Favorite "Beginner" Isopods?

FlamingSwampert

FlamingSwampert

Fourth Instar
What are your favorite beginner isopods? I'm looking for a species after my a. nasatum colony died off. Ideally the species would be hardy, medium or fast breeding, not tiny, be relatively easily found, and tolerant of a wide range of temperatures and humidity ranges. For the humidity, needing a very dry environment is also ok.

Thanks!

 
Hi!

I don't have any isopods, but I'm planning on starting as well. 

I like the look of "Alligator isopod Tuberillo borneanus".

There are so many different ones out there!

 
I just got my first Isopods on Tuesday. I got Armadillo Officinalis, and although I’m new to the hobby and it’s still early days, I think they are a fantastic species. They do like a damp end as well as a dry one, so I keep it at a pretty even gradient but they are extremely surface active and mine aren’t particularly shy either! They aren’t huge but they’re big enough to look at and enjoy.
 

My second choice would have been Dairy Cows. They look extremely active and very hardy too! I’ve seen a lot of beginners have those, they seem to multiply pretty fast too. 

I hope you find the right match for you!

 
Deci said:
I just got my first Isopods on Tuesday. I got Armadillo Officinalis, and although I’m new to the hobby and it’s still early days, I think they are a fantastic species. They do like a damp end as well as a dry one, so I keep it at a pretty even gradient but they are extremely surface active and mine aren’t particularly shy either! They aren’t huge but they’re big enough to look at and enjoy.
 

My second choice would have been Dairy Cows. They look extremely active and very hardy too! I’ve seen a lot of beginners have those, they seem to multiply pretty fast too. 

I hope you find the right match for you!
Click to expand...
Thanks! I was considering a. officinalis as well, they have always been a dream species of mine ever since I saw some on a youtube video. Picking an isopod is such a simple choice, because you really can't go wrong! I feel as if I've been overexaggerating the decision, as the snow-related shipping delays in my area have prevented me from actually ordering any isopods for a few weeks, and likely another week to come. However, I have decided to buy multiple species once it warms up in my area. I was planning on buying:

  • Oniscus asellus
  • Porcellio laevis "California Mix"
  • Armadillidium maculatum
  • Armadillidium nasatum or vulgare


However, now I might need to add a. officinalis to that list, too! 😅 I predict I'm going to have an isopod addiction in the near future... thanks for the info!

 
I have no idea how to reply directly to you, I literally just joined a couple of days ago so excuse my noob-ness hahah. 

All of those species are wonderful, I think you'll have great fun with them all! And if you do have a little more space, I definitely recommend a. officinalis. And they also have the ability to stridulate when they're rolled into a ball!
I would have uploaded a picture of my pod squad but this website only allows for very small file size uploading and I have absolutely no clue how to shrink a file to make it smaller.

Also I'm sure you already are on there, but if not the r/isopods page on reddit is fantastic! I made my first post on there today about my a. officinalis having mould in their enclosure, and a little "is my setup okay" post hahah. Helicopter Isopod parenting 😂

 
Isopod keeper here!

Some good beginner species to start with that are fairly hardly imo would be -

Porcellio Laevis "Dairy Cow" - (Fun fact, its believed that many of the so called Porcellio Laevis are differing species. Dairy Cows are the hardiest of them!) Very surface active as well!

Armadillidium Granulatum - For me, these were some of the fastest to start breeding isopods I had, though I started with a group larger than 10 by a good margin.

What kind of substrate are ya using, and how are your bins/enclosures set up?

 
Dysopods said:
Isopod keeper here!

Some good beginner species to start with that are fairly hardly imo would be -

Porcellio Laevis "Dairy Cow" - (Fun fact, its believed that many of the so called Porcellio Laevis are differing species. Dairy Cows are the hardiest of them!) Very surface active as well!

Armadillidium Granulatum - For me, these were some of the fastest to start breeding isopods I had, though I started with a group larger than 10 by a good margin.

