My room mate got some isopods for his bioactive frog tank and now i'm completely obsessed with the idea of keeping isopods and other insects. doing a loooot of research right now and this video was very informative
For the love of all that’s shell based. People BREED these little exoskeleton horrors - selectively?? I’m obviously on another planet. They are slaters...... I shuddered through this video. For my aversion. I can just about cope with them on screen. Just. I did scratch a bit. But breeding for new types, nooooooooo. I’m such a big baby! Sorry.
It’s still mind blowing to me that they’re crustaceans. Growing up I always assumed they were related to millipedes and centipedes. These little fellows have some beefy deep sea cousins.
I remember being in Portugal, and seeing them crawling out of the sea onto the land. Then I read they can go to land out of the sea, but after their shells harden, they can't go back, and I was like: 'How is this even a thing?'
Egregius there are some interesting stories about them, but in reality, there are some completely aquatic species, some completely terrestrial species, and some species that travel back and forth between ocean water and land (probably the ones you saw.) 👍
@@cedgams8724 I'm sure, once you've got them you can give plenty away. But I dont know anyone with them. So I'll probably have to get them off ebay. And I was including the cost and I was including the cost the bedding and enclosure.
RyanWake bradtelle you can catch them in the wild that’s what I did with mine Besides with all this coronavirus stuff going on I wouldn’t buy anything of eBay
As a kid, I kept isopod colonies in jars in my bedroom; at the time, I thought I was one of the very, very few people who had an interest in them, especially Armadillidium vulgare. As an adult, I'm happy to say that I'm still very much interested in keeping them as pets. This time, however, they live in a swanky terrarium. I find that simply watching them is an amazing way to relieve stress. I think their vaguely trilobite-like appearance is what makes them so appealing to a lot of people: there's something vaguely other-worldly about them, and it's easy for people who are uncomfortable with arthropods to simply pretend that they're trilobites. I found this video at random, and I'm glad to have done so. It's quite fun and informative.
Yes. I love watching insects move in general. To be able to provide shelter, food and a place to raise their children is really fun. I find myself just staring into the enclosure. I've unknowingly kept them for years in an old bonsai tree, but just recently set up a terrarium to keep different species. I will never get tired of them! What excellent creatures.
My son was obsessed with them when he was in 4th grade and his teacher let him keep a colony of them in the classroom. Seeing this video kind of makes me want to start keeping them at my home and I bet my son would love it.
@@NeuroticLobster not just yet. I keep seeing wild ones in our garden so I need to find our critter holder and get things set up so when I weed I can snag a few.
I agree about them being one of the best invert pets, it’s amazing at how popular they have become in such a small amount of time. It reminds me of the rise in popularity of dwarf shrimp in the aquarium hobby.
Not mentioned in the video: aquatic isopods. I made a closed ecosphere in a gallon jar, a la Life In Jars, and I got lucky by scooping up some aquatic isopods together with the waterlogged leaves. They're cool guys/gals :)
Egregius Yes! The first isopods i ever really kept or bred were aquatic isopods I discovered in an irrigation canal over 30 years ago. I’d like to keep some again...
I had a lot of fungus gnats so I bought some double-sided flying bug paper and stuck it to the inside of the lid. It totally wiped out the fungus gnats in about a week.
I started keeping them reluctantly as part of my bioactive clean up crew... but I fell in love with them culturing them. They're the most innocent little bumbling guys. I get excited about how prolific they're getting and hope some day to get some of the montenegro ones because they're amazing. Amazingly easy and forgiving to keep.
Isopods are awesome. I have the dairy cows, Montenegro, and powder orange. I started with 30 powder orange and in 2 months I got hundreds of n Babies...literally. I am excited to hear the dairy cows reproduce fast.
No one: No one at all: RUclips Recommended: Here's several videos on why these common garden decomposers that you didn't even know the proper name for are actually really good pets.
not as cool as those 'giant' ones you have though...I have to say that I think the 'zebra' ones are my personal favorite of the ones you have. I look forward to your Friday videos! Thanks again. @@Aquarimax
@@Aquarimax Anything that moves like that completely freaks me out. I remember playing with them as a young child, until they freaked me out for some reason.
Me too. That's been a LONG time since i've seen one thou. I wonder if they were weak to pesticides that was used here, cause i've never seen one anymore
I brought one, just one strange isopod I found outside and left it on my plants at home. A few months later I discovered an entire colony living there. They have a beautiful light-reflecting shell that I hadn't seen before, so I kept a few inside a miniature terrarium-garden that they now share with some lepisma. I can watch them for hours. Even my girlfriend enjoys watching them, and she hates bugs.
Isopods all the way! I love crustaceans anyways and crabs are way harder to keep, so Isopods are perfect for me! 🦀🦞 I started with Porcellionides in my snail terrariums for practical reasons. This is when my love I had for them as a kid rekindled! I recently went to the woods to catch some p. scaber and oniscus asselus. Then I ordered online a big amount of isopods. I now have Porcellionides nominat and "orange" Porcellio scaber nominat Porcellio scaber "ghost" Armadillidium pictum Porcellio laevis "orange" and "dalmatian" Armadillidium vulgare "Magic Potion" Armadillidium T+ Albino Armadillidium "St. Lucia" And finally Porcellio flavomarginatus. 🥰🥰 I am currently looking into getting 5 more species soon, and some are planned for next year bc I don't think I am pro enough for them just yet. I am also trying to breed my own color morphs, another cool thing you can do with Isopods.
