Zebra Isopods: The Best Pet Invertebrates?

[@barbhelle5481]

I love my zebra isopods and I got my first babies today which is exciting. I love my dairy cow isopods also. Thank you Russ for sharing.

[@Aquarimax]

Barb Helle Thank you Barb, and congratulations on the babies!!

[@definitelynotavegan7285]

How's it going?

[@blackraveness]

I will get mine tomorrow. I'm so exited.

[@Aquarimax]

@@blackraveness Enjoy them!

[@johndeschenes1242]

Well I just got mine today I got about 10 or 12 of them very excited to have them been watching a lot of videos about them and then watching Ross explained on his video about him so I think I made a good choice on this one I'm still new to the isopod Colony but I do have five other ones also so hopefully the zebra's be happy and find it our new enclosure and we'll hopefully receive babies after summer

[@eros5556]

I had to tear down one of my tanks and i put the dirt in a bucket and put a top . I forgot about it and 2 years later I have over 150 isopods in there now. I was so surprised

[@fatdamon4167]

Isopods are hardy little creatures... I love their community behavior, which I’ve noted in all species I’ve cultivated besides the orange Scabers who seem to be the most aggressive🥺

[@Lukeyboi1211]

thanks Rus for the information I will get my first zebra isopods

[@SupremeGecko]

Great video. Great info. I respect you so much for the information you present- not only how complete and organized you offer it but how enjoyable your videos are to watch. You are far to kind to mention the food too. Thank you. Hope this video blows up like the others in this series. Again, great job.

[@Aquarimax]

Supreme Gecko Thank you very much, Wally! I am often nervous about releasing a video...I wonder how it is going to turn out...but it appears this one has been well-received so far. I would be delighted if it did as well as the others.

[@SupremeGecko]

@@Aquarimax bet it will

[@MrEFynn]

They are one of the best pet invertebrates

[@tansan4922]

Hello Rus! im gonna get my first zebras tomorrow. thank you so much for inspiring me to keep isopods! more power to you! I’m keeping the Cubaris platinum at the moment.

[@Shaden0040]

I just saw on Foo the Flowerhorn's channel the guy feeding his shrimps with 15 minute blanched eggplant sliced. each slive was 4-5 mm thick. His shrimps loved it and ate both slices up in 2 hours.

[@Aquarimax]

Pup314 Sounds like they like eggplant more than any human in my family. I will have to try that sometime!

[@arizonacoinandbullioncolle3405]

They are so beautiful love them 💕

[@phroge1866]

Cubaris papaya are my dream isopods, second are duckies. Love your collection!!!

[@Aquarimax]

Fart Thank you!

[@Crystalspets]

Very awesome topic rus love them zerba isopods clowns isopods next on my list

[@Aquarimax]

Crystal's pets&plants Thanks Crystal’ Clown isopods are great! I will make a video about those too.

[@pollertry4003]

Oh wow the timing on this video haha. Past few days I've been thinking about getting some of these guys :D What sort of temperature range can they live in? I've heard they like being a bit warmer

[@Aquarimax]

Pollertry You should definitely get some. They might breed a bit faster at warmer temperatures, but mine do just fine at room temps between 75-78F.

[@animapolis4929]

There use to be a lot of fungus gnats in my bins, but it seems my scabers sent them away. I did see the isopods eating the gnats' pupae. Zebra isopods are definitely the next isopod on my list. My critters currently are kept in 6 gallon bins. My isopods definitely resemble my family in terms of food, they go crazy for food willing to carry away more than they can eat, I'll often see a small isopod trying to carry a big river shrimp to a corner to have for itself. Hope your doing well with this whole covid-19 chaos.

[@KingFluffs]

My old colony used to go *WILD* for the cheap 99p fish flakes. I once tried them on a "premium" brand of fish flakes and they turned their noses up on it. lol

[@GatorDave]

Such Beauties! My pal has some of these Gorgeous Isopods!

[@Aquarimax]

Gator Dave Thank you! They really are a striking species, aren’t they?

