Happy Sunday, everyone! ✨

For about 5 years ever since me and my family started calling this home, I've been throwing garden leftovers into my wooden compost bin. Turning everything over without giving much thought to the tiny creatures living inside it.

I had no idea about isopods (or how I would later show them to my kids). Que was simple: Misses made a new stew, leftover went on a plate, I had the honorary service of taking it to the pile, dip it, POOF gone. NEVER ONCE did I care about the process afterwards. We used the soil to grow our crops and even if you can't taste the words..... the juicy tomatoes.. were.......

But this year a ruffle in that pile made me more curious than before. With every toss AN ARMY of thousands tiny little guys and gals rushed back inside.. isopods.. The common folk... YOU COULD literally hear them just like a leaf shuffle. Nothing like the bunch I'm used to see commonly here.. zebras, rubber ducky (my daughter would love those <3), panda, dwarf white.. no, the simple grey ones, with those little striations on their armor. My lovely piglets.

This is not self promotion, this is appreciation. Was not indenting to overshare here but.. the guys on /composting had me hoping you guys would love it as much as them.. I've built an all inclusive hotel for my isopods in my compost bin.. never did I ever thought.. their world was this complicated..

I’ve had my rubber duckies for about a year and a half now! The terrarium is growing in well, 2 of the original 4 plants are remaining, I may replant a different type but for now the growth of both the fern and the creeping ivy are doing well!

I recently added back in more leaves, and decay wood, lotus pods etc to give them more things to munch on and they seem super happy and active!

I’m not sure when I need to be concerned about over crowding, but I do have a lot of them xD I just love seeing them explore and zoom around like crazy little guys. Hope you all enjoy!

Armadillidium Vulgare "Magic Potion"

This particular pod's name is Bonk, one of my biggest females.

How would I go about building things like this for my isopod enclosures? I’m interested in making things for them but don’t know how to safely

I know they’re just eating the softer and more tasty parts preferentially, but I really love how isopods skeletonize leaves. It’s like they’re leaving behind intricate lace.

Ft. baby dairy cow with full belly

i purchased 5 duckies 3 months ago, but then after 1 month i had to go away for volunteering and left family to care for the pods.

they definitely did their best (only slightly overwatered some of them but no harm done there) however the duckies are gone other than one definitely newly dead one and a few pieces of what may be another one dead.

my other pods are all fine and my family swears they followed the instructions i left and i do trust them, plus enclosure seemed in good condition when i returned. i’m very confused!

could it be something in the habitat that just didn’t kill them for a few months or is it because of the care while they were left with family?

also even if just 1 or 2 have died that leaves me with 3 or 4, will they still even breed with numbers that low? i felt like 5 was already a risk but they’re so expensive ;-;

Looks like its trying to drink the water?

Considering cubaris murina are usually so shy, I was a bit stunned to find this pair out in the open on top of one of my snake's hides, being exhibitionists. They've literally been up there for like 10 minutes like this. At least, I'm assuming they're trying to mate...

Found this possible chimera in my experimental color morph vulgar project. Looks like it is half magic potion- half wild type.

I’m wanting to try a more convenient setup for my isopods. I have several species I’m setting up new enclosures for. They’re 16qt bins with 1” holes covered with thread-on ventilation. I put a black mark 3” in height on the right side. I was planning on putting that much substrate in there, but that looks a bit much. I’m wondering if the ventilation and the depth will be sufficient, lacking, or excessive for the following species:

P. laevis (dairy cow)

P. pruinosus (mix)

Cubaris sp. Cherry Blossom

C. convexus

A. vulgare (magic potion, American)

P. spinicornis (don’t have yet)

T. rathkii (don’t have yet)

Bin Measurements

Inches: 17 1/8 x 11 7/8 x 6 3/4

cm: 43.4 x 30.1 x 17.1

I've been foraging leaves, bark and rotwood for my isopods over the last few weekends, stocking up before winter. I live in rural NJ, surrounded by woods untouched by pesticides. I gathered up quite a bit of leaves (thank you , Autumn!) a few pieces of bark and then went to my real objective: gathering rotwood (the one thing I don't have in abundance). 

An old tree that had fallen in the forest a while back that has already started decomposing seemed to be my best bet. I knew that the fallen tree had a lively ecosystem, so I did my best to avoid areas that had obvious signs of habitation. I pulled a few chunks from the back side, tapped them vigorously and when nothing emerged, placed them into a bucket.

I soaked the wood (completely submerged) in distilled water for just over 48 hours hrs, making sure to move it around a few times to get at any trapped air bubbles where unwanted hitchhikers could've survived. After removing the wood, I let it dry for another 48 hours. 

I'm super paranoid about unwanted hitchhikers, so just to make sure, I placed some of the larger pieces in the oven and baked them at 200°F for 30 minutes. When i opened the oven door, I was shocked to find piles of ants (albeit crispy and quite dead) next to two of the pieces.

I'm not sure if these ants managed to survive the soaking only to die in the oven or if they'd perished in the water and fell out whilst baking. Either way, it was unnerving to see them after taking so many precautions. 

So now I'm wondering, did I miss a step, perform a step incorrectly or should I be doing something else entirely?

What about these chunks of wood? They've been soaked and baked, so should be free of pests (live pests, anyway) but I'm a bit worried. Should I toss them or are they now safe to use in isopod enclosures?

Hi! I’m new to keeping little pods! I recently just got some powder isopods in the mail. There were a few doa but majority seemed healthy and active. I found this one in the humid side hours after I moved them into their new home. They were not moving. I believe they’re dead or actively dying. When I moved them they flipped over and their stomach looked like this. I didn’t notice this when I initially inspected them before placing them into their home. What is this? Should I be worried about my other isopods?

Unsure what flair to use, sorry.

Can anyone help me identify the species of these? I'm thinking "Philoscia muscorum" but I'm not sure

My pods absolutely love it. I’m not sure how long it’ll last before it molds but I hope they get to the core before it does.

can panda mancae be this small / this color or is this potentially a dwarf white? it's miniscule. smallest isopod i've ever seen

I prepped the permanent home for my dairycows :3 they have forest soil, a thick layer of leaf litter, some rotting hardwood and moss on the wet side.

I noticed there's one normal boy in my colony :v or could it be a dairycow that happens to be all black?

Once these get going I may look into zebras or gestrois.. hard choice, theyre both so pretty! But I don't have infinate space so it will be one or the other.