I’m researching isopods for bioactive enclosures. In my research I find myself even more interested in their species and keeping, but now I kinda consider them as addition “pets” to my collection. I appreciate the information you’re sharing. Thank you!
I'm keeping roly polies from my garden now, and am planning on getting a bigger enclosure and keep an exotic species too! I'm thinking armadillidium, since I find their rolling up really cute, and then probably albino ones, since they are so pretty! They are also fairly affordable from what I can tell.
i separately keep and breed powder blues and peaches, they're very easy pets if you know what you're doing and are super fun to watch explore their environment and interact with each other!
I loved to look at isopods as a kid. I loved catching and handling little things, like frogs, lizards, turtles, and isopods of course! Once I saw a bright blue isopod walking among the wild colony i liked to watch when we moved the dumpster for garbage day. I thought when I saw it that it was so special, and I wished I could keep it and breed it - and my dad would've let me! But I was scared of capturing a bunch, plus the blue, and the colony dying - or if the blue was some sort of disease, and that i would cause more to get sick. So i let the isopod continue on his way. I almost forgot about it until seeing the powder blue ones in this video. Isopods are so nifty.
@@Aquarimax I was always an inquisitive kid so I studied biology, and I had heard about something similar that happened to creatures, but I also knew that sometimes invertebrates could be differently colored. It was very exciting to see something uncommonly blue like that in real life, it was quite a little gem even if the context of why it was blue is a little "morbid." Like a two headed calf being born, or an animal being born with a cyclopes eye. I think I was about 10 at the time, definitely not any older just because I remember where we lived. I'm so glad that this video brought that memory back, and now I have the answer that the kid in my memory didn't have, and forgot to investigate when I got older! Thank you for replying! These videos are so great to watch. I used to help my sister culture mealworms that she fed to her chickens (and to the yard toads in her garden) and since then I've thought on and off about doing the same with cuter invertebrates. And isopods are certainly charismatic!
When I was a kid, I kept some common backyard ones in a large jar full of dirt and leaves, with holes drilled on the lid. It was really neat and getting to watch the eggs hatch off of the females was a cool experience. I'm now watching this and am considering keeping them again (in a better setup than 8 year old me had). My husband is going to shake his head at this, I just know lol
@@Aquarimax Definitely considering it! Though I'm sad the rubber ducky types are so expensive - they're adorable! But this video led to more videos and now I'm debating between these little guys or a mantis. Or both? Do mantis tend to go after isopods? I know mantis tend to be up in branches in terrarium setups while isopods are more terrestrial, but I can't seem to find anything that tells me if they're compatible. Without further information, would assume not, though - best to ere on the side of caution!
Meep I know that some mantis keepers use isopods as a cleanup crew, so cohabitation is possible...there would always be some risk that the isopods would become a snack though...
@@Aquarimax not sure if I'd want to risk it, then. Not only would I feel bad for the isopods, but I'm told that mantis have a tendency to over eat and get sick if you just let a good amount of their prey loose in their enclosure. Still considering both, but will probably keep them seperated :)
cool thing: these are a type of crustaceon, and they have gills. that's part of why they almost always need somewhere damp in the enclosure, they need to keep their gills wet so that they can breathe.
David I'd say cetacean lungs, which take in much more air than terrestrial lungs tend to per breath, and this is helped by the cetacean's body storing oxygen in additional locations to get the most out of each breath and also allow for deep diving where lung tissue gets compressed. Some species of whales and dolphins can go 2 hours between each breath of air.
When I was a kid in NZ, we'd go down to the corner of the tuck shop and mift the mess to play with the slaters there. Since then, I've loved watching these little guys do their thing. Next place I move to, I'm getting a tank and making an enclosure.
I remember catching some some years back and keeping them as pets. They love lettuce and that seems to be all they eat. Eventually had to release them which was sad. Still one of the best pets I’ve ever kept.
Gaming With Santi D. I did some research into common names for isopods. I found more than i thought is would...and some variation on ‘rolly polly’ topped the list. 😊👍
Actually, I started keeping isopods, and they're pretty adorable ,I collected them from my yard, and even they are the wild-type Porcelionides pruinosus they're cute and adorable 😁
Outstanding video Rus. Great information (as usual). My main reason is certainly the gratification of seeing young. Still get the greatest thrill from seeing baby geckos but that quick hit of seeing isopod mancae satisfies the need, between gecko babies :) Oh, and congrats on that weirdo PB.
Supreme Gecko ah yes, a great point you made on the Isopod Vlog! That is definitely part of the appeal. Thanks Wally! By the way, I went searching in bun and caught about six unusual pied powder blues to try and isolate a strain from.
Supreme Gecko Thank you! I think I did see the one from the video, but didn’t manage to catch it...I will keep looking. At least I have several similar individuals. 👍
My pets are springtails. I’m training the: to be super aggressive. They will eat any mold I give them now, even eat black mold just fine. They also reproduce like rabbits that got slipped viagra. They’re amazing cleaners
Isopods are awesome pets! They are fasinating!!! I keep them and they are very cute! But I personally prefer ants for many reasons many of which that make isopods great! They are cheap, they are easy to care for, and come in many variations sometimes even between species. (All of these statements ofcourse depend on species) But what makes ants great is cooperation. They work together to complete their tasks. You really should keep ants and make videos about them on your channel.
