Great video! I have wild caught native isopods, and I use a good potting medium for substrate. The only trees we have around her are elms, and my neighbor’s yard is where I got the isopods, so I can get some established in my compost bin and new flower beds. I have wood from an elm tree stump, probably cut down 30 years or so ago, that my neighbor dug up and it’s beautifully decayed and rotted. I took all of the stump, and also collected bark from another dead tree and that’s my wood for them. I do scald and bake the wood and bark because we have fire ants here and wood roaches. But because I’ve sanitized it, before I put any wood “crumbles “ in my terrariums that all my isopods are in, I soak the wood for a couple days so it gets nice and hydrated. I feed romaine, zucchini, powdered roach chow, other greens when I have them, and now and then bits of apple. Fish flakes are a fave, and when I have dead crickets I’ll toss one or two in each terrarium. And the molts from my dubias. Egg shells that I wash and pulverize in my food processor. I grew pumpkins last summer and the small decorative ones kept well in the fridge, so I chopped them up in food processor and used Knox gelatin and combined with grated carrots, spinach, apple and froze the mixture by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet then bagged it. My isopods, dubias, crickets and dogs love it. I let it thaw and they go nuts for it.
I'm glad you liked it! It is a great idea to take what you learn from lots of resources and figure out what works for you! I have been adjusting and changing things over the last couple of years of keeping isopods and I imagine that in another few years it will probably look different then it does today. :-D
I love these videos! Probably some of the most accurate info about isopods that you can find on CZcams compressed into digestible amounts of time! 1:00 Some very good advice! Organic (no artificial fertilizers) compost and topsoil are great substrates/substrate components. Something a lot of people did in the past is use coco coir which isopods cannot eat and is also more expensive. Isopods primary diet should be their substrate and the leaves. Flake soil, white rot wood are all great things to add to isopod substrate. Mixing up crushed up leaves into the substrate is also great and then on top of the substrate a layer of leaves like an inch thick. 1:25 Replacing a portion of the substrate every few months is essential, especially with higher population densities to avoid a crash. Not replacing the substrate will lead to the substrate being turned into frass (isopod poop) and the isopods will have a sudden dieoff. It depends on the population density but a good rule of thumb is to replace 1/3-1/4 of the substrate every few months to half year. I’ll finish this later 👍
Thanks for subscribing! That's awesome. I don't have any pod specific enclosures, but I do talk to a lot of people who set them up at shows. This past show a guy purchased rubber duckies from me that he was setting up in a display enclosure. I always thought zebras would probably be an excellent choice for a pod display since they are bolder than many of the other species. :-D
@danellescritters thanks so much for your advice! My Springtails arrived today so I need to get a move on! I love Rubber Duckies but had heard that they're very shy. I was offered some Dairy Cows but now I'm tempted by some Magic Potions...
I just have backyard rollie-polies. I think theres 3 species but one might be a morph. Ive found sheaded carrots and cut strawberry tops are their favorites. They horde for those
It's been hit or miss on the carrots for us. Some bins eat the heck out of them and some not so much. I also chop sweet potatoes for our dubia roach colony. They love it and I tossed sweet potato cubes and peas in with some of the isopods and some of them ate it all up and others ate just the peas. :-P
I make my own "roach chow" and I feed it to my isopods as well. You can find commercial products that would do the same thing. The powder is greenish because it has some algae powder in it to help boost nutrition of my critters. :-D
This is most likely just fine. :-D They really can do well on almost anything, just benefit from things that work well for them to eat. They won't eat mulch until it starts to break down so it works more as a filler than a snack, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad or wrong. The organic planting mix likely has lots of stuff in there that they can eat as well.
I whole heartedly agree, but there are people who are doing it. Cat waste is the worst though and there are so many parasites that can be in there. We don't clean any waste into our isopod bins so the only isos here eating waste are those that are part of a bioactive set up. We currently have a leopard gecko, a garter snake, a ball python, emerald tree skinks, and several species of geckos on bioactive though because they are awesome.
Thank you for this video! Awesome information and very simple. I am almost ready to start putting my starter isopod cultures into bigger bins... I would love to see your video on how you go about doing that. Thanks.
When I purchase new isopods I put them right into 6 quart bins. I bought a few larger bins from other people off of Craigslist and decided I liked the 6 quart ones better because they are easier to stack on the shelf and it is easier to control the humidity in the bins, so I have never moved a colony to a larger bin, but I do have a few that need the substrate replaced and to do that I will pretty much start a new bin and then move as many over as I can. I can do a video of that and show you my process for refreshing their setup. :-D
Great video! I have wild caught native isopods, and I use a good potting medium for substrate. The only trees we have around her are elms, and my neighbor’s yard is where I got the isopods, so I can get some established in my compost bin and new flower beds. I have wood from an elm tree stump, probably cut down 30 years or so ago, that my neighbor dug up and it’s beautifully decayed and rotted. I took all of the stump, and also collected bark from another dead tree and that’s my wood for them. I do scald and bake the wood and bark because we have fire ants here and wood roaches. But because I’ve sanitized it, before I put any wood “crumbles “ in my terrariums that all my isopods are in, I soak the wood for a couple days so it gets nice and hydrated.