[@tannia63]

Aquarimax Pets Thank you so much for your videos ..They are amazing , so pretty ..I want them as well now lol

[@ProgressiveDiscussions]

How are the Armadillium orange vigor vulgare? They seem to be very attractive. With a deep orange Autumn like color.

[@Aquarimax]

They are a rather underrated isopod. They can vary quite a bit in color, but many are very beautiful!

[@impskulls]

Very ironic since I just bought some yesterday! Great video as usual and lovely close-ups. :D I keep Dairy cows and they are very protein hungry, considering I give them plenty yet they still nibble me sometimes. I wondered how protein hungry are Zebra's in your opinion? If you have time.

[@Aquarimax]

Thank you! These are definitely less voracious than Dairy Cows. They do like their protein, but I don’t think this species nibbles on hands anything like Dairy Cows.

[@MrEFynn]

I Got New Isopods to day!

[@KingaKucyk]

I "had" one of these isopodes in a box with crickets I bought from a local store. I wanted to separate it from the crickets, so they won't eat it, but I had nowwhere to store it and needed to be very careful with crickets, or else I'd be going around my house with vaccuum mission impossible all over, so... I just thought, not worth it... To my dissapointment, the very next day the only thing that left out of the single isopod was half-flattened shell of an exoskeleton, slightly decayed... Was too late I guess :-(

[@lizzards5556]

if the moss is dead and gets alot of constant moisture, won't it mold? or can the high ventilation cancel it out or am i entirely off?

[@Aquarimax]

Lizzards555 Sphagnum has some natural antifungal priperties, the high ventilation will help, as will springtails. I haven’t had any problems with moldy sphagnum moss. 👍

[@sandysizemore1828]

The amazon link you used for red oak leaves says “unavailable, dont know if/when it will be available”. Would you mind giving us a link for, or the brand name and type for the oak pallets ? Thanks :))

[@MrEFynn]

Can you do an update on ivory millipedes

[@ryomahoffman6803]

Would the zebras just be ok with coco coir? Just temporarily?

[@Aquarimax]

It’s not very nutritious, but short term it can work. It won’t hurt them as a temporary substrate to hold moisture.

[@aixarawr4820]

Can you keep diferent isopod species in the same tub? or its not recommended?

[@anayako2724]

Can you keep these together With achatina?

[@Aquarimax]

I have no experience keeping Achatina so I am not sure what to tell you…

[@joeverall2791]

My dad got free Zebra Isopods from our neighbor, my dad had no use for them, so, we are going to create a Zebra Isopod culture, as well will be adding springtails as a cleanup crew.

[@Aquarimax]

They are one of my favorites! Enjoy!

[@havinfun7265]

Will castings from a worm bin work as the "compost" part of the substrate, or do they require conventional compost from a standard garden bin? And regardless, does it require oven sterilization prior to use?

[@iddybiddyladybugleeza909]

I love mine 🥰

[@Aquarimax]

iddybiddyladybug Leeza They are great little isopods for sure!!

[@aurora_dawn123]

Could you do one on armadillidium klugii?

[@Aquarimax]

Yes! I will work on that. 👍

[@aurora_dawn123]

Thank you.

[@PrincessPieGirlRotation]

Hi Rus, in the video you mentioned that you have several hundred isopods in that one box! How long did it take for the colony to grow that big? I really want to start off with 10-12 individuals but my parents won’t let me because they don’t want to deal with a population boom. Mind you I’m 22. Anyway, any advice? Thanks!

[@Aquarimax]

now I likely have a couple of thousand, but in the first six months or so, they didn’t reproduce at all. you can slow reproduction quite a bit by limiting both leaf litter and supplemental food...not starve them by any means, but reducing leaf litter will slow reproduction. 👍🏽

[@PrincessPieGirlRotation]

@@Aquarimax awesome, thanks!

