Isopods(Rollie Pollies)

[sporeworld]

So, LuvBugs had a post for "Isopods(Rollie Pollies)", and I was wondering who used them to keep their Enclosures clean(er) and what have been your experiences. Honestly, I would have just ordered them from LuvBugs and tried them out myself, but I'm going out of town for a bit, so maybe later.

Expereinces? Good? Bad?

 

[Rick]

Unless you have some large elaborate enclosure I can't see how there would be much of a benefit. I use them, as turtle food. :lol:

 

[[email protected]]

When I used to have dart frogs I kept some in there as a clean up crew. They do make excelent turtle food.

 

[lancaster1313]

Will they do any good in roach cultures? I was thinking about catching some for that, but I am afraid they may attack the baby roaches.

I had some in a community enclosure with various creatures that were found under the same debris: Surinam roaches, The isopods; pillbugs and sowbugs, 2 species of millies,a couple of beetle species, and snails and leatherleaf slugs. They seemed to live together allright, but the sowbugs would fight eachother often in the mornings. :lol: It is cool to watch, but surprisingly violent, so I am thinking that they can beat up a baby roach if they wanted to. I just wonder if they will eat smaller insects.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I've never noticed sow bug wars--interesting!

I could be wrong, but I suspect that ad is more an offer to use them for other purposes than mantises, and that the word mantises was thrown in because it's that kind of forum. I personally think it would be really neat to keep them on the ground level of a multi-storied habitat cage (perhaps in Spongeworld!), but unless you have a large group of mantises in there, their clean up duties would be negligible and they would need to be offered some kind of food and the substrate remain moist, lest they desiccate. Somebody throw me a period!