What I think is so great about isopods as pets is that you can just go outside and look under some rocks, pots, boards, etc and gather as many as you need. Same goes for collecting certain plants and materials for color & substrates, which also then often carry springtails and other microorganisms and bacteria, and all of a sudden you've brought a mini bioactive world inside.
Kossolax the Foresworn in some languages, including Latin, their name is related to the word for pig. ‘Porcellio’, the scientific name of many isopods, means ‘little pig’.
I fall into tbat strange category where usually bugs terrify me and I can't look at them without feeling itchy but something about these little guys is just so cute and appealing! I'm really interested in keeping these guys after only ever keeping small mammals and I hope I can do well taking care of my little dairy cows
@@Aquarimax Thanks for the advice! I managed to find some that could be shipped overnight & then had a super hard time picking only 3 different species, lol.. Am totally hooked already, they're amazing little creatures! :)
Me and my younger sister are going to be keeping some wild pill bugs we find in our back yard as pets! I found one, and remembered an old insect container i had and decided to do some research. This sold me!
9:39 Porcellio Scaber *LOVES* to bury itself. My colony is at around 120 individuals. During the day time I'll find maybe 5-10 ontop grazing on moss, climbing the grass or foraging for errant flakes of fish food. At night, the rest burrow up from the soil and are on the prowl.
Pill bugs were my first pet. I would always pick up the flower pots and collect the roly polies. And then I started the bug pet trend at school in kindergarten and first grade.
I have a small colony as an amateur, I never mention it and yet RUclips knows... somehow... Oh Well, glad I'm doing well. And another tip against gnats: put a sundew plant next to the enclosure and they'll be attracted to it and get eaten
Awesome video!! I just happened to see some fungus gnats in one of my cultures last week and I've been going bananas trying to figure out how to get rid of them!
Gatør Someone commented on this about 2-sided fly tape on the underside of the lid of the Isopod enclosure to control fungus gnats...sounds like a great idea! It would be important to make sure the isopods couldn’t reach it.
I've been wanting some pet isopods for a while now I just think their some cool lil funky dudes never knew you could keep them as pets until recently. I found this video extremely helpful and i plan on hopefully getting some this summer :D
I teach preschool (2-3yo) and my kids are always fascinated by the woodlice we find in the local park. A couple of years ago we caught a few and set them up in a little plastic tank in the classroom , and we quickly had a breeding colony. The kids really loved watching and (gently) handling them, got excited about the tiny baby woodlice, and learned a lot. We did have to re-release them after about 9 months as we thought we had fruit flies which we could not seem to get rid of - thanks for your info about the fungus gnats, that may have been what the problem was so maybe we can try again next spring! They make a really good classroom pet for very young children. Personally I think they are weirdly cute, especially their busy little antennae :)
Abigail Bailey Isopods seem to be almost universally appealing to preschoolers...I think it is great! Hopefully you will be able to curtail the fungus gnats next time 👍
Thanks for the great video, I found you from the Tarantula Collective. I was wondering, if I keep some dwarf whites or similar in a bioactive tarantula enclosure, is it necessary to offer them supplemental food, like the fish food pellets or a piece of squash now and then? Or would just replenishing the leaf litter occassionally suffice? Thanks
Thank you for watching, and thanks to Richard for sending you my way! You could offer a little supplemental food, but the leaf litter should be sufficient. .
@@Aquarimax It's honestly given me a great opportunity for my current university module, can't thank you enough, it was a lot of fun setting up the enclosure!
kliro man I don’t know of any confirmed hybrids, so it must not be very common, but I can’t rule it out completely. On the other hand, morphs will easily cross with one another.
Thank you for for answer🙏 So that means for example that porcellio breeds with each other but dont breed with cubaris? I have two porcelios, orange and dairy cow, in that case they will breed right? or will they stay separate too?
kliro man cubaris shouldn’t be able to breed with Porcellio, now should Porcellio scaber ‘Orange’ breed with Porcellio laevis ‘Dairy Cow’, although Porcellio laevis ‘Orange’ could. At any rate, I wouldn’t recommend keeping two different Porcellio species together, as one would likely outcompete the other eventually.
Thank you again. I brought Isopods for my tortoise terrarium and end up loving this creatures and building homes for them. Do you know where can I find more in depth information about them? Are you going to do more videos too?
I raise dwarf purple and dwarf white isopods as occasional dart frog snacks but also as pets. They hide a ton and they're very small but when you do see them they're very entertaining.
I would def love to use iso pods for my tarantulas but I’m scared they’re just gonna eat them tbh. One species I own eats everything and idk if it’s a good idea
Gareth Harlan I would recommend a dwarf species of isopod, like Trichorhina tomentosa. An adult tarantula is not likely to be interested in such small prey. 👍
I'd keep a seperate colony of whatever you get, and add a few each month and see hhow they do. Free food for your taeants is a good thing, and isopods are not poisonous like millipedes that have arsenic in them.
