Best Calcium Sources for Isopods?

[@krns28]

Oh I’m totally stealing that finely ground eggshell idea for the soil!

[@Aquarimax]

Please do!

[@br0k3nsp1re]

I just have to let you know how insanely valuable you are to this community. I was interested in isopods years ago but couldn't get any at the time. Last week, I went to a local pet shop, saw they had a ton of containers, full of isopods, half of them dead, dry as bone substrate, and the lids were all sealed. I bought them all (at a 75% discount thankfully) and get to work. Now, they're eating voraciously, coming out every time I mist, and I think I see eggs underneath one. This is all possibly because of your videos. Thank you for your massive contribution to the hobby.

[@Aquarimax]

You’re welcome, and thank YOU for letting me know my efforts are appreciated! 😁

[@br0k3nsp1re]

@Aquarimax Anytime man.

[@zyxwfish]

I put egg shells in a toaster oven and let them brown a little. This acts as a feeding stimulant. They eat them quickly and more vigorously if they are toasted.

[@Aquarimax]

Great observation! I wonder what attracts them more?

[@zyxwfish]

@@Aquarimax I have no idea but try it!

[@bladioYT]

I've had great success with ground eggshell

[@Aquarimax]

It is a good one!

[@SeverusSnape12345]

I use primarily egg shells. I have a friend who has chickens and other birds. They use the egg shells themselves, but is also more than willing to give me some when I need it. I also keep the egg shells from eggs my husband and I consume for them too. My friend also gave me powdered oyster shells and my isopods seem to absolutely love that too! I have also used cuttlebone and like that too.

[@InvertebrateDude]

Great video, nice to have a compilation and explanation of different calcium sources to use w pros and cons for each. :)

[@Aquarimax]

Thanks for creating that video on how to solidify calcium carbonate!

[@Spooderpods]

Really good tips in this! I'm a new entry into the Isopod hobby and am catching up to learn all I can/improve my husbandry!

[@shadowynne]

I used fine ground eggshell, but also offer bones which are greedily gnawed upon with great vigor

[@Aquarimax]

I have offered bones too…I forgot to mention that! Thanks for chiming in!

[@Trundlebugg]

I initially started off my tubs with calcium powder but I haven’t used it for a while, part of my soil base is homemade worm castings which has ground eggshells in it! 😃 I always have a lump of cuttlefish in each tub but there’s not been much sign of them eating it since I’ve been experimenting with diet. Been trailing different foods and their new favourites are dried shrimp and small fish. They haven’t been interested in much else since I started with those and I guess they’re both pretty calcium rich

[@Aquarimax]

That makes sense, if they have plenty of calcium from one source, they are less likely to seek it out elsewhere.

[@marikah6198]

Interesting. Maybe shrimp shells are preferred as it has both calcium and chitin. Shrimp shells are direct source of chitin vs creating own chitin from plant source. Chitin is the main component of their exoskeleton. In nature isopods eat dead bugs, and shrimp nutrients are close to bugs. When I first fed shrimp shells, a rubber ducky isopod ran straight to the shrimp tail with a bit of meat left, jumped on it. hugged it, and ate it up right away. It really liked it.

[@IsopodArtist]

Eggshells are a wonder for me, i use some shards of eggshells as a small "plate" for the isopod's fish flakes or pieces of fresh vegetablesto prevent mold on the substrate

[@joannew3905]

I keep Armadillidium maculatum, A. vulgare, and A. gestroi. Recently I gave each culture a small chunk of "dead" live rock that had been in my garden for several years. The maculatum completely ignored it. The vulgare showed slight interest. The gestroi SWARMED it. They love hanging out on it, and there are small white flecks on the substrate from them constantly chewing on it.

[@Aquarimax]

Interesting how different species have such different preferences!

[@SanosukeSagara18]

I finally caught one of your videos on isopods that are less than a few years old, lol. Anyways, I started with cuttlebone, swapped to crushed egg shells. I bought a mortar and pestle online but it was smaller than I thought it would be and my hands are big. It was a pain to use, sometimes literally. Now I got a small supply of chicken and cow rib bones from my own meals (free calcium, yay. lol). I'd purposely leave some meat on them, and let my Dairy Cows (or more recently my Lavas. I've tried offering to my other pods but it would always mold before they got it all) feast on them till they were meatless and bone dry (no pun intended), then pull them back out and put them in a container. I've thought of using the calcium powder you mentioned, been paranoid I'd miss something (as I often do) and buy something that contains something unsafe or just useless for my isopods. Plus the waist of money. I don't really have an income. Thanks for the video!

[@Charoozz520]

Of all the calcium I offered, cuttlebone seems to be the most popular 😊 awesome video and a great guide for providing calcium to our dirt shrimps

[@marikah6198]

As supplement to eat, shrimp shell provides both calcium and chitin, and my rubber ducky also likes shrimp meat. Instead of dead bugs they eat in nature, I give shrimps as supplements. In Japan, calcium-rich food for isopods include cheese and sesame seeds, though all agree cheese is too fancy for isopods. 😅

[@FullmetalAngyl]

I have some pieces of cuttlefish bone that they chew on. There's just one terrarium. Also there's a silo type dispenser filled with high calcium mealworm food.

[@junglethecannibal8595]

I'm trying powdered oyster shells at the moment

[@SeverusSnape12345]

I am also trying powdered oyster shells. They seem to love it! :D

[@moditorplayz]

all my pods love eggshells but they only eat it when its extremely powdered until it looks like something that will land me in jail

[@Aquarimax]

🤣 they definitely prefer their eggshell ground

[@stampinturtles]

Oh great video! Thx so much!

