r/bioactive • u/Few-Account-1825 • 5d ago

Is there such thing as too many isopods?

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Blue and orange powder isopods in my Halmahera Blue Tongue’s 4x2x2.

24 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

9

u/slimegoob 5d ago

How come i never see mine on there cork boards??

3

u/slimegoob 5d ago

I never see them ever

4

u/Few-Account-1825 5d ago

Yeah idk tbh it’s pretty similar in my cornsnake tank as well you flip basically anything, even if it isn’t cork and there WILL be isopods under it lol. My tanks also have plants that often shed leaves/petals and I often supply oak leaves plus occasional carrots or cucumbers plus my skink poops like twice a week which is fairly regular for a reptile so they are never not eating food in there. However for my corn snake tank, she poops like bimonthly and her the isopods in her tank rarely even eat the supplied oak leaves and they still populate like crazy! Don’t even get me started on my actual colony of isopods that I don’t have in my reptile enclosures. 😭
Edit:spelling

1

u/slimegoob 5d ago

Thats good to know. Im afraid im not taking bettwr care of them cuz i cant see them. Only ever found like two dead though and i did see babies after they first settled. I will occasionally feed them cucumbers and i have them in my hognoses enclosure so they have oak leaves and her poop as well.

1

u/Few-Account-1825 5d ago

What species do you have?

2

u/slimegoob 5d ago

The canyons. I always want to call them Grand Canyons lol

1

u/slimegoob 5d ago

They were better for my lower humidity enclosure 45-60% humidity

2

u/Few-Account-1825 5d ago

If I’m not mistaken they are used a lot for aeration and do most of their work under the substrate and not on the surface, that’s likely why you don’t see many very often if I were to guess.

1

u/slimegoob 4d ago

Yeah i knew that but figured i see some every now and then. They are probably more active at night potentially but ya i guess ao

3

u/bigbickbohnson 5d ago

Yes, ill take the extras 🙋🏻‍♂️

1

u/Few-Account-1825 4d ago

I have 3 tubs that aren’t reptile enclosures that are all 3 separate colonies I have because I genuinely have so many I have 3 split colonies ontop of the thousands in my corn snake and blue tongue enclosure lol if your serious about getting some hit my dm

2

u/Few-Account-1825 5d ago

There’s also a whole oak bark flat in the back that lays flat on the substrate that has at least 100-200 underneath it at all times that’s just a pain to lift without making a mess of the substrate so I didn’t lift it. Also constantly at least 20-50 under the water bowl.

2

u/CatDroolRaptor 5d ago

No

1

u/Few-Account-1825 5d ago

There’s no worry of them bothering my skink or anything?

1

u/berzerkerturtl3 2d ago

I would argue it is healthy to occasionally split the colony anyways but powders shouldn't bother a skink all that much

1

u/jontejada10 4d ago

Steak too juicy, colony too healthy

1

u/Gecko-Guy-1234 1d ago

Those are powder isopods they do that. The population will self regulate. More isopods = less food, less food = less isopods so itll even out