I was wanting to know does anyone else keep isopods? (or the common names sowbugs, pillbugs, woodlice, roly-poly, etc - or sometimes referred with a space in-between... sow bugs, pill bugs, wood lice)
I original started back in November 2014 making a small colony of the species I found in my backyard, primarily Armadillidium nasatum. I used them as tank cleaners for my mantids and crickets, but left many in their own habitat too. Since then I've had a flourishing colony that has many little pinhead sized nymphs nearly all the time, and some adults are getting rather large. Here is a photo of one of my larger isopods...
They have seemed to have turned into a pet more than anything else over the last year, and I find them an interesting species. Today I gathered some more isopods to expand my colony even more. I found the best way to count them is in a photo, marking off the ones I've already counted. Here's a preview of that...
I used different colors for groups of 50, once I had counted them all, I had a total of 387 isopods just from collecting today (or 32 dozen and 3 left over).
I added some photos at the end of my post of the isopods in the collecting container, and after they were put into my isopod colony. The carrot in the photo is a baby carrot that I put in the colony habitat about 12 hours earlier, there are actually several carrots in the tank, so they can really put the food away.
Well to the point of all this, besides sharing my finds today...
As there is an occasional different species of isopods than my main Armadillidium nasatum in my collected specimens, will the various species bred together causing a mixed breed? I ask as I would like to prevent such a issue, and if it is a possible concern then I will go though and separate them from my colony habitat; however, if that can happen and be an issue I would imagine it has already happened in my backyard long ago as well.
I plan to also purchase some of the various isopod species sometime too, so I asked the above question as it would apply to any new species I buy. I would rather build one large isopod habitat for all the species, but wanted to know if I would have to make several small habitats instead.
Has anyone purchased Orin's isopod books and can tell me what the difference is between the two books? The two books in question are, "Pillbugs and Other Isopods: Cultivating Vivarium Clean-Up Crews and Feeders for Dart Frogs, Arachnids, and Insects" and the other, "Isopods in Captivity: Terrarium Clean-up Crews". The first is 104 pages long, the second is 44 pages - and is the only difference I can find without buying them both. Also it seems any insect site (such as Peter's BugsInCyberspace) seems to carry one and not the other, and so it is Amazon at the moment (although it is reversed).
I may have to PM and ask Orin about it, as he is a member here, but I'd rather not bug him about it if someone has already bought them. Likely I will just purchase the one book Peter has, and get the other book later on too.
Well my last question at the moment - as isopods are a nocturnal, or at least a species that prefers the dark, would using a black light (Peter sells one) allow me to view them without them running for cover? I would want to more easily observe my isopods, and take some photos occasional too, as it seems whenever I lift over the habitat lid they quickly hide under the bark/sticks/logs/etc. I can view them through the clear sides of their tank, but I am very limited on what goes on just around the tank edge.
Here is my limited view of them, you can see many are devouring a baby carrot (this is before I added today's specimens)...
I original started back in November 2014 making a small colony of the species I found in my backyard, primarily Armadillidium nasatum. I used them as tank cleaners for my mantids and crickets, but left many in their own habitat too. Since then I've had a flourishing colony that has many little pinhead sized nymphs nearly all the time, and some adults are getting rather large. Here is a photo of one of my larger isopods...
They have seemed to have turned into a pet more than anything else over the last year, and I find them an interesting species. Today I gathered some more isopods to expand my colony even more. I found the best way to count them is in a photo, marking off the ones I've already counted. Here's a preview of that...
I used different colors for groups of 50, once I had counted them all, I had a total of 387 isopods just from collecting today (or 32 dozen and 3 left over).
I added some photos at the end of my post of the isopods in the collecting container, and after they were put into my isopod colony. The carrot in the photo is a baby carrot that I put in the colony habitat about 12 hours earlier, there are actually several carrots in the tank, so they can really put the food away.Well to the point of all this, besides sharing my finds today...
As there is an occasional different species of isopods than my main Armadillidium nasatum in my collected specimens, will the various species bred together causing a mixed breed? I ask as I would like to prevent such a issue, and if it is a possible concern then I will go though and separate them from my colony habitat; however, if that can happen and be an issue I would imagine it has already happened in my backyard long ago as well.
I plan to also purchase some of the various isopod species sometime too, so I asked the above question as it would apply to any new species I buy. I would rather build one large isopod habitat for all the species, but wanted to know if I would have to make several small habitats instead.
Has anyone purchased Orin's isopod books and can tell me what the difference is between the two books? The two books in question are, "Pillbugs and Other Isopods: Cultivating Vivarium Clean-Up Crews and Feeders for Dart Frogs, Arachnids, and Insects" and the other, "Isopods in Captivity: Terrarium Clean-up Crews". The first is 104 pages long, the second is 44 pages - and is the only difference I can find without buying them both. Also it seems any insect site (such as Peter's BugsInCyberspace) seems to carry one and not the other, and so it is Amazon at the moment (although it is reversed).
I may have to PM and ask Orin about it, as he is a member here, but I'd rather not bug him about it if someone has already bought them.
Likely I will just purchase the one book Peter has, and get the other book later on too.Well my last question at the moment - as isopods are a nocturnal, or at least a species that prefers the dark, would using a black light (Peter sells one) allow me to view them without them running for cover? I would want to more easily observe my isopods, and take some photos occasional too, as it seems whenever I lift over the habitat lid they quickly hide under the bark/sticks/logs/etc. I can view them through the clear sides of their tank, but I am very limited on what goes on just around the tank edge.
Here is my limited view of them, you can see many are devouring a baby carrot (this is before I added today's specimens)...
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