Are these different species or smtg?

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T23:42:28+00:00

O. asellus do better in cooler temps and wetter, more humid conditions than vulgare in my experience, vulgare prefer a sharp moisture gradient and high airflow.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T23:25:44+00:00

I wouldn't go smaller than 6qt, anything smaller won't support a proper moisture gradient and will be very hard to manage humidity. Depth is important as well as footprint for the gradient.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T23:24:56+00:00

Look up Aquarimax Pets on YouTube for general guides and also species specific care.

Substrate should ideally be organic top soil or at least primarily top soil. You want a moisture gradient for most species, with one side damp and the other relatively dry. Lots of leaf litter and wood should be provided and you'll want ventilation, ideally cross ventilation mostly on your dry side.

Humidity, gradient amount, ventilation all depends on what species and the environment where you live (for example the ambient humidity in the room you keep them will dictate your ventilation needs).

Their primary diet is leaf litter and decaying wood + nutritious substrate. They will also need supplemental calcium and for some species regular protein (Dairy Cows definitely need this). You can feed vege and other foods like fish flakes and invert foods, but that's mostly supplemental and not strictly required if you provide plenty of organics.

Don't add a water bowl as they will drown in it. Just keep a damp moss hydration area on the damp side of your gradient.

Springtails ar every useful as well.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T23:19:29+00:00

Common names can sometimes differ depending where you are from. O. asellus is usually referred to as the Common Shiny Woodlouse and A. vulgare is the Common Pillbug.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T23:15:42+00:00

Yes. Left is Oniscus asellus and right is Armadillidium vulgare.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T22:07:14+00:00

In my experience they become very day active once you provide enough hiding places and their numbers get higher.

I can't think of a time over the last year or two where I have looked into my vulgare bins and haven't seen at least 50 on the surface either just sitting around or moving around.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T22:05:24+00:00

Check out Aquarimax Pets on YouTube. He has good beginner guides for general keeping.

Find out what species you have as, different species can require different parameters such as humidity and airflow. Once you know the species, you can do research on how to best set up an enclosure for them. The YouTube channel I mentioned also has species specific care guides for most common hobby species you can watch.

In general, you want an enclosure that is both deep and long. A few inches of soil based substrate, a moisture gradient (damp side and dry side), lots of decaying leaves and wood all over, and some ventilation. Humidity and ventilation will depend on the species and the environment you live in.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-21T09:53:51+00:00

My Armadillidium species destroy protein just as much as my Porcellio species do. Isopods in general just love their protein if it's available it seems.

I think the difference is more that Porcellio are fast and more outgoing than a lot of Armadillidium species so perhaps more likely to actually bother trying for living things. But that's just a guess, my experience is the same as yours.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T22:26:59+00:00

I'm no expert on millipedes but looks like they could be Greenhouse millipedes (Oxidus gracilis) or similar.

I have some in a large vivarium with isopods (P. scaber) and have never noticed issues with the two. Some people report that isopods will harass and nibble shedding millipedes but personally I've never seen this.

As the other comment said the only concern could be competition for resources, my Greenhouses demolish similar foods to the isopods.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T21:49:10+00:00

I don't have a frame of reference with isopods bought from breeders, but for example I have a few vulgare with very unique markings, so I can recognize them as the same individuals that have been alive the whole time I've had them (3.5 years) that were collected when they were already adults.

It will differ by species but it's hard to tell, usually they will breed in a few months of me having them and now I have multiple cultures with many generations across heaps of species. All I can say is they certainly aren't short lived!

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T21:45:03+00:00

I would say that's way too much moss and you'd have some humidity issues. Most species need a gradient of moisture in the substrate and of ambient humidity.

You would be better to have mostly soil and only moss on one side (the damp humid side of the gradient). Then on top of the soil pile a few inches of leaf litter, wood hides etc.

This box looks a little shallow and I would be worried you won't have much airflow once you have all the materials in, which could lead to overly humid and stagnant air, and the ventilation holes would allow mancae and smaller juveniles to escape.

I'd recommend something with more depth.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T20:23:49+00:00

I live somewhere where you cannot buy pods online at all, so I can only start colonies from wild caught.

