Isopodium News: New Enclosures

 

My isobabes have new enclosures! Since all three species of my isopods have given birth to at least two broods now, one of the things we did for my birthday week was to set up new enclosures for them. After setting them up, we let them sit for almost a week before moving the isopods into them.

While these enclosures are not bigger in width, they are deeper, which will allow a lot more room for the springtails to expand their populations and for the Oreo Crumble isopods to burrow, because mine like to dig down and hide. The extra depth will also help the substrate not dry out so quickly, which means that we will not have to add water or mist the enclosures as often. 

My mum and I also picked out new hides (things that the isopods can hide in/under) for my isobabes. There are pieces of cholla wood, which is really just dried out cactus, but it is like wood; dried lotus seed pods; and large dried magnolia leaves. Each enclosure has one of each of those, as well as some cuttlefish bone for calcium (and there is powdered calcium mixed into the substrate) and tiny little 3D printed food dishes (not pictured above).

I cannot wait to see how much bigger my colonies get now that they have more room to grow!

[1/6 a freshly set up enclosure for Oreo Crumble isopods featuring a piece of cholla wood, a large magnolia leaf, a lotus seed pod, and cuttlefish bone. 2/6 an Oreo Crumble isopod on a piece of cholla wood. 3/6 a freshly set up enclosure for Chocolate Zebra isopods minus the magnolia leaf. Two Zebras can be seen in the moss towards the middle of the enclosure. 4/6 closeup of two Zebras in damp moss. 5/6 a freshly set up enclosure for Dairy Cow isopods. 6/6 closeup of a Dairy Cow isopod crawling on a damp piece of moss next to a piece of cuttlefish bone.]