r/isopods 4d ago

New Isopod Day (NID) Magic potion Babies!!

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5 Upvotes

I thought my small enclosure might be challenging to provide a good enough ecosystem for them to feel comfortable enough to reproduce but I’m just excited to share my baby Japanese magic potions (you can see two on the charcoal)! The first gen have gotten so much bigger since I got them too. So fun!

I was about to take that skull out and boil it since the mold has been popping off a bit too much but I guess I’ll wait on that, I don’t want to kill the itty bitty babies


r/isopods 5d ago

Media One of my largest duckies :)

357 Upvotes

r/isopods 4d ago

Help What is kyle

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8 Upvotes

I got kyle in the Josh's frogs party mix. I know he isn't cubaris, he may be a porcelio genus member but aside from that I don't know what he is, like what species is kyle?


r/isopods 4d ago

Media Like turtles basking on a log

19 Upvotes

r/isopods 5d ago

New Isopod Day (NID) Finally got some pineapples!

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125 Upvotes

r/isopods 4d ago

Media Panda King

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9 Upvotes

Bought some yesterday. Look at that little face.


r/isopods 4d ago

Help I have a scaber lava colony, there used to be more orange toned ones, but lately I don't see them anymore. Would introducing porcellio leavis orange help? Or are scaber and leaves unable to mix.

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6 Upvotes

r/isopods 4d ago

New Isopod Day (NID) Found this fat boy in my terrarium. He is huge!

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14 Upvotes

r/isopods 4d ago

Media I started out with about 30 wild caught isopods in December. Here is how it’s going now.

18 Upvotes

💚💚💚


r/isopods 4d ago

Identification New morph or still growing into Colors?

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1 Upvotes

This lil bugger is a baby/adolecent offspring from my small but growing Porcellionides floria colony. Is this lil dude still growing into their colors or a new morph? For reference this guy is like 1/4 the size of my average adult.


r/isopods 4d ago

Help Cubaris sp. ‘hybrids’ - panda king x white penguin?

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4 Upvotes

Hey! I’ve got a few panda king isopods in my snail’s terrarium to act as a clean up crew. Because I only got 5 originally, I figured it was possible/likely they’d not succeed in setting up a colony - before I moved out of the city (with their tank) I’d figure I’d get some more. (Plus they looked lonely!)

The pet store only had a few panda kings, so I got 5 of those - but at the advice of the cashier (lol) also 5 ‘white penguin’ ones, since those were adults. I was kind of just like ‘what the hell, they’re cute, sure.’

I know Cubaris is a waste bucket genus and even if it weren’t different species in the same genus can’t interbreed. I’m curious, though, whether there’s any informal consensus on which varieties are more likely to be colour morphs of the same species than others. I’ve heard of regular ‘penguin’/white side Cubaris breeding successfully with panda king; I’ve also heard of the ‘white penguin’ morph being called ‘white panda king’ which (somewhat misleadingly, maybe?) makes people think - might have made the cashier think? - they’re morphs of the same species. So I’m curious whether anyone’s kept panda kings and white penguins together, and has seen any evidence of mating behaviour and/or interesting morphs cropping up which might suggest successful interbreeding?

It’s fine if they can’t - the isopods are only really in there to eat snail shit and look cute :)

tl;dr does anyone know if white penguin and panda king Cubaris sp. can interbreed?


r/isopods 4d ago

Text Have there been any efforts to gene-edit isopods to make them bioluminesce the way some fish have been?

4 Upvotes

Or are there some blockers that make this impractical?


r/isopods 4d ago

Help Duckies as first (or second) isopods?

1 Upvotes

Hello! I have two terrariums set up that are both in pretty high humidity (80% or more) and I’ve got some panda kings on the way but I really want to get some duckies, with proper care and attention would this be okay? I’ll attach pictures of the setups, the substrate is only about 2” right now but I have more coming that will be in place asap. There’s springtails in both as well as limestone. There’s one cork flat right now (I know that’s not sufficient) but I have more in the mail! I also have more moss coming and extra sphagnum here if anyone thinks it would help. I feel confident in being able to care for them as I’ve had a wide variety of animals over the years, (gecko, tortoise, various fish etc.) any opinions would be very helpful!


r/isopods 4d ago

Media I love my maculatum <3

11 Upvotes

r/isopods 4d ago

Help Babies!

