sprinkled some Repashy Morning Wood powder around where they adventure out to, they've eaten some of it definitely. Since putting them in, plenty of juveniles have popped up, which is exciting seeing as they didn't die the first few days of introduction
My goal is to see isopod reproduction, and eventually let the springtails establish themselves in the iso tank. Thanks for all of the guidance in starting this! If anyone would like a link to a product I bought or help with finding the components, let me know!
I am currently keeping twenty Porcellio Laevis "Dairy Cows", and a culture of springtails.
This is the enclosure for the isopods. The packed substrate is 50% ABG Mix, and 50% coir fiber. I've also gone and sprinkled some egg shell morsels on top of it, in order for the isopods to take in more calcium (I noticed that all of it was gone from the surface, so I sprinkled more in!) The heating pad on the left allows for both a temperature and moisture gradient, which the isopods have been regulating themselves with. People were right about the moss, it does get dry pretty quickly if you're not attentive to it. I mist about 3 times a week, and allow that moisture on the walls to seep down into the substrate. The cork fiber makes great group homes, especially when they need a little bit more moisture or to escape from heat. The isos are supplied with deli meat scrap, sweet potato, and the occasional Morning Wood morsel, which does them just fine.
As for the springtails, these guys did NOT need a 6 quart container. They take up hardly 1/16th of the surface area, but I'm sure they'll need more of it as time goes on I'm sure. I have big chunks of hardwood charcoal (not briquettes) along the edges and at the surface, while between I have wet, shredded springtail substrate from my local pet store. They're fed with grains of rice, one or two that I let them munch on. I've also gone and sprinkled some Repashy Morning Wood powder around where they adventure out to, they've eaten some of it definitely. Since putting them in, plenty of juveniles have popped up, which is exciting seeing as they didn't die the first few days of introduction
My goal is to see isopod reproduction, and eventually let the springtails establish themselves in the iso tank. Thanks for all of the guidance in starting this! If anyone would like a link to a product I bought or help with finding the components, let me know!
