Happy Sunday, everyone! ✨

Hello!

Context: About 4 months ago, one of my good friends that also keeps isopods moved several states over (US). While they were moving and getting settled down, I offered to take in their isopods and take care of them until they're ready for me to send them to their new place. Just because it was a long 3 day road trip that was already packed full and it would've been very difficult transporting them that way. Then it got really hot so we decided I'd hold them for a bit longer until it cooled down a little.

With that aside, we're thinking it'd be good to start shipping them over small batches. I've never shipped isopods, so I suppose I'm looking for advice on a) packaging them up, and b) how to actually ship them off.

For packaging them, I got a bunch of teeny totes from Lowe's (literally 0.09 gallons lol) and drilled some air holes in it. I was thinking I'd gather as many of them as I can find from each bin, and put them in a teeny tote with spagnum moss.

For the bin itself, and any stragglers I didn't find, would topping it off with leaf litter and moss be sufficient as 'packaging'? Just to hopefully keep their dirt and hides from jumbling around during shipment?

I also got a roll of thermal foil insulation I planned on lining the actual shipping box with, in addition to some dry ice packs to keep them cool. Also stickers to put on the outside that say "this side up ⬆️ contains live animals", something like that.

As for part b) of my question- say I have them all packaged and ready to go, how do I go about actually getting them shipped out? For reference, I'm the type of person who had to google "how do I order a subway sandwich" before I went into a subway on my own the first time (embarrassing, I know). My best guess is I go to a post office, hand them my package and tell them I want to ship it off and they'll print a label and charge me? Next day delivery of course. I just don't know what to even say or if I need to explain exactly what's in the box. I was assuming no since it's being shipped within the country, but I don't know for sure and was just hoping someone with experience could provide some insight!

The plan is to do a trial shipment first with the more hardy/ low cost isopods (like dairy cows and lavas) and see how that goes before proceeding with the rest in small batches. There's 11 bins total

Sorry for the long post, obligatory spiky pics!

Took a video of my Cubaris sp. Crabby walking across a stick after a misting and thought y'all might enjoy it. It's so adorably cute, he's just a lil dude.

(edited to put in genus)

Hi everyone :) I was sweeping my balcony and i see a pile of grass and dirt behind a a bin of my garden supplies, I sweep it up and I disturbed these little guys living there. I tried to be gentle
and pick them all up and put them in a container. They probably had a big journey getting all the way to the 6th story of my apartment building. Anyway I was thinking of getting isopods for a while and have done a little bit of research on how to keep them. Any ideas on an ID on these little guys? Found in Northern Ohio. :) Thanks!

(DW this is a very temporary enclosure for them :)

Today I received my first two species of isopods. I hope they enjoy their new home. I've tried to learn as much as possible about both species and have ideal conditions for them inside each bin. Now time will tell if I did well. I have to resist the urge to look into their bins every hour and let them settle in. :)

Do thease look like the picture under normal light? They're a gift and I would really love the blue and gray tones

Heyo! Is it normal for Dairy Cows to be this white? I only see her when I put dried beef liver in the tank and she comes out of hiding to feed like a crazy bean. Is she sick? : ( Or just picky with her protein?

Lookit all the little baby moos!! They really love their kale and zucchini!

Looking for a good breed to start with. I will be settig up a colony in my classroom at school. I have no interest in breeding to sell or growing a massive colony so I would ideally like a type that is slower to reproduce. What is your recommendation? Where should I acquire them from? I'm located in a small town in southern usa, little to no chance of finding sellers locally so looking for some that can be shipped to me.

Thanks!

I was wanting to get some papaya isos to go in this setup! Any criticisms or things i can do/fix to make it more suitable for them? Or if this isn’t fit for them what species should I get instead? I’m foraging tomorrow for oak leaves for leaf litter (don’t worry, i’ll be sanitizing them via baking!) And i’m aware of the basics (springtails, moisture gradient, calcium source/iso diet, hides) so no need for help in that regard. The moist sides vents are taped off to allow more moisture retention.

I started with six P. spatulatus. A couple of them died in the first enclosure. I realised I had made a mistake with the setup and the substrate was way too wet, so I made another enclosure with drier substrate. Two more died shortly after this.

This second enclosure is nearly identical to my P. sevilla enclosure, yet my P. sevilla colony is actually doing well. I've heard they have similar needs so I must be missing something here.

My theory regarding the two recent deaths is that they were already dying in the first enclosure and just couldn't survive even after I moved them.

I'm not really sure what to do now. I'm aware that isopods fare better in groups, so I am thinking about getting more P. spatulatus to help the two remaining individuals get comfortable, but I'm worried I'll get more die-offs. Also these are quite pricey isopods. I am also thinking of just moving them to a much smaller enclosure so I can use the enclosure for another species.

I am also considering giving these remaining two individuals to someone who already has an established P. spatulatus colony so they can be "adopted" into a good environment. Then again, that can be time-consuming and pricey, what with the transportation/delivery fees these days.

I feel really guilty about this. All my other 10 isopod colonies are doing well. Rest in peace, flat bois ):

That one perk running over everyone with a mouthful of dried shrimp. Absolutely no manners

Found on plant next to another.

Did the color grab tool on some pics of my A. maculatum and look at the differences! I’m excited to see what ends up coming from them once the breeding really gets going.

I took a few of these guys from the wild and am now breeding them. They’re a pretty common and generic looking species over here. Any attempts to research what species they are have lead nowhere so any help would be appreciated.

Sticker

I found this isopod in a container with Porcellionides pruinosus Orange. I don't know why it looks like this. There are no other similar isopods in the container.

It's light-phobic, constantly hiding under the bark, and prefers to burrow into the substrate. Unlike the other isopods in the container, it wasn't as active and spent most of its time hiding, so I found it by chance while cleaning the container. It had recently molted, and its coloring hadn't changed at all.

I put together a new enclosure for my 10 rubber duckies and it's being taken over by this green mold. Will enough springtails take care of this? I already have springtails in here, but perhaps not enough?

Thanks in advance 🙏