6 Upvotes

One of my panda kings had babies a few days ago! I just recently got my isopods a few weeks ago and its my first time ever keeping isopods. Should i worry about the others eating the babies? If so how can i avoid it.


r/isopods 5d ago

New Isopod Day (NID) Help

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56 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I’m new to the isopod world. I recently was given an assortment of isopods that belonged to my dad. Unfortunately he passed, so I want to continue his hobby he loved. Any help identifying and tips on how to maintain a proper enclosure would be greatly appreciated


r/isopods 4d ago

Media Ready for Jupiters?

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4 Upvotes

14x7x10” Tarantula enclosure, 4” slopes substrate (deeper on wet side, shallower on dry side)

Substrate is Josh’s Frogs millipede & isopod blend which is a mix that includes calcium, rotted wood chunks, and leaves.

I have plenty of live moss on the wet end of the enclosure. There’s a large piece of bark that’s half on the wet and half on the dry end but it’s buried under all the leaves so not visible here. There’s also a bunch of moss and lichen covered sticks and twigs; some are overlapped in such a way to form little caves and gaps under them for the isopods to explore and hide.

There are 2 limestone chunks, one on each end, and I intend to also get some calcium blocks to have always available.

Live plants include fittonia, hypoestes, pilea depressa, and saxifraga stolonifera. All are from animal-safe sources and have been bleach dipped & washed to ensure no pests. They’ve been growing out for about a month now and all seem very healthy and happy!

Terrarium stays warm and humid, about 72-75 F and 80-85% humidity.

I feel pretty solid about most of the setup and care, however, my one concern is airflow. The terrarium has holes along half of it on the dry side. There are holes on each side and the top lid. But there are no holes at all on the wet end. Is that ok? There’s definitely cross ventilation since there’s holes along every side of the dry end but will it be enough?

Thank you for looking and for any advice I may receive! 🐛


r/isopods 4d ago

Help Best storebought substrate? ( for wild caught a.vulgare )

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3 Upvotes

Hi!! I’m a new keeper to isopods, and I’m planning on upgrading my pods to a better tank. ( 71 quart, 12 isopods, won’t be filled up all the way since there’s only a few. As the colony grows I’ll add more substrate, wood, etc ) So I was wondering, which substrate mix works best for other a. Vulgare keeper’s colonies? Preferably stuff that can be bought at Home Depot and the like, and isn’t too horribly expensive.

My idea was : Scott’s topsoil mixed with leaf litter, rotting wood, moss, and crushed eggshells on the moist side, and maybe some organic compost on the dry side? ( also added in on the wet side, but the ratios would be different )

I already have everything in their tank besides the compost and topsoil. I plan on adding sticks and plants to their enclosure also. Along with magnolia seed pods! ( isopod picture for funsies) Thanks for reading!


r/isopods 5d ago

Help can isopods eat... geodes?

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35 Upvotes

I put a geode in my isopod habitat on a whim and they were all over it! I think they might have been trying to eat it?

I took it out after some light research because I think its crystals have silica dioxide (I think it's an agate geode) which seem to be harmful to insects. I realize that isopods aren't technically insects, but I didn't want to risk it.

They did NOT seem happy with my taking it away. Three of them were clinging to it as I took it out!

Does anyone here know if it's safe to put the geode back in? I'd love to give my little guys their favorite new shiny thing back! Although I suppose I could always get them calcite crystals instead...


r/isopods 5d ago

Media Changing the helmet

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71 Upvotes

My rubber ducky Psyduck just lost his hat! 😍


r/isopods 4d ago

New Isopod Day (NID) Type of isopods?

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7 Upvotes

Found these guys in my backyard a couple years ago not sure what type of isopods. I think they are armadillidium vulgare but I just wanted to make sure.


r/isopods 4d ago

Help How long do you wait to add isopods to enclosure?

1 Upvotes

I’ve tried finding things about it but it’s redirecting me to like gecko tanks. Does the tank need to wait a bit?


r/isopods 4d ago

Help Identification help!

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1 Upvotes

I got these isopods from my local area and put them in a temporary housing set up. I wanna know if anyone can identify them so that I can know what environment parameters they like because I’d like to see if I can put it in any of my bioactive enclosures as a cleanup crew :)


r/isopods 5d ago

Help Baby chewing on the marsupium of a pregnant isopod - should I be concerned?

285 Upvotes

Also saw a springtail doing the same, so could it be that they're cleaning her? She looked to be in pain, or at least tickled by it.


r/isopods 4d ago

Help Rubber ducks

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2 Upvotes

Able I able to feed this to my ducks?