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    Ligidium elrodii sighting

    10/6

    Finally another one off the isopod bucket list! I was on the rainbow falls trail in the smoky mountains looking for one of the small mountain species with zero luck until I picked up a random wet piece of wood and found him sitting under it. He was flexible and WAY faster than expected. Lots of clinging and darting. The huge round eyes are super hard to miss. It was by a stream in an area where I hadn't seen any isopods at all until him. The only things there were millipedes and a bristletail. I don't think I'm far enough east for blueridgense, but maybe one day I'll see one of those guys too.

    Goals and dream pods

    Get an oreo crumble and a powder orange pruinosus to breed together
    Cubaris sp. 'soil'

    Pic from rubberduckyisopods

    Clips

    Photo gallery

    ★ for the ones I have as pets

    Armadillidium nasatum

    Chaetophiloscia sicula

    ★ Armadillidium vulgare

    Cylisticus convexus

    Miktoniscus medcofi

    ★Trichorhina tomentosa

    ★Porcellio laevis

    ★Porcellio hoffmannseggii

    ★Porcellionides pruinosus (oreo crumble)

    ★Porcellionides pruinosus (powder orange)

    Trachelipus rathkii

    Porcellio scaber

    Useful links

    Why isopods??

    What's not to like? Simple pet care plus the fun of collecting pokemon irl! They're very Shaped, completely harmless AND so overlooked that there's plenty of new stuff to learn about them. I got totally invested after waking up one day to see one of my dwarf whites freshly molted and remember showing my geology lab TA (who also thought it was really cool). The community is also super welcoming!

    Books: Isopod Zoology and Isopods in Captivity (both by Orin McMonigle), Pet Isopods: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping and Caring for Your Tiny Crustacean Friends (Dr. Gerard Benjamin Phillips),

    Wait...

    You're not an isopod!!

    Supplies

    Substrate: bugzy's isocare and rolydirt, Container: Large critter tote from petsmart

    Keeping updates

    The four A. vulgare I caught in may had babies! I got several out of their cohab tank with the p pruinosus and am letting them stay in this little glass cube thing until they grow some and I get another critter tote for a full colony of them. Also the titans did finally have babies with more on the way!! Maybe it's just bc they're big but they seem to grow pretty fast.

    My photo of the namesake nose on a. Nasatum. Not all isopods have this!

    First species: T. Tomentosa as a cleanup crew for my corked vivarium

    Favorite species: Tie between Porcellio hoffmannseggii and Ligia pallasii

    Least favorite species: Whatever flat aquatic one (genus lirceus) that lives by my house bc I can't identify them or get good pics without hurting them

    Easiest species: The dairy cows w/o question. First to breed and big eaters

    Currently looking for irl: More h. danicus. I finally found one but all the pics were awful