Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Panda Kings, My First Cubaris!

2021 Roachcrossing Shipment Series Pt. 3/4
««« Previous post in series • Next post in series »»»

Well, I finally did it, I joined the Cubaris Cult... 🙃😂 Kyle kindly sent several of these Cubaris sp. "Panda King" with my recent package, and I gotta say, while this isn't a species I've ever had an interest in keeping myself, they are rather pretty in person. My favorite of the cultured Cubaris are the flatter, cave dwelling species, these more Armadillidium shaped ones are quite overrated IMO and not worth the insane price tags people attach to them... I personally find Spanish Porcellio, many Armadillidium and other oddball genera like Merulanella and Helleria to be far more interesting than most of the cultured Cubaris spp., and don't really understand the hype over this genus. That being said, I am looking forward to working with this species, if only to finally get some first hand knowledge on this genus and better understand their husbandry needs.

I currently have my half dozen or so individuals (a couple of which are gravid females) in a small, moderately ventilated container with a thin layer of coconut fiber as the substrate, and leaf litter on top, (they may be burrowers, but using an edible substrate when there are other food sources available and leaf litter on top of the substrate is rather redundant and completely unnecessary for a thriving isopod culture, contrary to what many isopod hobby "bigwigs" will say). I've got some paper towel roll and egg carton pieces in there as hides, and am keeping the entire enclosure quite humid. In addition to the leaf litter, they are being fed dog food as their supplemental staple, and I'll be keeping them at around 70-74F°.

Here are some pics of the cuties:






Definitely a pretty species as far as isopods go, but still not worth what they currently sell for IMO, considering this is one of the most prolific Cubaris species in the hobby.

Anyways, that's gonna be it for today, thanks for reading, hope everyone enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see you all in the next post! 😉

No comments:

Post a Comment