Just thinking about starting some colonies. I love the little guys as cleanupcrew in my snakes enclosure (Local wildcaught european, and white tropical dwarf-Isopods). I am so fascinated with all the varieties and the colours. They are just extremely cute.
@@Aquarimax I can't find any indication that they are introduced species. Although the oldest fossil evidence is 50 million years old, the worldwide distribution would indicate that they evolved at least 160 million years ago. That would make them 'living fossils'.
My room mate got some isopods for his bioactive frog tank and now i'm completely obsessed with the idea of keeping isopods and other insects. doing a loooot of research right now and this video was very informative
RUclips: Hey, you wanna learn about keeping Isopods as pets?
Me: Uh, ok I guess so.
🤣
Eric VandenAvond love it 🤣👍
Same here:P
Eric VandenAvond if you don’t remember playing with rolly Polly’s as a kid
Then idk
For the love of all that’s shell based. People BREED these little exoskeleton horrors - selectively?? I’m obviously on another planet. They are slaters...... I shuddered through this video. For my aversion. I can just about cope with them on screen. Just. I did scratch a bit. But breeding for new types, nooooooooo. I’m such a big baby! Sorry.
It’s 1am I have no plans on keeping isopods as pets but I felt like this was needed information.
Kory Potter 🤣👍 glad you watched it!
Same here lol
Same but it’s 2 am
Kory Potter Same here man!
Yo same lmao
It’s still mind blowing to me that they’re crustaceans. Growing up I always assumed they were related to millipedes and centipedes.
These little fellows have some beefy deep sea cousins.
Vincent Delgado I know what you mean! A local aquarium has a few of the huge deep-sea isopods. Super fun to see!
Eric VandenAvond yes! Sometimes called ‘pillipedes’
I remember being in Portugal, and seeing them crawling out of the sea onto the land. Then I read they can go to land out of the sea, but after their shells harden, they can't go back, and I was like: 'How is this even a thing?'
Egregius there are some interesting stories about them, but in reality, there are some completely aquatic species, some completely terrestrial species, and some species that travel back and forth between ocean water and land (probably the ones you saw.) 👍
insects and arachnids came from sea crustaceans and evolved various terrestrial traits over generations.
I had NEVER considered having pill bugs as pets... Sounds kinda nice...
It is! Maybe you should try it! 😊👍
Pet some centipede
It really is fun. I have a planted terrarium and I put some isopods and springtails to keep it clean and rocking
I'm sold, a pet that I can forget about for a week and costs less than $10, who wouldn't want the experience of keeping them.
RyanWake bradtelle Exactly! Hard to beat! 😊👍
I got mine for free
@@cedgams8724 I'm sure, once you've got them you can give plenty away. But I dont know anyone with them. So I'll probably have to get them off ebay.
And I was including the cost and I was including the cost the bedding and enclosure.
RyanWake bradtelle
you can catch them in the wild that’s what I did with mine
Besides with all this coronavirus stuff going on I wouldn’t buy anything of eBay
@@cedgams8724 I'll look up a video on that it seems interesting, but I probably won't be going outside for at least a few more weeks.
As a kid, I kept isopod colonies in jars in my bedroom; at the time, I thought I was one of the very, very few people who had an interest in them, especially Armadillidium vulgare. As an adult, I'm happy to say that I'm still very much interested in keeping them as pets. This time, however, they live in a swanky terrarium. I find that simply watching them is an amazing way to relieve stress. I think their vaguely trilobite-like appearance is what makes them so appealing to a lot of people: there's something vaguely other-worldly about them, and it's easy for people who are uncomfortable with arthropods to simply pretend that they're trilobites.
I found this video at random, and I'm glad to have done so. It's quite fun and informative.
The resemblance to trilobites is especially true of certain species, like Porcellio expansus or P. bolivari. 😁
Yes. I love watching insects move in general. To be able to provide shelter, food and a place to raise their children is really fun. I find myself just staring into the enclosure.
I've unknowingly kept them for years in an old bonsai tree, but just recently set up a terrarium to keep different species.
I will never get tired of them! What excellent creatures.
My son was obsessed with them when he was in 4th grade and his teacher let him keep a colony of them in the classroom. Seeing this video kind of makes me want to start keeping them at my home and I bet my son would love it.
Melissa Record I’ll bet he would...you probably would too!
You are a nice mother
@@volkad9608 Who me?
Melissa, did you do it?
@@NeuroticLobster not just yet. I keep seeing wild ones in our garden so I need to find our critter holder and get things set up so when I weed I can snag a few.
I agree about them being one of the best invert pets, it’s amazing at how popular they have become in such a small amount of time. It reminds me of the rise in popularity of dwarf shrimp in the aquarium hobby.
Roach Ant Very good parallel! I think they appeal to people for many of the same reasons. 👍
Is no one going to acknowledge there is a food for idopods called morning wood*
😏
High in protien as well. ;)
My wife loves Morning Wood😱
Helps with reproduction
KWMIKAZE Grim
Sometimes I get morning wood in the late afternoon
Not mentioned in the video: aquatic isopods. I made a closed ecosphere in a gallon jar, a la Life In Jars, and I got lucky by scooping up some aquatic isopods together with the waterlogged leaves. They're cool guys/gals :)
Egregius Yes! The first isopods i ever really kept or bred were aquatic isopods I discovered in an irrigation canal over 30 years ago. I’d like to keep some again...