[@turtleman190]

Powdered cuttle bone works well also. I used it in my powder food mixes. But i find my own cuttle bone so have excess.

[@Aquarimax]

Makes sense!

[@leleAC96]

I know you can even use shells powder which seems to be a good way to provide calcium

[@Aquarimax]

Yes! As long as it is ground up finely enough it will work well

[@mountainhobbit1971]

very interesting and informative video Rus, I never thought about this but any idea how cuttle bone is sourced, and/or it is a biproduct of some other harvesting endeavor?

[@Aquarimax]

I remember finding cuttlebone on the beach in Italy…I believe it washes up in considerable quantities, but I am not sure if commercial cuttlebone is collected and/or harvested as a byproduct of cuttlefish harvest.

[@mountainhobbit1971]

@@Aquarimax makes sense, thanks Rus.

[@Crystalspets]

Awesome video I love using the color bone 🦴🦴

[@CRISPR-CasNine]

Is it better to make the leaf litter wet? I just started breeding but I’ve been used dry leaves that I bake at 200 F for 30 minutes.

[@jimmypautz]

I use oyster shell (like i have for my chickens). They consume it and didn't cost me anything extra.

[@joejoelesh1197]

I have easy access to Agricultural feed (livestock) grade limestone for free from a feed mill, and plentiful eggs, so those two are my preferred choices. For the egg shells, I bake them then toss them in a bullet blender. I'm a pretty small time Isopod keeper, so that is plenty good enough for me. The advantage of the bullet blender is that the dust is sealed up.

[@ghostrucok6617]

What breed is the isopod on the thumbnail

[@Aquarimax]

That is a female Porcellio expansus. 👍🏼

[@andrewmcbride4845]

My favorite way to supplement calcium is to put dried black soldier fly larvae in the isopods supplemental food. BSF larvae have huge amounts of extremely bioavailable calcium, are available at a very reasonable price as supplemental food for poultry, and pretty much saved whole portions of the reptile hobby where animals were suffering from extreme calcium deficiency.

[@rdnkenki]

What about in bioactive leopard gecko enclosure? I have powder orange and powder blue. Im worried if i add calcium my gecko will eat the substrate

[@Aquarimax]

You could put a piece of cuttlebone under a hide

[@apine231]

Hey Russ, what are your thoughts on aragonite sand? (thoroughly rinsed to remove salt of course)

[@oS3R0o777]

I am wondering about grinding it up in a mortar and pestle as well...

[@Aquarimax]

I would see whether they accept the grains as they are, and if not, try grinding them. It’s a good calcium source if they will take it.

[@DeathMorningVenom]

Useful

[@frankdughtank8327]

The Bones of my enemies are what I use! 😉

[@Aquarimax]

🤣

[@KrissyMeow]

Saw someone claim that calcium powder is "too fine and will stick to their legs." I can't find ANYTHING saying this. Any truth to it? It doesnt make any sense to me (why wouldnt substrate stick as well?).

[@Aquarimax]

Although I it is not my top choice, I do use it, and while I have seen a little of it stick temporarily to their legs, they eat it, and I have not noticed any ill effects.

[@Trundlebugg]

I wonder if they were meaning diatomaceous earth 🤔 that is extreamly fine and can be used to kill flees 🤷‍♀️

[@joesjoes20]

Calcium enriched soil and foods with supplemental calcium have been enough for most of my pods. Some large Spanish species really do like having a block of limestone to hang out on.

[@kidyomu89]

I was thinking of trying to hybridize vulgare and klugii (american magic potion & Montenegro was what I had in mind), does this seem at all plausible to you?

[@Aquarimax]

Probably not…as far as I know there are very few, if any, cases of hybridization among Armadillidium species.

[@matthewturnbull3070]

What about watering with a calcium - magnesium liquid supplement, I have this for my whites tree frogs when I top their water up so I usually mix a 10l spray tub up & water everything including my isopods with it.

[@Aquarimax]

I haven’t tried that…it would be interesting to try it out long-term

[@gunnergreer6117]

Should I put some cuttlebone or form of calcium in a fresh isopod colony? I know it has plenty of natural food with the substrate and moss, but still?

[@Aquarimax]

I think it is a good idea to offer it, even early on

[@andrewchristy530]

If you're putting the limestone at the bottom of the enclosure and then do substrate, it'll be less likely to crush any critters

[@mattercolini7451]

Found a moose jaw in the woods when i was very little 20 years ago can I stick that in there with them??

[@Aquarimax]

They might gnaw on it, they will chew on some bones

[@mattercolini7451]

@@Aquarimax there is a sponge like bone structure on the inside that they could probably get trough the teeth socket

[@Skyreader]

How about Shell limestone.Does anyone have experience with it?

[@Aquarimax]

Do you mean ground, or in rock form?

[@Skyreader]

@@Aquarimax I think in English they say grounded, if you enter „25 kg Ostrea Muschelkalk“ in Google, you will come to the article.

[@reubendaly827]

i just bought some calcium carbonate powder yesterday, i'm hoping that it helps with my pak chongs who seem to be crashing. i think it's because of soil acidification and me never having had enough calcium in their substrate for a cubaris from thailand

[@Aquarimax]

Let me know how it goes! Sudden pH changes can be shocking, so consider mixing it into only part of the enclosure and see where they congregate.

[@reubendaly827]

@@Aquarimax good idea!

[@halieus56]

I use ground oyster shells as a supplement only because I have access to an unlimited supply.

[@Aquarimax]

They’re a good source of calcium…how do your isopods seem to like them?

[@halieus56]

@@Aquarimax All the isopod types I have really like it and usually eat it up immediately. We’ve also used oyster shells to supplement chickens.