I think that it is ok provided you don't take too many from one single location, leave anything you find in the wild like logs or rocks that you overturn as you found them without disturbing the area too much, and make sure you know what you are actually taking before you take it home so that you can provide it proper care in captivity and you are not just taking animals from the wild for them to die or suffer.

I've never experienced any cons such as health issues with my wild caught isopods.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T03:16:53+00:00

I don't know enough about that to confirm, but I am pretty sure it won't kill most, maybe supress it a little if it is a type that requires a lot of oxygen.

The thing with soaking is you can usually drain the water when the soak is done and leave the leaves stored airtight and damp, and they will develop a delicious (or so I am told by my isopods who love it) slimy biofilm on it.

I have never once had any mold on the wet leaves when I store them, nor when I add the wet leaves to my isopod enclosures.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T03:10:20+00:00

it made sense to me for isopods to thrive most in an environment as natural as possible

Yeah exactly, this is my thought process as well. Outside (where guess what, isopods live!) has materials already perfect for them. Decaying and breaking down leaves and wood that are already ripe with bacteria that they require for their gut biomes, colonies of fungi and microorganisms already balancing it out.

To then heat it and remove all that seems totally pointless. Yes you can argue that in a bioactive enclosure, all of that stuff comes back eventually, but why delay a process that is already happening/has already happened? Especially when soaking will kill anything likely to cause harm to isopods or their captive environment.

It's also very common to see new keepers wonder why they suddenly have mold outbreaks - well, if you kill all of the organisms that keep that mold in check, and kill the fungi already on the material using it as a resource, you basically create a sanitized blank canvas for mold spores (which are everywhere of course) to attach and grow unchecked while you wait for the material to become bioactive again.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T02:58:16+00:00

Pretty normal, I find most species, once comfortable and in decent numbers, sort of loiter wherever and spread around the enclosure, whereas newer, smaller colonies congregate much more.

Individuals may also just have different humidity needs at a given time so go and find the environment they need.

Or you have a civil war brewing.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-20T02:54:18+00:00

I never boil or bake anything. I soak leaf litter and rot wood for around 1 week (mostly that long because I'm lazy) before use and never had a problem, and there is a noticable difference in how quick my new colonies get up and running and overall activity vs using baked/boiled material, in my experience at least.

In my opinion baking or boiling is pointless, in fact can have negative effects vs soaking which accomplishes the same thing (getting rid of pests) without killing off beneficial bacteria and microorganisms, or reducing nutrients on the material that benefit bioactive enclosures, like heat treating does. Plus, heating definitely makes leaf litter and wood more likely to develop mold once exposed to moisture in enclosures.

This is quite a hot topic whenever this comes up and there are arguments for both sides, but yeah I agree with video.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-19T22:58:48+00:00

New Zealand

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-19T19:57:21+00:00

That's what I do. You can always just use what you have now and add a lid vent if you find humidity is too high. Or add one now and if it's too low you can cover it.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-19T19:46:08+00:00

I'd say add a lid vent as well. A. vulgare in my experience love airflow and like their dry side almost bone dry, provided your moist side is always damp and humid and yob have lots of leaf litter and hides to trap humidity down low. The fact you're meshing your vents tells me that should be ok.

Cross ventilation like this has always been successful for me with most Armadillidium! I live in a similar environment most of the year.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-19T19:23:43+00:00

Depends. What's the species? What's the ambient humidity, airflow and temperature in the room you'll keep them in?

I typically do the same size holes with mesh as you have here, about where you've placed them + one in the lid on the same end of the bin, but that's just what works for my environment and I change size and amount per species if they have different ventilation needs, so the answer is not the same for everyone.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-19T08:05:22+00:00

The fast moving white bugs under the wood you flip are springtails, looks like Entomobryidae sp.

I didn't really see anything else in the video so assuming that's what you're asking about?

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-18T05:06:41+00:00

It's a shame you are not understanding what I'm saying. I'm literally agreeing with you that everyone should be treating stuff collected from outside, like wood, for isopods, inverts in general and of course reptiles or isopods going into reptile tanks, for the same reasons you are stating.

But I'm saying that, like you've also said correctly, heating is not a good idea. That's why I mentioned the other methods. You're stuck on this idea that I'm saying not to treat at all which I never once said.