I think they are the best invert pets! Harmless little guys, plus the variety you can have! What's not to like?!
According To Bush It’s hard to argue with that! 😊👍
Not to like is the fact that bush did 9/11
What if they want to sleep with you or go for walks
Do isopods bite?
@@rdu239 Nah, They're awfully friendly! I used to grab them off the ground outside and all they did was crawl around my hand
I had a lot of fungus gnats so I bought some double-sided flying bug paper and stuck it to the inside of the lid. It totally wiped out the fungus gnats in about a week.
Richard Royster That is a great tip! 😊👍
Me: *Reads "best pet inverts" on the thumbnail*
Me: Hmm I didn't know isopods were introverts but it makes sense.
Alex Baldwin 🤣
They are, though. Always hiding under tree bark because they don't want to see people :(
Avalon Justin especially certain species.
eat hot chip and lie big fella what did u think they were? Birds?
I started keeping them reluctantly as part of my bioactive clean up crew... but I fell in love with them culturing them. They're the most innocent little bumbling guys. I get excited about how prolific they're getting and hope some day to get some of the montenegro ones because they're amazing. Amazingly easy and forgiving to keep.
That’s sort of how I got my start too! I am glad you have joined the ranks of the isopod fans! 😊👍
@@Aquarimax I love my isopods now and look forward to expanding my collection of (currently) 3 species to 5!
Kat They are addictive hobby! 🤣👍
Isopods are awesome. I have the dairy cows, Montenegro, and powder orange. I started with 30 powder orange and in 2 months I got hundreds of n
Babies...literally. I am excited to hear the dairy cows reproduce fast.
Dairy Cows certainly breed very fast! I sounds like you are off to a great start with isopods!
No one:
No one at all:
RUclips Recommended: Here's several videos on why these common garden decomposers that you didn't even know the proper name for are actually really good pets.
Nukestarmaster very true!
My dad and I used to collect fossilized trilobites and I always loved how isopods are basically little modern trilobites.
will Bedford I totally see what you mean. 👍
I love checking out the 'common pill bugs' every day when I add stuff to my outdoor compost pile!
Sean Meister Yes! Even the common pillbugs ate fascinating creatures. 😊👍
not as cool as those 'giant' ones you have though...I have to say that I think the 'zebra' ones are my personal favorite of the ones you have. I look forward to your Friday videos! Thanks again. @@Aquarimax
Sean Meister You have good taste...zebras are among my favorites as well. 👍
@@Aquarimax Anything that moves like that completely freaks me out. I remember playing with them as a young child, until they freaked me out for some reason.
At night, many thousands of centipedes emerge onto the surface of my compost pile. It's like a phenomenon.
Seller: isopods are becoming popular.
CNN: scientist have just discovered an isopod that is an invasive species.
@Nivram Smith (Said with heavy russian accent) : I absolutely confirm that.
@Nivram Smith Damn you, you beat me to it.
@@Georg93 Spasibo!
Fox News and every Republican "news" source: Isopods are "Fake News". The "libs" invented them to promote the whole "global warming" scam.
@@JohnDoe-ol3yz Uh oh, libtard alert. *default dance*
They are a humble but beautiful animal.
Graveheart good way to describe them 👍
I use “common one” in my indoor garden. I started with like 5 now I have a army of buddies eating & helping the soil food web ♻️
Prefer amazing and useful little critters!
i use to collect wild isopods when i was a kid and loved it very interesting pets
Me too. That's been a LONG time since i've seen one thou. I wonder if they were weak to pesticides that was used here, cause i've never seen one anymore
dan kachiros I have fond memories of collecting them on my great-grandmother’s patio 😊👍
Rorther that’s sad! I don’t see as many species as it used to around here...
Thanks! I will realize my weird child's dream and keep isopods in my next studio for sure now!
Mademoiselle S excellent! 😊👍
I brought one, just one strange isopod I found outside and left it on my plants at home. A few months later I discovered an entire colony living there. They have a beautiful light-reflecting shell that I hadn't seen before, so I kept a few inside a miniature terrarium-garden that they now share with some lepisma. I can watch them for hours. Even my girlfriend enjoys watching them, and she hates bugs.
Isopods all the way! I love crustaceans anyways and crabs are way harder to keep, so Isopods are perfect for me! 🦀🦞
I started with Porcellionides in my snail terrariums for practical reasons.
This is when my love I had for them as a kid rekindled!
I recently went to the woods to catch some p. scaber and oniscus asselus. Then I ordered online a big amount of isopods.
I now have
Porcellionides nominat and "orange"
Porcellio scaber nominat
Porcellio scaber "ghost"
Armadillidium pictum
Porcellio laevis "orange" and "dalmatian"
Armadillidium vulgare "Magic Potion"
Armadillidium T+ Albino
Armadillidium "St. Lucia"
And finally Porcellio flavomarginatus.
🥰🥰
I am currently looking into getting 5 more species soon, and some are planned for next year bc I don't think I am pro enough for them just yet.
I am also trying to breed my own color morphs, another cool thing you can do with Isopods.
Cyan Walker Sounds like you have been bitten by the isopod bug like me? Do you have a favorite species?
