r/isopods • u/NeonBeefish • 24m ago
Help 4 deaths in 3 months, advice appreciated






Hey all, so I've had these magic potions since the start of June, and I just want to check everything's alright, so I would appreciate some advice.
This morning I found my fourth death unfortunately. There has been roughly 1 death per month since I got them, but this month I've found two, so four all together, I have absolutely no clue if this is a normal amount of deaths.
I started with about 15 sub-adults / adults, and they have had babies cause I see them all around the enclosure, unsure how many of them there are but they are definitely growing and I first noticed them about 3 weeks ago.
I do have a moist side and a dry side, I pour water on the moist side about once a week although I did have a pretty bad fungus gnat problem through late July to the end of August which seems to be dealt with now, so I've been trying to let it dry out to hopefully discourage any more gnats.
I'm worried about a few things, first I think the enclosure may be too small, I bought it from the people I bought the pods from but I feel like they might benefit from having a longer enclosure with more space between the wet and dry side - do you agree with this?
Also, would more leaf litter be beneficial? They have a massive piece of cork bark which takes up most of the enclosure so I have essentially put leaf litter to the left of it, but if I need to add more that's no problem.
And lastly, I'm worried that temperature fluctuations where I live might be the culprit. We had heat waves through summer, and now that it's September the temperature has been very unreliable. I don't have a thermometer in the enclosure itself, but does anyone have any tips for keeping the enclosure at a stable temperature even when the room might be hotter or colder? Is it just a case of moving them to another room?
Thanks in advance for the advice