[@dashiellgarvin5697]

Hope you can reply but I was wondering how you got the baby’s tear plant on the back of your mourning gecko terrarium

[@amitk3043]

i have pet isopod too

[@DqsHidden]

Can I feed my P .Pruinosus(Powder Blues) roach chow? Its a mix of blended oatmeal, fish flakes, rabbit pellets, and some cat food

[@Aquarimax]

DqsHidden It sounds like a good food item for P. pruinosus.

[@nootnewts8173]

can these isopods cohabitate with other isopods? i was thinking about having both clowns and zebras :)

[@Aquarimax]

Well, it can cause problems as one species may eventually outcompete the other...and I have heard of hybrids occurring in rare cases.

[@hspets4467]

For beginner, is it ok to build an enclosure with the width of 2 hands?

[@meowthekitty321]

For me, that’s about 12 inches. A 12 inch wide enclosure is fine to start with.

[@muffinman3111]

The common pill bugs where I live get abnormaly large

[@fatdamon4167]

I've found that if I have oxygen producing plants I can skip ventilation because its creates a natural air and water cycle within the ecosphere.

[@Aquarimax]

i am curious species of isopod have you done this with?

[@fatdamon4167]

@@Aquarimax they have technically 3 small holes in the caps of each and I put a pin in each hole that completely covers it and one bottle where I just pushed the one time use bottle on as hard as I could, so there is a tiny amount of air flow probably but virtually. I have the orange scaabers that breed from just 2 parents in the bottle container that has some seedlings growing in it, , then I have Dalmatians and the small fast red and dark blue small ones that have all been breeding as well in a moss habitat, and then I have some large grey ‘hippos’ in a different jar with the same covered pin holes, so really any terrestrial species will work. Also I have zebras and other orange ones in a bunch of other containers with similar conditions that I just got and are healthy but haven’t had time to breed yet. I hope I get some crosses

[@fatdamon4167]

@@Aquarimax it took my a while to figure this method out, I lost my first patch of orange Spanish sabers because I didn’t have any practical experience with creating ecospheres so I made a lot of mistakes and the entire batch (~12) except 2 who happened to be in the smallest terrarium made out of a glass pop bottle and successfully mated to produce I’d say at at ~60 individuals, who have been thriving and bulging underground tunnels as well as the upper sides of the glass. All their parents are dead now unfortunately. It’s basically my isopod nursery. Just added som adult zebras, sphagnum moss, wax worms, meal worms, that flaky material meal worms are found in, springtails, white worms, instilled some live sprulina on the inside walls of the ecosphere recently and looks like it’s taken hold but kept in check by springtails for now. I also occasionally put random things in it like leaves that fell of my Money tree, the ‘guts of tomato’s’ with their seeds(which did sprout in the ecosphere, always die beyond that though). The substrate is gravel and dirt from outside my apartment and a little Hylocomiumb splendens (mood moss). I started with some ground Ivy I found outside as well but that’s dead now. The Scaber population either has decrease or has better hiding spots (most likely the latter, maybe a couple died naturally or got eaten by a mealworm) I also added some fish food flakes. This has caused a boom in the springtail population and some type of mite that are all in the triton nymph phase (final larval stage where they look like fat blobs with legs). Last time these mites populations exploded the baby Scabers were hungry and had a feeding frenzy on the triton nymphs or some kind of eggs. Now that there is a time of excess food the Scabers don’t need to eat the mites, so I won’t put in anything new for a while to stabilize the populations. Do you know if zebra isopods or omnivorous or just deteiviors and herbivorous?

[@fatdamon4167]

It looks like there are at least 2 different mite species in a different terrarium, one is white and the other is red and smaller but appears to be the predator, do you know what these are?

[@Aquarimax]

@@fatdamon4167 the larger white ones may be grain mites. Try looking up pictures of Acarus siro and see if they match. Strateolaelaps scimitus are one species of predatory mites you can try comparing to your specimens, but there are others as well,

[@aurora_dawn123]

How long does it take for them to mature? I have twenty that are about the size of dwarf whites.