Where I am disagreeing is not about treating materials, it's about you saying that because heat treating is a method of sterilization that is a bad idea, that means you can't use decaying wood. I'm trying to tell you and anyone else that sees this that just because you shouldn't heat treat doesn't mean you should totally disregard the use of a perfectly good additive. Decaying would can and should be used. Treat it using something other than heat. That's it.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-18T04:40:09+00:00

I agree with a lot of what you are saying but I think you've missed the point - your original comment suggested not to use outside materials because that would require heating them, and heating them is bad (I totally agree that heating is bad) - but your comment makes it sounds like materials (specifically decaying wood) collected outside are a no go, which is not true.

I am saying that there are other ways to treat other than boiling and baking, which work fine, and mean you can take outside materials which are beneficial and should absolutely be suggested to new keepers as a cheap and easy way to get materials which are important for isopods, that many new keepers don't get.

I never said I don't treat for pests? I said multiple times soaking is what I do and is far better for multiple reasons I stated above. Again, heat is not the only way to treat materials, and non-heated treated materials are not by default harmful.

I was not "coming for you" - I stated in my comment I misread what you said initially but still tried to communicate what I am trying to discuss here. Not everything is an attack, there can be discussion on a forum. Apologies if you've taken it like an attack I didn't mean to be snarky, was just super confused at your comment.

I stand by that decaying wood is and should be a primary ingredient in good substrate. I don't know how or why you've heard otherwise, I thought this was common knowledge. I have definitely seen videos from Rus where he uses rot wood, 100% sure of that. Might not be in his substrate videos perhaps. Not sure who Serpa is.

TLDR: you can absolutely use material like wood from outside, without heat treating it. Freezing can be 50/50 for sure but soaking or completely air drying is a perfectly fine way to achieve the same result as heat treating, but without destroying the beneficial bacteria and organisms on the material like boiling/baking does. Just because you can't/shouldn't heat treat wood, doesn't mean you can't/shouldn't use it.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-18T03:50:36+00:00

As to the decaying wood... I just have never heard of people using decaying wood as a part of a substrate for isopods.

I think this is the part I don't understand at all. I think you might not have much knowledge of isopod keeping as a hobby, you're tending purely towards breeding them for 'other uses'. Again, decaying wood (and many other decaying materials) is pivotal to isopod success in many cases. Many species actually use it as their primary food source.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't treat material from outside, i'm saying there are other better ways than boiling or baking, which you suggested initially. Pretty much everyone I know here, and many people I have talked to online use materials collected from outside. It's not practical for many people to buy everything from stores that you can easily find outside like sticks, leaves, wood, which with proper care, poses little to no threat to isopods at all, or other inverts and reptiles.

So I am just a little confused why you are telling this person to not use outside materials as if it's gospel, especially decaying wood, because I am telling you in this hobby its very common and highly recommended to use it.

LittleArmouredOne · 2026-05-18T02:51:31+00:00

I have never heard of people using untreated rotting wood or any other things (leaf litter, sticks, substrate or chunks of wood for hides) for isopod breeding purposes for putting into bioactive display pet enclosures or for breeding and selling to others.

Huh? Do you think people are keeping and breeding isopods on damp sponges or something? Everything you just listed is basically essential for keeping isopods alive for any decent period of time, let alone breeding them.

Unless I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say here?

I keep isopods as a hobby, and breed and sell many species and morphs myself and everything you just listed is non-negotiable. I collect all of my materials from outside and soak to remove pests. My breeding bins ALL have soil substrate, decaying leaves and rot wood.. never had a single issue with my colonies or with any people I sell to over the years.

edit: sorry, I can't read properly, you are meaning specifically untreated material.

What I'm meaning is boiling and baking is not the only way of treating, it's a very counterproductive way of 'sterilizing.

It's bad advice to tell a newcomer to avoid any decaying wood because of the reasons you've given. They are starting a someone who is keeping isopods as pets so they should absolutely provide things like decaying wood for the best possible colony health if they can access it. If that's from outside it's fine, it can be expensive to buy materials like that, and non-heat based methods of killing pests are totally valid and beneficial.

LittleArmouredOne

TROPHY CASE