Video Title: Isopods: *The best pet inverts?*
Me: "Hmmm Clint looks a little different..."
Isopods remind me of the Ohmu from Nausicaa. This makes me happy.
Now that I read that, yeah, true. Never thought of.
I’m researching isopods for bioactive enclosures. In my research I find myself even more interested in their species and keeping, but now I kinda consider them as addition “pets” to my collection. I appreciate the information you’re sharing. Thank you!
Me: Do I need to know how to keep Isopods as pets?
RUclips: Now you do.
1337fraggzb00N 🤣
The scientific name is actually “Roly Pollius”
Lol
indeed Sir you are most correct
Rollius pollius
I'm keeping roly polies from my garden now, and am planning on getting a bigger enclosure and keep an exotic species too! I'm thinking armadillidium, since I find their rolling up really cute, and then probably albino ones, since they are so pretty! They are also fairly affordable from what I can tell.
A lot of the Armadillidium are fairly affordable. I recommend Zebras and an excellent first exotic isopod species.
i separately keep and breed powder blues and peaches, they're very easy pets if you know what you're doing and are super fun to watch explore their environment and interact with each other!
I agree 💯!
I'm looking at this on a permaculture standpoint and it gets an A+ from me. Add these to the mulch piles and later on release the chickens.
Scott Comella Permaculture has long fascinated me, and isopods can definitely contribute to a stable permaculture system. 👍
I loved to look at isopods as a kid. I loved catching and handling little things, like frogs, lizards, turtles, and isopods of course!
Once I saw a bright blue isopod walking among the wild colony i liked to watch when we moved the dumpster for garbage day. I thought when I saw it that it was so special, and I wished I could keep it and breed it - and my dad would've let me! But I was scared of capturing a bunch, plus the blue, and the colony dying - or if the blue was some sort of disease, and that i would cause more to get sick.
So i let the isopod continue on his way. I almost forgot about it until seeing the powder blue ones in this video. Isopods are so nifty.
You were right about the bright blue isopod! It is an iridovirus, which is eventually fatal to the infected specimen.
@@Aquarimax I was always an inquisitive kid so I studied biology, and I had heard about something similar that happened to creatures, but I also knew that sometimes invertebrates could be differently colored. It was very exciting to see something uncommonly blue like that in real life, it was quite a little gem even if the context of why it was blue is a little "morbid." Like a two headed calf being born, or an animal being born with a cyclopes eye. I think I was about 10 at the time, definitely not any older just because I remember where we lived. I'm so glad that this video brought that memory back, and now I have the answer that the kid in my memory didn't have, and forgot to investigate when I got older!
Thank you for replying! These videos are so great to watch. I used to help my sister culture mealworms that she fed to her chickens (and to the yard toads in her garden) and since then I've thought on and off about doing the same with cuter invertebrates. And isopods are certainly charismatic!
I would say scorpions are the best but to each his own.
Renasance Scorpions are great too...I plan on including them in the series! 👍
Pauline de Haan me too, but sadly, they are restricted where I live.
I agree with you
My absolute favourite are mantids
Adynburd they are awesome!
When I was a kid, I kept some common backyard ones in a large jar full of dirt and leaves, with holes drilled on the lid. It was really neat and getting to watch the eggs hatch off of the females was a cool experience. I'm now watching this and am considering keeping them again (in a better setup than 8 year old me had). My husband is going to shake his head at this, I just know lol
Meep YOu should definitely keep some! The isopod hobby has so much variety to offer now.
@@Aquarimax Definitely considering it! Though I'm sad the rubber ducky types are so expensive - they're adorable!
But this video led to more videos and now I'm debating between these little guys or a mantis. Or both? Do mantis tend to go after isopods? I know mantis tend to be up in branches in terrarium setups while isopods are more terrestrial, but I can't seem to find anything that tells me if they're compatible. Without further information, would assume not, though - best to ere on the side of caution!
Meep I know that some mantis keepers use isopods as a cleanup crew, so cohabitation is possible...there would always be some risk that the isopods would become a snack though...
@@Aquarimax not sure if I'd want to risk it, then. Not only would I feel bad for the isopods, but I'm told that mantis have a tendency to over eat and get sick if you just let a good amount of their prey loose in their enclosure. Still considering both, but will probably keep them seperated :)
Meep definitely the safest option. 👍🏽
cool thing: these are a type of crustaceon, and they have gills. that's part of why they almost always need somewhere damp in the enclosure, they need to keep their gills wet so that they can breathe.
Sanguine Regis Yep, they are crustaceans, and have land-adapted gills, much like terrestrial hermit crabs. 👍
Does this mean aquatic lungs exist for somethings?
David I'd say cetacean lungs, which take in much more air than terrestrial lungs tend to per breath, and this is helped by the cetacean's body storing oxygen in additional locations to get the most out of each breath and also allow for deep diving where lung tissue gets compressed. Some species of whales and dolphins can go 2 hours between each breath of air.
I like the isopods crawling across the screen effect in the intro :D
Very interesting video about isopods, there are so fascinating to watch, so many varieties and easy to care to boot. Thanks.
