Now that you know what the size of bin you'll need its time to setup the bin for the isopods.First thing you'll need[After you have air holes/mesh screen over the holes] is substrate.Substrate plays the most important roll.Without it you can't moisten anything and the isopods would die overnight.These are the best beddings in my opinion:
-Moisten Papertowels
-Dirt from outside[only enough to barely cover the bottom]
-Dead leaves
-Barks[not recomended for newbies.]
-Cardboard/Papers
Now choose which one you want or a compination of two.Only add in enough bedding to cover the bottom.Always keep extra bedding in hand as you may need it in the long run.Why would you need it well when you add too much moisture you can add in more dry bedding to counter it same goes with moist food.
Thought i'd make this little post[which should have been the opening post but oh well.]anyway i made this site in hopes of making culturing isopods a hobby.As well as making the blog a fun place to get isopod information and as a place where i can post my findings and learn from my mistakes.Remember everyone[Including me] makes mistakes.Its what you learn from them that helps you sucseed.
This is a newbie guide on what materials you will need to culture or raise isopods.This is a list of the Needed Materials That you'll need Then comes the Other Materails these are like upgrades to make isopod raising more fun and injoyable.I'd sugest setting up a bin with the needed materials befor moving onto the fun.Just to get your feet wet in the hobby then you can start the fun.It's also a good idea to get the materials sooner rather then later on when you get the isopods.
Materials Needed
-1,2 bins that are dark or clear and are the same size or one bigger then the other.Size depends on the number of isopods which will be discussed in a diffrent Newbie Guide! -knife-Used to cut air holes into the bin
-Bedding material-This will be discussed in a diffrent guide.
-Food-Will be discussed later
-Mister to mist and moisten food.
-Isopods-Obvously you'll need these little guys
Other Materials
-Racks-small enough to fit in the bin so food waste isn't on the bedding[not essiential though helps keep mould down]
-Rocks,wood and other furniture items from outside [IMPORTANT:Please freeze items before adding them into the bin.]
-Diffrent colors of isopods
That concludes the first Newbie Guide more to follow.
Well i thought of something cool.Hows about newbie care guides?I think it will be great it will be covering most of the newbie things you'll need to know.Starting with matierals needed,Perfect isopod bin,food for isopods and more!I hope these guides help out people who are wanting to start culturing isopods.
This is the same one i posted on the website.I just would like to post it here and maybe in a little bit i'll make another one then compare the two.
Introduction:
Okay so since not many people know how to keep and raise isopods these days i thought i'd make a caresheet so that anyone who wants to keep these fasinating critters could have a guid to work from.There will be diffrent sections such as:Food/Nutrition,Enclosure Types,Building the Perfect Isopodterrrium and more.
Background Information:
Before one keeps isopods its a good idea to know what they do and their needs.First off these Sowbugs aren't bugs at all and are related to land crabs and crustaceans.The word Isopod litteral means same foot.This is because isopods have seven pairs of legs,Giving them a grand total of fourteen legs.Isopods are commonly found near homes usually under rocks and logs.These isopods are known as sowbugs.There are other isopods but this is the one we will be talking about.Sowbugs do not breath through lungs but modified gills.This is a really important part of their biology.This makes us know that they need great humidity and water.Without water they die and without humidity they have proplems shedding their exoskeloton.The exoskeleton is shed in two parts.This is to prevent predotors from eating the isopods.Isopods reproduce mostly at night.After mating the female stores the eggs in a pouch which is visable after 2-3 weeks.Then in another 2 weeks babies emerge.The babies are white and need more humidity.They eat the same as the adults.
Enclosure Requirements:
The enclosure must meet three requirements:Must be big enough,Must be water proof and must have a lid.If the enclosure is too small the isopods may eat eachother.If it's too big however you'll never find them.Water proof is easy to explain as they need water and humidity to survive.A lid helps keep in the isopods,humidity and also keeps bad bugs and other critters out.Now that you know the enclosure requirements time to move onto the next step.
Food/Nutrition:
Food for isopods is relitivly easy to achieve but you need the right nutrition or they wont be strong enough to breed and you want strong healthy pets right?Vitimines can be provided but they do need other things such as moisture content and other things.As a staple diet i found this works:
Lettuce
Carrot slits
Cucumber
Squash
Oak leaves
You can mix it and grind it all up or feed them sepratly.My colony is fed upon carrots and the ocasional piece of leaf.Now as for water:
I usually give them something such as a moist cotton ball but now i found out cricket quencher works better.
Building The Perfect Isopodterrium:
If your using a glass jar just throw in dirt usually no less then 2-3cm.The add some bark and food.Dont forget the water!
Now for kritter keepers do the same thing only add some leaves or sticks.Then a rock or egg carton.For tanks just add the same ammount of dirt and more tubes or egg carton pieces.Then add food.Its as simple as that.....Wrong forgot to add lots of water until the soil is damp but not muddy.Wait for a day or so then get your isopods.
Getting Isopods:
This is fun!All you have to do is look under rocks and find some anywhere from 6-25 will do as a starter colony.I started mine from six.
Once you have isopods add them to your Isopodterrium.
Maintence:
Once a week replace old food then wait a day until you add more.Once or three times a day moisten the setup.Once a month do a colony count and see if the colony is reproducing if it is don't change anything.If its slowing down add more humidity to your isopodterrium.Once a year clean out the isopodterrium.Catch all the isopods you can and then carefully dump the dirt into a diffrent bin and then allow the dirt to dry and add a moist cucumber and catch the rest that way.Most important is to have fun if it doesn't work learn from your mistakes and grow more!In about 3-4 months you can go from 10 to 130+!
Okay so today i have found out one way that isopods can really help someone out.Hows about an isopod bin?Well i have one and i'll tell you the benifets of isopod bins.Just like worms they eat food waste.Why would this be useful?Well because it helps people get rid of the waste and the isopods make it into compost.Not as good as worms but still they eat more of it then worms sometimes.Other times they are too busy breeding to eat.When a population explosion happens try to feed them as much as possible!Say what??Whats a Population Explosion??Well a population explosion is when a load of baby isopods hatch out and begin feeding like MAD!!!This is the time where they will eat the most.So remember when you see a load of babies feed them a bit more then usual but don't overfeed.As this can cause mold which most people don't like and some are allergic to this mould.Man today is like an update day.I think we'll hit 100 blog posts by may!Thanks for reading and i hope this motivates some people to start an isopod bin of their own!
This question today is: How can you tell if a female is going to have babies.Well in the invert hobby we just call it being gravid.How can you tell?Well it's simple really.look on the underside near the sixth leg.Look for a yellow sac like thing.This is a brood pouch.Just like kangaroos they have their babies in these pouches.Thats the one and only way to tell if they are gravid.Hope this helps!
Well today i've decided to add these grill like plastic things into my bin to keep the food of the bedding thus lessening the chance of mould.So far i've also moved them to downstairs then i won't look in on the once every five seconds.More updates and blog posts to come!
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