Isopod Updates

Lots of little isopod updates to touch on, again no pics, I've been busy taking pics of new additions this week and just can't be bothered to get pics of stuff I already have ATM... 😆

First off, I got a bunch of big broods from my Armadillidium gestroi and A.klugii. Those two are doing great for me, I also got a small brood from my A.werneri, and have more gravid females looking ready to pop, but for some reason they seem much less prolific and more picky than the other two.

Also, side note on the A.klugii, while they were sent to me as the "Montenegro" strain, a lot of the adults that popped up look like the "Dubrovnik" line or a mix of the two, so that's very likely what they are, a mixed "hobby line" of two or more klugii locales. Bit disappointing, but hopefully I'll be able to source pure "Montenegro" line klugii one day.

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Sadly, two of my female Porcellio expansus died, both as they were super gravid. I think I kept them with too little ventilation, and they kicked it as a result (gravid isopod females seem the most sensitive to stuffy air)... I have one female left, which doesn't look gravid in the slightest, I might chuck her and a male in my Paranauphoeta lyrata bin, since this species apparently breeds very well when housed with Paranauphoeta. Overall, not a happy update, but there's aat least a bit of hope left.

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My Porcellio hoffmanseggi have been doing very well, and I've gotten at least two broods from them so far. The babies grow pretty dang fast, and I do wish I'd have taken pictures of second instars, they look so chonky and weird for a Porcellio! 😂 Looking forward to having a big thriving culture of these giants!

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Now for perhaps the saddest isopod related news here today... My Alloniscus perconvexus colony has completely died out. 😢 I'm honestly not 100% sure what happened, they did well for me initially, but were growing slow as all heck, and eventually just fizzled out. I think I may have over done it with the salinity TBH... Oh well, hopefully I can try with them again eventually.

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Thankfully, in happier news, my Nesodillo arcangelii "Shiro Utsuri" have given birth to several broods, and by far are doing the best out of all my "Cubaris" type isopods. I just upgraded them to a gallon shoebox to accommodate the culture growth, and as y'all may have noticed, I added them to my For Sale List (with one of the best price rates for them out there that I've seen). 😉 Very happy these have been preforming well for me!

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My Philoscia muscorum female has been going to town, so far I've gotten a total of three broods from her! I heard someone was saying something about females of this species only giving birth once in their lives... This is most certainly not the case, as I only started with a single female, who retained enough sperm from a wild mating to produce three broods for me, and may even produce a fourth before she dies! 😄

The offspring from the first brood are already nearing what should be sexual maturity, and the second brood babies aren't too far behind. I started keeping them a bit warmer, and so far they don't seem to mind the heat. It would seem really the main thing that's important for this species is very consistent humidity.

I also added this species to my FS list, and as far as I know, this may be the first time CB individuals have been offered in the US hobby? 🤔

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Lastly, my Cubaris sp. "Rubber Ducky - Blond-ish" have thankfully given birth to a few broods. 😁 I did make a bit of a blunder a couple months ago though, and I dropped their setup a solid several feet... The lid opened in the fall and everything, it was nasty. So I ended up losing a few adults and small mancae as a result due to stress/injury. 😥

However they seem to be rebounding slowly but surely, especially since I dropped the humidity on one side of their setup and gave them more ventilation. They really do seem to like a humidity gradient, contrary to what I thought. Oh well, lesson learned, and their population is slowly growing, despite my learning curve mistakes. 

Well, that's gonna do it for this post, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, stay safe, and I'll see everyone next time! 😉

Introducing, Commando Isopods!

2021 Roachcrossing Shipment Series Pt. 2/4

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Introducing to my collection, the rarely cultured, chonky little Alloniscus perconvexus, AKA "Commando Isopods"! 😁 Now this species is one that I've really grown to love in the short time I've had them, but admittedly I was quite stressed when I received them... 🙃 See, I've never kept anything that required saline conditions of any kind before, and didn't have the supplies on hand to take care of such species. So when Kyle surprised me with this species without warning, (albiet with good intentions), my initial reaction was panic, since I knew I had to get some special materials for this species, and being as strapped for cash as I am right now, that's not really something I wanted to have to do... 😅

However, after talking with my buddy Brandon Maines, who's cultured this species quite successfully in the past, he told me that their salt requirements were exceedingly low, considering he had hundreds of them in a container with a small amount of their native, salted sand mixed in with a bunch of regular sand... So the sea salt was very, very diluted, and they did just fine. In fact he advised me just to use plain, pure sea salt (sold in most grocery stores, but make sure it doesn't contain any iodine or harmful anti-caking agents) instead of special salt mixes for saltwater fish, (which is what I'd been recommended to use previously by other keepers). I'll be trying that method out, since it seems a much more cost effective and easy way to accommodate the needs of these isopods, something that's greatly needed in an invert sub-hobby that seems to love overcomplicating husbandry for a lot of the rarer species.

I have mine in a 6 qt shoebox that's moderately ventilated, with an inch of sand mixed with a tiny bit of coco fiber as the substrate. Said substrate has been hydrated in salt water, and since it's a closed system, the salt I added in there initially is all I'll ever have to add to that enclosure, all subsequent waterings will be done with fresh water. On top of the substrate I have pieces of bark that I've partially buried, and leaf litter for them to feed on. In addition to the leaf litter, I'll offer dog food as their staple supplemental diet. They'll be kept rather humid, and in the 70-74F° range. This is a rather slow growing species, but they are apparently fairly prolific when sexually mature, and their offspring are rather large compared to the mancae of some other isopod genera.

Here are some pics of the little cuties:

These things are so adorable! ☺️ It's quite fun watching them make their burrows in the sand, though I only have them on an inch of substrate to avoid anaerobic conditions. A fatal mistake some keepers of Alloniscus make is giving them a very deep substrate, but wet sand gets anaerobic quick unless there is good aeration in the substrate or great drainage... Either way, a substrate an inch or so deep is more than enough for this species, you can still see their burrowing activity, and don't have to worry about anaerobic conditions either.

One interesting thing to note, is that this strain of Alloniscus perconvexus is one that's known to throw out orange individuals... I would really love to isolate an orange morph in the future, so hopefully my culture does well and throws out some random mutations like that! 😁

Anyways, that's it for this post, I'll be sure to keep you all posted on these cuties, they aren't well established in the hobby at all right now, though hopefully that will change in time! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, keep on bugging, and I'll see you all next time! 😉