Ísleif Otero García Thank you, I am glad we see isopods the same way 😊👍
When I was a kid in NZ, we'd go down to the corner of the tuck shop and mift the mess to play with the slaters there. Since then, I've loved watching these little guys do their thing. Next place I move to, I'm getting a tank and making an enclosure.
I love isopods, I think they're really cute.
Wj11jam I am with you! 😊👍
I remember catching some some years back and keeping them as pets. They love lettuce and that seems to be all they eat. Eventually had to release them which was sad. Still one of the best pets I’ve ever kept.
Over here we'd always call the isopods in our yard 'rollie pollies' we still call them that.
Gaming With Santi D. I did some research into common names for isopods. I found more than i thought is would...and some variation on ‘rolly polly’ topped the list. 😊👍
Thank you for the information. Ive never kept them but now i will.
Isopods take the cake by far! I’m getting up to about 7-9 species and I still want more 😂
EverythingCreated I forgot to mention that they’re addictive ‘ 🤣👍
It’s true.😂
I never thought I would feel so warm and positive about bugs.
Rathbone I am delighted to hear that isopods have that effect. 👍🏽
Thank you for such a detailed video! It never occurred to me that you could keep them as pets! Hopefully I can convince my husband now lol
Good luck!
Actually, I started keeping isopods, and they're pretty adorable ,I collected them from my yard, and even they are the wild-type Porcelionides pruinosus they're cute and adorable 😁
isopods are adorable!
Wang Ruoxu I agree! 😊👍
I've always liked playing with these guys in the garden but never considered keeping them as pets. They're cute little things.
my boys the rolly pollies finally got their own video
Scrufflord it was about time!
And girls! 👍
"they are not expensive"
Me with isopods in my garden: 😆
Outstanding video Rus. Great information (as usual). My main reason is certainly the gratification of seeing young. Still get the greatest thrill from seeing baby geckos but that quick hit of seeing isopod mancae satisfies the need, between gecko babies :) Oh, and congrats on that weirdo PB.
Supreme Gecko ah yes, a great point you made on the Isopod Vlog! That is definitely part of the appeal. Thanks Wally! By the way, I went searching in bun and caught about six unusual pied powder blues to try and isolate a strain from.
@@Aquarimax THAT is exciting. Fingers crossed!
Supreme Gecko Thank you! I think I did see the one from the video, but didn’t manage to catch it...I will keep looking. At least I have several similar individuals. 👍
My pets are springtails. I’m training the: to be super aggressive. They will eat any mold I give them now, even eat black mold just fine. They also reproduce like rabbits that got slipped viagra. They’re amazing cleaners
Isopods are awesome pets! They are fasinating!!! I keep them and they are very cute!
But I personally prefer ants for many reasons many of which that make isopods great! They are cheap, they are easy to care for, and come in many variations sometimes even between species. (All of these statements ofcourse depend on species)
But what makes ants great is cooperation. They work together to complete their tasks.
You really should keep ants and make videos about them on your channel.
AntsFinland I have kept ants before, they are really fascinating to watch! I may keep some again at some point. 😊👍
What I think is so great about isopods as pets is that you can just go outside and look under some rocks, pots, boards, etc and gather as many as you need. Same goes for collecting certain plants and materials for color & substrates, which also then often carry springtails and other microorganisms and bacteria, and all of a sudden you've brought a mini bioactive world inside.
Jrezky That is a great advantage! I collect the leaves I use from my backyard (I don’t spray pesticides) and they thrive! 👍
they gotta be some of the cuter looking bugs out there, as I dont feel repulsed by them at all. they remind me of piglets for some reason.
Kossolax the Foresworn in some languages, including Latin, their name is related to the word for pig. ‘Porcellio’, the scientific name of many isopods, means ‘little pig’.
In Filipino they’re even called baboy-baboy, literally pig. Must be their chubby-looking bodies(which is plating)
Fishyfishyfishy500 AKA BS that’s a new name for me. It is funny that their name relates to the word ‘pig’ in so many languages. 👍
@@Aquarimax well just one baboy=pig, baboy-baboy = woodlouse, yeah it's kinda funny how stuff like that happens :D
I'm loving my isopods, they're really fun to watch. Got some new info from your video 😊 ty!
Excellent! Thank you!
This video is way cool rus i loved seeing all of your isopods
Crystal's pets&plants Thank you Crystal! What did you think of the two levitating isopods near the beginning?
I fall into tbat strange category where usually bugs terrify me and I can't look at them without feeling itchy
but something about these little guys is just so cute and appealing!
I'm really interested in keeping these guys after only ever keeping small mammals and I hope I can do well taking care of my little dairy cows
Best of luck with your little dairy cow herd!
Loving all the info in this video!
I've been wanting some for a while, but they're really hard to find in my city.
Stephanie Biddulph Glad you enjoy it! if you can’t find any locally, they do ship quite well. 😊👍
@@Aquarimax Thanks for the advice! I managed to find some that could be shipped overnight & then had a super hard time picking only 3 different species, lol.. Am totally hooked already, they're amazing little creatures! :)
Stephanie Biddulph excellent!! They are indeed addictive! 🤣👍
Me and my younger sister are going to be keeping some wild pill bugs we find in our back yard as pets! I found one, and remembered an old insect container i had and decided to do some research. This sold me!
