Shawn H Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 So I've been occasionally seeing mention of using isopods in a roach habitat to help reduce the amount of mold and waste. Whats everyones opinion of this? Is it neccessary? If you do it how does it work for you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt K Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 So I've been occasionally seeing mention of using isopods in a roach habitat to help reduce the amount of mold and waste. Whats everyones opinion of this? Is it neccessary? If you do it how does it work for you? I have Orange isopods in a couple roach cultures, and both parties seem fine. I also have Dwarf Whites in two other roach cultures, which also seem fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zephyr Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 One of the local universities had wood lice and common isopods in with their roaches, so I don't think it'll affect them much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Driggers Posted September 11, 2007 Share Posted September 11, 2007 I considered doing this a while back before I got rid of all my isopods, but never tried it for fear of the enclosures getting too dry between feedings. I was working with smaller colonies of roaches then and only had to open them once a week or less so it got pretty dry and I was afraid the isopods wouldn't do very well in those conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gsc Posted September 12, 2007 Share Posted September 12, 2007 I just finished adding the Dwarf White Isopods to all my colonies other than the pholyphaga and the Panesthia (Yes, I finally got a couple of young P. a. spadica).... They should work out just perfectly...with deep wood/leaf/coco fibre substrate in all my cages, the isopods whould have enough moisture (might just have to burry down a tad deeper as the cages dry out)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn H Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 Well I keep my hissers at about 80-90% humidity I think that would be plenty humid. Is it worth investing in some isopods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Driggers Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Well I keep my hissers at about 80-90% humidity I think that would be plenty humid. Is it worth investing in some isopods? I've used them in tarantula and scorpion enclosures, and I gotta say I was 100% pleased with the janitorial staff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn H Posted September 23, 2007 Author Share Posted September 23, 2007 Follow up: I went ahead and ordered some of them to try in my hisser colony. They are doing good the cage is looking very clean now. I had a bit of mold starting to grow on the coco fiber but the isopods seemed to have eaten it all up now in about a week. I'll definately be adding more to my other colonies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EffeCi Posted September 24, 2007 Share Posted September 24, 2007 I always put White Dwarf Isopods (Trichorhina tomentosa) in all my wet substrates (roaches, millipedes, centipedes, etc) and I never had problems... they work well, reproduce a lot and keep more aired the substrate... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I'm thinking about ordering some isopods for my hisser colony. They won't interfere with the hisser nymphs or anything, right? I don't think they will, but I figure I'm better safe than sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I'm thinking about ordering some isopods for my hisser colony. They won't interfere with the hisser nymphs or anything, right? I don't think they will, but I figure I'm better safe than sorry. They won't bother hisser nymphs or most species but they crowd out the slow growing Arenivaga species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 Well. I'm only getting about 12-15, or do they breed like crazy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crittergu Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Dwarf whites are real popular with exotic animal keepers and will pretty much always be due to their rather slow reproduction. So you'll have no problem getting rid of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Thanks for that info. I'm going to go ahead and order some with part of my next paycheck. I've got a few more enclosures to clean up now, not just Hissers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EffeCi Posted October 14, 2007 Share Posted October 14, 2007 Dwarf whites are real popular with exotic animal keepers and will pretty much always be due to their rather slow reproduction. So you'll have no problem getting rid of them. Slow reproduction? They breed like rabbits... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted October 15, 2007 Share Posted October 15, 2007 Doh! Oh well. At the rate I'm acquiring inverts, I'm gonna need all I can get. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn H Posted October 15, 2007 Author Share Posted October 15, 2007 Doh! Oh well. At the rate I'm acquiring inverts, I'm gonna need all I can get. lol If you have any lizards they will pretty much take care of any invert overpopulation problems you can have. My 4 monitor lizards and 12 tarantulas keep my 6 colonies of roaches in check pretty well. And I have isopods in 3 of the 6 roach colonies. (6 dif roach species) Too bad my pythons don't eat roaches, that would be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RosenKrieger Posted October 16, 2007 Share Posted October 16, 2007 If you have any lizards they will pretty much take care of any invert overpopulation problems you can have. My 4 monitor lizards and 12 tarantulas keep my 6 colonies of roaches in check pretty well. And I have isopods in 3 of the 6 roach colonies. (6 dif roach species) Too bad my pythons don't eat roaches, that would be perfect. I just got a tarantula. He might eat the extra isopods. haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romango Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 From my romantic-ecological point of view, I always prefer to give my animals (birds, reptiles , roaches etc.) the most 'natural' habitat conditions. As for roaches , I simply put rotten leaves and rich, humic soil (collected from an oak wood near my home) in their plastic container . That's all. This is not a sterile 'substrate' but a little universe populated by million microscopic creepers. (That's BIODIVERSITY at his best!) . As my Polyphaga species live most of their life underground, I like to think they enjoy the company! Moreover they don't eat any kind of 'commercial' food I give them. So, I suppose all these micro-critters will produce good pre-digested leaf and wood stuff for the roaches to eat. p.s I added some Trichorhyna for best , bought from the man named EffeCì..... romango Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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