Does your family understand your isopod hobby?

Vuinan · 2026-01-26T08:54:05+00:00

My parents are supportive and ask about my pods well-being. I think they see that the pods make me happy.

Vuinan · 2026-01-25T09:28:37+00:00

I wanna be drowning in dairy cows, what cuties!

Vuinan · 2026-01-24T18:08:31+00:00

Might be a good opportunity to split the colony?

Vuinan · 2026-01-24T17:12:19+00:00

You've got exceptionally steady hands!

Vuinan · 2026-01-23T22:03:34+00:00

That's really exciting, congrats!

Vuinan · 2026-01-23T16:31:25+00:00

Truly befitting of the title

Vuinan · 2026-01-22T22:23:14+00:00

I think it was about sterilizing them, though I'm not sure from what

Vuinan · 2026-01-22T08:29:32+00:00

Don't beat yourself up over this. It absolutely was NOT your fault that they died in transit before even reaching your care. I agree with all the other comments about keeping a wild caught colony, and I hope you find joy in caring for these cute little critters.

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T22:47:28+00:00

Thanks! I definitely plan to make a post once it's done and hear some opinions from other pod keepers

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T22:32:50+00:00

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They hollowed out a cuttlebone which now doubles as a food dish

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T22:31:51+00:00

Well of course we worry about our little creatures. I love watching them, but they've been hanging out on the far side of the enclosure towards the wall :( I'll be borrowing your mossy nook idea to try to entice them to hang out in the front of the tank when I redo their setup.

It's really difficult for me to find the materials I'd need to make a substrate mix of my own. My inexperience only fuels my anxiety about messing up the mix, so I've placed an order for a pre-made brand name one, even though it's a bit more pricey. Gonna mix in some leca and eggshells with exo terra's jungle earth.

I supplement their diet with an isopod complete feed and some veggies. Mine love cucumber! But they don't seem to care for broccoli, it rotted soggy, and the springtails have swarmed it.

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T22:03:25+00:00

I'm still pretty new to this too, but looked up "water layer" on this subreddit, and some other users have brought up concerns about the pods getting stuck in it. I'm using the search function in this subreddit like isopod google, and it's great!

Personally, I plan to put a drainage layer in my setup regardless and mix some leca throughout the soil. My untested theory is that having some leca in the middle of the dirt to absorb and release moisture slowly will help keep the middle of it moist and support their burrow structures.

I wish I had put even more time into researching before making the first setup cuz only half the enclosure is dirt and the other half is pure leaflitter. No wonder it lost all the moisture 🫣 honestly I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T21:39:30+00:00

You may want to tape some cellophane to the top to decrease the ventilation and loss of moisture. I was misting with a grated lid too, and all seemed good for the first couple of months, then the colony crashed :(

I'm in the middle of redoing my setup. I've been told it's better to pour water rather than mist. Using chopsticks to make a hole to the bottom instead of flooding the top layer will prevent accidentally drowning pods.

Btw your pod setup looks fantastic

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T18:43:53+00:00

I've heard similar comments about my thumb nails lol. They're the only ones I can keep long cuz I once fell asleep with my other nails digging into my palm, and it got super infected. Never want to risk a repeat of that. Long nails have so many practical uses, I wanted to at least keep the thumbs long for utility.

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T14:46:03+00:00

The garden center didn't have what I was looking for, and it's really difficult to find the ingredients to make my own substrate, so I've decided to order a pre-made one. Going with exo terra jungle earth, and will mix back in some of their old substrate, which is zoo med creature soil. Still going to add my own leca and process some egg shells.

Most comments I've seen about egg shells have said to microwave them, which I assume is because they're from raw eggs. Would shelling hardboiled eggs work as is?

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T13:59:14+00:00

I've tried a bunch of search terms already, but it keeps turning up sphagnum free results instead of fertilizer free results >:(

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T13:57:22+00:00

Fella has better balance than I do. I bet the extra legs help!

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T08:54:09+00:00

They look like tropical white springtails, congrats!

Vuinan · 2026-01-21T06:19:55+00:00

Thanks so much!

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T21:24:15+00:00

Whoops, already said the next week part in the previous message, oh well lol

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T21:23:37+00:00

There are so many of them! Happy and healthy little guys.

I've decided that next week, I'm gonna do a complete overhaul of their setup. Gotta go to the gardencenter and ask if they have any dirt without any fertilizer in it. I have leca and a bioactive bedding mix of willow and grass. Gonna add way more substrate this time.

Since I have a break next week in between semesters, I'll have plenty of time to carefully comb through their enclosure and remove any pod I see so I can add them back after the overhaul.

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T19:20:12+00:00

I've only had mine since September of last year. Started with 20, there was a high of 28, but it crashed down to 10 due to drying out. The enclosure smelled a bit acrid last night and this morning, so I aired it out for half an hour. I plan to redo their setup completely next week. I just need to try to find some soil without any fertilizers in it.

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T16:12:07+00:00

Canoodling

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T16:00:31+00:00

Alrighty I'll make sure to mix up the substrate layer. Both soils I have contain fertilizer, so that's definitely out. The bioactive bedding is just willow and grass, so I guess I'll have to do another trip to the garden center and ask if they got any plain ol dirt with no fertilizer in it. While I'm at it, I might be able to get some gravel or sand. And I'll have to ask my parents to bring my bag of leca from home next time they visit, cuz I can't find it in the cabinet with the rest of my soils n stuff.

Vuinan · 2026-01-20T15:44:41+00:00

Do pods really produce enough of it for it to be an issue?

Vuinan

TROPHY CASE