What kind of substrate are ya using, and how are your bins/enclosures set up?
Click to expand...
ATM nothing is set up due to the shipping woes in my area. I had previously kept a. nasatum, and they were great. However, all but one mysteriously died after a period of time. I suspect that the enclosure wasn't ventilated enough, as water would accumulate on the lid and drip back down like rain (as it turns out, too much moisture kills isopods). The enclosure had very thick walls, and my thumb tack could barely poke holes in it. However, these problems have been remedied. It's been a long time since my first isopod attempt, and I can positively say that I am much better equipped now. 

I was considering P. laevis "Dairy Cow", but many people warned me that they produce extremely quickly, and you can get overrun with isopods in no time (further providing proof that they are at least a subspecies of normal p. laevis). While this normally wouldn't be a problem for me, I would like to just start off with an isopod with normal reproduction speeds, which is why I picked "California Mix". 

Thanks for the response!

 
Porcellio scaber 'Orange' are one of my favorites! 

Another beautiful and easy orange is Porcellionides pruinosus 'Orange' . . . but my fave is still scaber!  :)

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Acro said:
Porcellio scaber 'Orange' are one of my favorites! 

Another beautiful and easy orange is Porcellionides pruinosus 'Orange' . . . but my fave is still scaber!  :)
Click to expand...
I'm guessing those are the original line? I'm not sure anyone reproduced that form from US wild-caught. 

 
Allpet Roaches said:
I'm guessing those are the original line? I'm not sure anyone reproduced that form from US wild-caught. 
Click to expand...
Of P.scaber? I know I isolated a true breeding orange scaber line from stock I collected in Idaho, and I sold them to a few people years ago (sadly without locale information included)... I daresay others may have done the same thing without thinking much of it.

 
Hisserdude said:
Of P.scaber? I know I isolated a true breeding orange scaber line from stock I collected in Idaho, and I sold them to a few people years ago (sadly without locale information included)... I daresay others may have done the same thing without thinking much of it.
Click to expand...
My experience is most of the varieties out there are labeled partly because it is rare and partly because when someone isolates a new color they want to give it their own name. I do not believe dairy cows, Mardis Gras, orange laevis, pruinosus, and scaber, single calico, scaber Dalmatian, rathkeii Dalmatian,  etc. have multiple re-isolators, but that is why I was curious.

 
Allpet Roaches said:
My experience is most of the varieties out there are labeled partly because it is rare and partly because when someone isolates a new color they want to give it their own name. I do not believe dairy cows, Mardis Gras, orange laevis, pruinosus, and scaber, single calico, scaber Dalmatian, rathkeii Dalmatian,  etc. have multiple re-isolators, but that is why I was curious.
Click to expand...
Yeah, most morph stocks out there are generally isolated once, however in the case of orange scabers I did spread some around that I isolated myself, and I believe I remember someone else on the east coast did the same thing too, (and foolishly neither of us included the locales in the morph name).

Funnily enough there is another Oniscus asellus "Dalmatian" strain out there, isolated from a different stock, I believe the name is "Stardust Dalmatian" or something like that. Looks similar to my "Mardi Gras Dalmatian" line, but perhaps a bit cleaner with less Pied looking individuals popping up (though I personally prefer the wider range of variation displayed in the MGD line).

 
Hisserdude said:
Yeah, most morph stocks out there are generally isolated once, however in the case of orange scabers I did spread some around that I isolated myself, and I believe I remember someone else on the east coast did the same thing too, (and foolishly neither of us included the locales in the morph name).

Funnily enough there is another Oniscus asellus "Dalmatian" strain out there, isolated from a different stock, I believe the name is "Stardust Dalmatian" or something like that. Looks similar to my "Mardi Gras Dalmatian" line, but perhaps a bit cleaner with less Pied looking individuals popping up (though I personally prefer the wider range of variation displayed in the MGD line).
Click to expand...
I thought stardust was the name for a similar isolation to my gold damatian scaber. I'm saying this with all honesty but not with a straight face

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top