I feed romaine, zucchini, powdered roach chow, other greens when I have them, and now and then bits of apple. Fish flakes are a fave, and when I have dead crickets I’ll toss one or two in each terrarium. And the molts from my dubias. Egg shells that I wash and pulverize in my food processor. I grew pumpkins last summer and the small decorative ones kept well in the fridge, so I chopped them up in food processor and used Knox gelatin and combined with grated carrots, spinach, apple and froze the mixture by spoonfuls on a cookie sheet then bagged it. My isopods, dubias, crickets and dogs love it. I let it thaw and they go nuts for it.
Sounds like they get a huge variety. I'm sure that they will multiply quickly with all the good stuff in their lives. :-D
@@danellescritters oh believe me, they have multiplied like crazy!!!
Good video. I like to listen to how people’s care differ, then tweek it to work for me
I'm glad you liked it! It is a great idea to take what you learn from lots of resources and figure out what works for you! I have been adjusting and changing things over the last couple of years of keeping isopods and I imagine that in another few years it will probably look different then it does today. :-D
I'm your 261th subscriber hi from 🇵🇭
Thank you for the subscription and welcome! :-D
I love these videos! Probably some of the most accurate info about isopods that you can find on CZcams compressed into digestible amounts of time!
1:00 Some very good advice! Organic (no artificial fertilizers) compost and topsoil are great substrates/substrate components. Something a lot of people did in the past is use coco coir which isopods cannot eat and is also more expensive. Isopods primary diet should be their substrate and the leaves. Flake soil, white rot wood are all great things to add to isopod substrate. Mixing up crushed up leaves into the substrate is also great and then on top of the substrate a layer of leaves like an inch thick.
1:25 Replacing a portion of the substrate every few months is essential, especially with higher population densities to avoid a crash. Not replacing the substrate will lead to the substrate being turned into frass (isopod poop) and the isopods will have a sudden dieoff. It depends on the population density but a good rule of thumb is to replace 1/3-1/4 of the substrate every few months to half year.
I’ll finish this later 👍
Glad you like them!
Is this supposed to be a summary or what? All this info is in the video.
New sub. I'm setting up a pod scape tank this week!
Thanks for subscribing! That's awesome. I don't have any pod specific enclosures, but I do talk to a lot of people who set them up at shows. This past show a guy purchased rubber duckies from me that he was setting up in a display enclosure. I always thought zebras would probably be an excellent choice for a pod display since they are bolder than many of the other species. :-D
@danellescritters thanks so much for your advice! My Springtails arrived today so I need to get a move on! I love Rubber Duckies but had heard that they're very shy. I was offered some Dairy Cows but now I'm tempted by some Magic Potions...
Thank you. Just found your videos. I have subscribed. And once I see your other videos will probably share your site.
Thanks for subscribing and for taking the time to comment. :-D I have lots more videos coming including some more on isopods!
Great video! Can’t wait to see more!
Thank you!!
Lots of great information! Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
I just have backyard rollie-polies. I think theres 3 species but one might be a morph. Ive found sheaded carrots and cut strawberry tops are their favorites. They horde for those
It's fun watching them run for their food. :-D
I use sliced carrot pieces. They looove it
It's been hit or miss on the carrots for us. Some bins eat the heck out of them and some not so much. I also chop sweet potatoes for our dubia roach colony. They love it and I tossed sweet potato cubes and peas in with some of the isopods and some of them ate it all up and others ate just the peas. :-P
So what's the greenish looking powder that you r feeding?
I make my own "roach chow" and I feed it to my isopods as well. You can find commercial products that would do the same thing. The powder is greenish because it has some algae powder in it to help boost nutrition of my critters. :-D
I used organic planting mix with mulch. I hope thats okay.
This is most likely just fine. :-D They really can do well on almost anything, just benefit from things that work well for them to eat. They won't eat mulch until it starts to break down so it works more as a filler than a snack, but that doesn't necessarily make it bad or wrong. The organic planting mix likely has lots of stuff in there that they can eat as well.
@@danellescritters thank you!!!
Cleaning your litter box into your iso bins is gross af
I whole heartedly agree, but there are people who are doing it. Cat waste is the worst though and there are so many parasites that can be in there. We don't clean any waste into our isopod bins so the only isos here eating waste are those that are part of a bioactive set up. We currently have a leopard gecko, a garter snake, a ball python, emerald tree skinks, and several species of geckos on bioactive though because they are awesome.
Thank you for this video! Awesome information and very simple. I am almost ready to start putting my starter isopod cultures into bigger bins... I would love to see your video on how you go about doing that. Thanks.
When I purchase new isopods I put them right into 6 quart bins. I bought a few larger bins from other people off of Craigslist and decided I liked the 6 quart ones better because they are easier to stack on the shelf and it is easier to control the humidity in the bins, so I have never moved a colony to a larger bin, but I do have a few that need the substrate replaced and to do that I will pretty much start a new bin and then move as many over as I can. I can do a video of that and show you my process for refreshing their setup. :-D