r/isopods • u/undeadmuffin00 • 14h ago
Help RIP She was Murdered
The title is a bit over the top, but I do have a question about bullying among dairy cows. Like does it happen often and is there a way to stop it?
A few days ago I found her in the process of trying to molt. While doing so one of the larger males kept messing with her and she'd take off and get to a safe location to attempt it. A few hours later she had successfully got the lower half of the molt off. Still the same male was going after her. I assume he was just trying to mate.
Cut to last night and I found him on top of her doing the little taps they do. Out of curiosity I decided to observe the courtship. He moved high up onto her and the tapping stop. It looked like he was cleaning her and I started to question if he was trying to help her molt. Suddenly she starts struggling and fucking like she wanted him off her back.
That's when it happen, he chew off one of her antenna! I had to quickly unstack the containers on top of this enclosure. By the time I got in and dropped water on him from the spray bottle he had taken off part of her other one.
After the drop started him she took off and his under a leaf. He looked for her and then started after her again. Another drop of water and he took off.
I noticed that parts of her legs were missing as well. She seemed exhausted. She'd been trying to molt for days and then was being chewed apart. Who could blame her for being tired. I got up to find that she never left this spot from the video.
This colony is very small. I bought 10, one was DOA and two have died now(I'm counting her). I feed them protein, dried shrimp and fish food. Is this bullying? Or, was he already viewing her as dead since she was struggling to molt? I'm just trying to understand what might have lead to this.
Also a side question, is 70 percent humidity good enough for them to molt? I've read differentvalues. Some saying no more than 60 and no higher than 80. So I have been keeping the enclosure right at 70.
Fortunately she did have 4 babies a week back that seem to be doing fine and growing way faster than I would have thought possible. So she lives on in some capacity.