Jeb's Reptiles

In addition to keeping geckos, I also have Isopods, little crustaceans you may be familiar with as a 'roly poly' or 'pillbug'. They are often used in captive reptile keeping as a 'clean-up crew' in bioactive terrariums, but can be kept as pets outside of a reptile or amphibian terrarium. A stable population of isopods in a terrarium can provide both a snack for your insectivorous geckos, but also a tank janitor. They are detrivores, eating decaying biological matter including dead leaves and other plant and animal parts. I use them to dispose of dead feeder insects and they absolutely devour their dubia roaches! They thrive in the leaf litter of a tropical terrarium.

I am currently keeping these isopod species:

• Armadillidium maculatum "zebra": Commonly known as zebra isopods, these are easy to care for, and breed readily in captivity, so they make great beginner isopods. They are slightly more expensive than other beginner isopods like dwarf species or P. scaber, often selling for about $20-25 for a culture of 10 adults. I keep these as pets rather than using them as a clean up crew.

• Armadillidium klugii "Montenegro": Another good pet isopod because of their moderate size and beautiful patterning, this species is also called the "clown" isopod. They are on the expensive side and the prices vary pretty dramatically, I've seen a culture of 6 adults for $20, or 10 adults for $90. They are hard to breed, and it took me about 5 months before I saw any babies.

• Trichorhina tomentosa "dwarf white" : One of the smallest species in the pet trade, these little guys are ideal for clean up crews but since they are substantially smaller than something like an Armadillidium isopod, they don't make great pets on their own. They are some of the cheapest isopods you can buy, with a starter culture of around 10-20 adults costing about $10.

• Armadillidium vulgare "St. Lucia": Cultures from this locale are on the expensive side for A. vulgare at around $50 for a culture of 10 or 12. They are known for their diverse colours and patterning, from solid black to orange, brown, and red with yellow spots. As with other A. vulgare, their care requirements are fairly simple and they are comfortable with a range of humidity and temperature levels.

• Armadillidium peraccae: Interesting because of their bumpy texture and unusual structure among Armadillidium isopods, these are some of my favourite to keep! They're mid-range in price at about $20 for a culture of 10. It took me a while to get them to breed, but once they did there were more babies than I could count!

• Porcellio scaber "piebald": This is a beautiful morph of a diverse and popular species. P. scaber is not a great clean up crew isopod, but their varied patterning and simple care make them a popular pet. They're a bit more pricey than other morphs of this species, running from $20-50 for a culture of 10. They breed faster than any other isopod species I've kept! (Note: this culture recently died off so I am not currently keeping any. I hope to replace them soon.)

• Porcellio dilatatus "giant canyon": As their name implies, this species is larger than other captive isopod species. They still stay fairly small, with the largest of mine at a bit over a centimetre. They aren't too expensive, and I got my culture of about 25 individuals from 

In addition to isopods, I keep springtails. These much smaller clean-up crew animals are great for controlling mold or mites in isopod cultures and have similarly simple care and housing requirements to isopods. They can be kept on charcoal substrate in a culture, or added to an isopod enclosure or larger terrarium. One of the advantages of using springtails or dwarf isopods as a clean up crew is that insectivorous geckos are less likely to eat such small animals, so your clean up crew won't need to be replenished. Fox, my panther gecko, will eat larger isopods if he gets the opportunity, so a smaller clean up crew species would work better for his terrarium.