Isopods
numerous species
L-R/T-B: P. scaber "party mix", A. depressum, A. vulgare "magic potion", P. pruinosus "powder blue"
How We Pack Our Isopods:
Whether you're picking them up or having them delivered, all of our isopods are packed the same.. :)
Our isopods are packed with lots of quality (damp) sphagnum moss, crushed dried leaves, and a small piece of food.
As long as the moss stays damp, they can stay in these containers for a couple days-- but they should relocated to a more suitable setup as soon as possible.
Healthy & Captive-bred:
All of our isopods are captive bred by us, right here in Ottawa!
Though we believe it's still pretty rare to come across infested or infected isopods, there is a much higher chance of coming across infected isopods in the wild.. One disease of concern is the Isopod Iridovirus, (Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 31).
It's one of the many reasons biosecurity is so important to us.
Whether you're picking them up or having them delivered, all of our isopods are packed the same.. :)
Our isopods are packed with lots of quality (damp) sphagnum moss, crushed dried leaves, and a small piece of food.
As long as the moss stays damp, they can stay in these containers for a couple days-- but they should relocated to a more suitable setup as soon as possible.
Healthy & Captive-bred:
All of our isopods are captive bred by us, right here in Ottawa!
Though we believe it's still pretty rare to come across infested or infected isopods, there is a much higher chance of coming across infected isopods in the wild.. One disease of concern is the Isopod Iridovirus, (Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 31).
It's one of the many reasons biosecurity is so important to us.
The information below is useful for most isopods, but more species/morph-specific care information can be found on the isopod (product) listings in the shop area of our website.
About Isopods:
Isopods are an interesting and educational micro-pet that's fun to keep for both kids & adults alike!
A number of species make excellent additions to/cleaners for bioactive enclosures, (and tasty snacks for some pets,) but some species should be kept away from molting invertebrates they could accidentally harm.
Though these creatures are harmless to people, they're easy to accidentally crush or kill.
Care should always be taken when handling, just for the safety of the isopod, they can't hurt people.
Aside from their enclosure, isopods require no special equipment, heater or lighting, and most will be perfectly happy with the normal light cycle & room temperature in your home.
For substrate, you can buy premade substrates or make your own.
Isopods enjoy nibbling & climbing on; non-toxic wood/bark, leaves, cuttle bone, oyster & egg shells, seed pods, alder cones, mosses, worm castings, even egg carton.
As Cleaners & Feeders:
As cleaners/clean-up crew members, they consume a wide variety of detritus, leftover foods, fungus, and animal waste.
They also make great snacks for a number of animals, (geckos, rats, frogs, quail, crabs, etc.) but may be hunted down & consumed to the point where there's not many left for cleaning purposes.
Diet:
Isopods will be very happy eating the leaves & wood in their substrate, as well as flaked nutritional yeast, Repashy's Morning Wood, and small pieces of clean fruit/vegetable scraps, (banana, squash, zucchini, lettuce, sweet potato, dandelion, carrot, apple) from your kitchen.
If you want to treat them, they'll definitely enjoy some prepared Bug Burger or Grubs 'N' Fruit Gecko Diet, (both by Repashy Superfoods) freshly-killed feeder insects, quality fish flakes, snake molts, bad eggs, all kinds of animal waste, bee pollen, and more!
To water, we keep some damp moss in 1/4 to 1/2 of their enclosure, (depending on the species) and mist it regularly to prevent it from drying out. We've used both treated and tap water.
Keeping Different Species Together:
Some species of isopod can be mixed or kept together, but others, (like some giant Spanish species,) can be more territorial and aggressive..
Even of those that aren't aggressive, it is possible for one species to eventually start out-competing the others they're kept with-- that doesn't mean it will happen though! We have a few different 'oddball'/cull bins that have many different species together & they don't seem to mind.
Trichorhina tomentosa & Population Control:
We've heard that adding Dwarf White Isopods (Trichorhina tomentosa) to another isopod bin will help prevent the main species from over-breeding, but this isn't something we've fully tested..
We have setup some bins to test their ability to prevent over-population, with a few different species, in a typical isopod bin setup.. it'll be a little while yet before we can say how effective they are.