On Isopods

[Jerah Teoh Yong Qiang]

So, I actually purchased 20 heads of isopods today. Not too sure if they'd be helpful in my Pacman or Hisser viv but I kinda like the look of em regardless.

Anyone here with any experience breeding the sort?



Setup is in a small critter keeper (7 x 4 x 4 inch) I had lying about. Substrate is Exo-Terra Plantation Soil mixed with a lil terrarium moss. And the Pride/Lice Rock driftwood piece. Can anyone help ID the little bugger as well? The seller told me they were Armadillidium sp but not the exact species. They don't roll into pillbug balls so that rules out vulgare. I'm from Malaysia so I suspect it's a local species as well but I can find squat on em. Closest I got was

Reductoniscus Costulatus.

[Mmfh]

I love them. I keep them for food because they are high in calcium. I actually prefer springtails as a clean up crew but Isopods work well too and they can be a snack lol. Sorry cant help I.D. them. Feed them pieces of veggies and they will breed like mad.

[poison]

Cool. I keep 3 species of isopods. Interesting little bugs.

[nirotorin]

I recommend small amounts of fish food, leaves, and high calcium greens as food. Too much moist rotting food and maggots will show up. Also you might want to change that lid, or they may dry out faster than you would imagine.

As for the species... good luck finding out. There's not nearly enough information on isopod species found outside of the United States and Europe. It really is a shame. I bet there are quite a few really beautiful, or interesting isopod species out there that would be great additions to the hobby.

[Jerah Teoh Yong Qiang]

I recommend small amounts of fish food, leaves, and high calcium greens as food. Too much moist rotting food and maggots will show up. Also you might want to change that lid, or they may dry out faster than you would imagine.

As for the species... good luck finding out. There's not nearly enough information on isopod species found outside of the United States and Europe. It really is a shame. I bet there are quite a few really beautiful, or interesting isopod species out there that would be great additions to the hobby.

Yup, I switched their setup to a larger Exo-Terra Faunarium. Humidity is holding well at a constant 70+%, perks of living in a tropical country
I feed leaf litter (processed of course!) from my mum's garden, along with fish flakes, pacman food and kitchen scraps like discarded veggie leaves and carrot peels. Hopefully they start getting jiggy soon! And I just discovered, these buggers do roll-up when scared, so they might very well be Vulgares after all!

[nirotorin]

What kind of isopods do you find normally around where you live?

[Jerah Teoh Yong Qiang]

That's the thing, I have no idea. I ordered these bugs off a breeder in a local forum here and even he admits he's not too sure what species they are. All he knows is that they're Armadillidium spp.

[nirotorin]

It might be worth getting out somewhere around there and checking under some logs to see what else is around you.