Isopods - Backyard Critters

My isopod farm and observations

Category:

Education

Tags:

• hulitoons
• isopod
• isopods
• farm
• critters
• pillbug
• sowbut

[katherinemch]

Very thorough! I love these weird little dudes!! I'm hoping you may be able to help me identify one I met on vacation. It was on the coast of Vancouver Island, by a hotspring, so I don't know if he was from the Red Cedar rainforest, the hot freshwater, the intertidal zone, or just visiting from the sea. He was identical to your pets except 2-3 inches long! Maybe he was the same, just older &/or the hospitable climate made him grow...but he was SO BIG. Any ideas? Thanks.

[hulitoons]

@katherinemch I'm leaning toward a specific species rather than environmental hospitality. What you saw sounds smaller than the 'Giant Isopod' or the genus Bathynomus. Isopods can grow to about 2 inches though. There are photos of the giant isopods though if you do a google search....do these look like what you saw?

[moepippy]

Ew, Tomato bugs. I like to squish the shit out of these

[hulitoons]

First of all, these are not insects at all. Isopods are crustaceans. Tomato bugs/insects you are referring to are most likely paracitic insects that feed off the eggs laid by tomato hornworms.

I've actually given tomatoes to my isopods to see if they would eat them and that meal failed to lure them at all. Isopods like green leafy vegetation as well as decaying ground wood.

So, whatever you are killing are not these animals.

[SpockAndLoad]

I'm collecting some of these guys for an Environmental project and I kinda want to keep them going. What should I put in their little container "home" for them to eat? I have an apple tree in my yard and there are tons of decaying apples laying around. Should I put one of those in?

[hulitoons]

I experimented with various fruits and vegetables and had no takers until I started giving them leafy greens. They love green leafy lettuce and will really tear into the leaves! Also put in pinches of yellow cornmeal on occasion. Don't forget bark for them to climb under!

[bluone84]

ROLLIE POLLIE'S!

[UnicornSquirrel73]

Uhh...

[GrandMoneyMake]

If I ever touch those I'll mother fkers I would scream like hell

[jleer1]

3:57 - baby gets run over!

[brandonn1233]

and also I find that if i put a moist substrate and in corners i throw letuce the isopods have food and also i feed them carrots works well also but the turantula dont have good eyesite so it real;ly never is looking for food because i feed at least twice a week..

[brandonn1233]

what type of isopod is this?? i live in texas and the isopods that live in my yard there is just thousands that i can dig up i only took around 20 and now i have 150... around there its just a guess but its really awsome the way they move like i look att here feet and they just are all in unison its pretty rediculous and they do VERY good jobs of keep my turantula tanks clean and they never eat them because i feed them strictly crickets and mealworms.. but i like this video btw subscribe.

[StowAlex]

Nice informative video, enloyed.

[Sepiaapama]

Isopods are so cool!!

Thank you! This was very interesting and informative. Maybe someday I'll start my own farm...