I recently stumbled upon the isopods subreddit and became fascinated; I just had to give it a try myself! Unlike ants, Isopods behave like normal animals (no colony/hive behavior, no queen etc…) and seem much easier to keep.

Isopods are decomposers and eat primarily dead leaves and rotting wood, but also sometimes feast on calcium and protein sources. They need a humid terrarium environment and like some substrate to dig into. For the substrate, I got lucky and found a half-decomposed tree with “fresh” dirt in the middle. I scavenged some bark off of the tree which happened to already contain isopods; the moss was from the roots. This entire terrarium came from one single tree. It’s amazing how much life a rotting tree contains! The moss is misted heavily twice weekly; this is where the isopods will get their water.

I’m looking forward to updating you as this colony progresses!

Look at how cute they are!

Last thing, I just created a new aquatic jar. Check out Hillside Swamp!