[@Aquarimax]

Joshua Knoebel. In good conditions, they should reach minimum breeding size in 3 or 4 months, possibly faster, but full adult size will take several more months.

[@aurora_dawn123]

Okay, thank you.

[@Lex-cf9fk]

Aquarimax in wich country are you? For the availability of the isopods

[@Aquarimax]

Nintendo1306 Reshiram I am in the USA 👍

[@floris777333]

I want to use these isopods as a cleanup crew for my vivarium. But I'm kinda scared that they will turn on my plants. Is that a well-founded fear?

[@Aquarimax]

If there is plenty of leaf litter and other food for them to eat, they rarely bother live plants in my experience.

[@geofishshrimps4407]

what about room temp? we only turn on the AC during the night. will the swing of room temp kill them? we live in a tropical country so in the morning its a little hot

[@Aquarimax]

How much of a fluctuation is there?

[@kitsune0rei]

Maybe this is a weird question- with the Repashy, do you mix it up, or just sprinkle in the powder? I already have Bug Burger for my feeder insects, they love it :) (Of course as a gel, I mix a bunch up at once and put it in little tupperwares and freeze it for later.) I've been thinking about getting some isopods.

[@rhyswerner1748]

I don’t think they are allowed in Australia. I cannot find any info about this topic so I came here in case you or someone in the comments knew

[@Aquarimax]

I believe you are right, that this species is not allowed in Australia.

[@rhyswerner1748]

@@Aquarimax 😔

[@SohiHien]

Mine are taking forever to breed. I have had them for about a year and I don't think any of the babies I have seen have grown to full size adults. I still only have a few adults with maybe 2-3 different sizes of mancae broods.

[@Aquarimax]

Hmmm…what is the enclosure like?

[@Nea222]

Hello! Hope you are doing well! I was wondering if you had any isopods for sale? I would love to own some isopods from you!

[@Aquarimax]

Andrea Castaneda Hi Andrea! I would love to help you out with isopods! You can go to www.aquarimax.com/price-list/ to see which isopods I have available. 👍

[@Nea222]

@@Aquarimax Perfect! Thank you!

[@FusionDeveloper]

Snails and slugs can be a lot of fun to raise, but I think isopods make better pets.

[@Aquarimax]

Well, I am certainly partial to isopods myself 😁👍

[@emilynightingale7758]

to find out if zebra isopods are the best pet invertebrate for you we'll be looking at our 5 categories which are handleabi- sorry, wrong channel...

[@Aquarimax]

Emily Nightingale Right! Similar premise though 😁

[@animapolis4929]

I could hear Clint's voice as I read this comment😅

[@Hellothere149able]

What are the most active isopod species?

[@Aquarimax]

Porcellionides pruinosus, Porcellio ornatus ‘Yellow Dot’ and Porcellio laevis ‘Dairy Cow’ or ‘Milkback’ are extremely active.

[@user-me8ym4jm2t]

What do you think is the best food for isopod?

[@Aquarimax]

촵촵 Fallen hardwood leaves and decaying hardwood, but after that , it is hard to say which is the best.There are some many great foods available.

[@user-me8ym4jm2t]

@@Aquarimax I saw in your video about a bug burger and morning wood. What would you feed if you had to pay one of them?

[@Aquarimax]

촵촵 If I were to choose just one of those two foods, probably bug burger.

[@user-me8ym4jm2t]

@@Aquarimax Thank you for your reply. Watch out for the virus.

[@thegreatjay1245]

Keep bulldog ants Pro:They are very big and are slow to grow and live the longest compared to other ant species and are extremely smart. Con:They are the most poisonous insect in the world and demand lots of meat and are aggressive and some species can jump.

[@Aquarimax]

GOCRAFT They do sound fascinating, but pretty aggressive...

[@charliblake8551]

I STRONGLY dislike ALL of these words!!!🙅🏻‍♀️. I know this is a super old comment but due to how it’s effected me I felt compelled to reply to it.

[@sablebeauty]

Hello. I am trying to contact you about what is available on your website. I sent you a message on your facebook.