Hey Russ thanks for sharing my isopod colony's are growing I can't wait to get a couple of more different morphs
Nick Wills DC Tarantulas you are welcome, and glad to know that they are doing well for you! Let me know when you’re ready for a few more 😊👍
9:39 Porcellio Scaber *LOVES* to bury itself. My colony is at around 120 individuals. During the day time I'll find maybe 5-10 ontop grazing on moss, climbing the grass or foraging for errant flakes of fish food. At night, the rest burrow up from the soil and are on the prowl.
KingFluffs That has been my experience too! Porcellio laevis, on the other hand, spend a lot of time active during the day. 👍
I have no idea how you got on my recommendation.... but I LIKE IT!! LOL GREAT VIDEO 💙🐝💙
Made by a BEAutiful queen-Bea I am glad to hear it! Thanks for watching, even if it started out as an accident. 🤣👍
Pill bugs were my first pet. I would always pick up the flower pots and collect the roly polies. And then I started the bug pet trend at school in kindergarten and first grade.
I like the way they tickle my arm hair.
Aines_ World they definitely do that!
Was I looking for a good video about isopods not disappointed.
Em Anderson Glad to hear it!
I have had an ant queen for about two weeks and I can't wait to see her raise her offspring.
Chec out the following YT channels. Ants Canada, Nordic Ants, and Ants Australia.
Poe Luphy Awesome! that experience once...quite fascinating. This was years before RUclips existed though...
I’m so blown away! How have I never heard of this??? I’m so excited I saw those zebra pill bugs! I need some!
You have great taste! Zebras are one of my personal favorite species..I have hundreds. 👍
*real isopod hours*
Ambulance-kun the realest!
I haven't kept any other invertebrates as pets but I must say that my isopods have given me many hours of enjoyment.
Jayne Irlam they definitely provide that! 😊👍
They’re called rolly pollies and you know it
JTempo51 very true...one of the most common names for them!
Aquarimax Pets lol, I always find these guys under rocks (pillbugs) and then I put some on a table and see what they do. G’day!
JTempo51 fun to watch, right?
Aquarimax Pets very😝
I have a small colony as an amateur, I never mention it and yet RUclips knows... somehow...
Oh Well, glad I'm doing well. And another tip against gnats: put a sundew plant next to the enclosure and they'll be attracted to it and get eaten
MrTiesk great tip! I want another sundew plant!
@@Aquarimax
The problem is that noticed too late and now they're all around the house. And I only have or sundew
Awesome video!! I just happened to see some fungus gnats in one of my cultures last week and I've been going bananas trying to figure out how to get rid of them!
Gatør Someone commented on this about 2-sided fly tape on the underside of the lid of the Isopod enclosure to control fungus gnats...sounds like a great idea! It would be important to make sure the isopods couldn’t reach it.
@@Aquarimax Or you can get some Mexican Butterwort plants a seasonal carnivorour temperate plant. It groes from Mexco to Oregon.
Pup314 i would like to try that...
Rus,
I think that isopods are one of the best pets period. Of all pets that is.
I have to agree!
Um definitely jellyfish take the win for this one. Nothing can compare to their elegance and beauty, periodt!
anonymous paparazzi sea jellies are certainly amazing!
I've been wanting some pet isopods for a while now I just think their some cool lil funky dudes never knew you could keep them as pets until recently. I found this video extremely helpful and i plan on hopefully getting some this summer :D
pankushi z' weirdo excellent! Which species are you thinking of starting with?
@@Aquarimax honestly im not so sure yet, im still trying to figure that out
Can isopods and springtails live in the same enclosure
Ailuro Armory yes, definitely! I keep springtails with all of my isopods. 👍
I teach preschool (2-3yo) and my kids are always fascinated by the woodlice we find in the local park. A couple of years ago we caught a few and set them up in a little plastic tank in the classroom , and we quickly had a breeding colony. The kids really loved watching and (gently) handling them, got excited about the tiny baby woodlice, and learned a lot. We did have to re-release them after about 9 months as we thought we had fruit flies which we could not seem to get rid of - thanks for your info about the fungus gnats, that may have been what the problem was so maybe we can try again next spring! They make a really good classroom pet for very young children. Personally I think they are weirdly cute, especially their busy little antennae :)
Abigail Bailey Isopods seem to be almost universally appealing to preschoolers...I think it is great! Hopefully you will be able to curtail the fungus gnats next time 👍
Thanks for the great video, I found you from the Tarantula Collective. I was wondering, if I keep some dwarf whites or similar in a bioactive tarantula enclosure, is it necessary to offer them supplemental food, like the fish food pellets or a piece of squash now and then? Or would just replenishing the leaf litter occassionally suffice? Thanks
Thank you for watching, and thanks to Richard for sending you my way! You could offer a little supplemental food, but the leaf litter should be sufficient. .
@@Aquarimax Thanks for the info and quick reply!
I'm completely sold on keeping isopods now!
It’s working LOL 🤣👍
@@Aquarimax It's honestly given me a great opportunity for my current university module, can't thank you enough, it was a lot of fun setting up the enclosure!
@@lordhawkridge4116 excellent! Which species did you choose?
@@Aquarimax I managed to find many porcellio scaber!
@@lordhawkridge4116 A great species!
I keep reading introverts 😂
Thanks for this video. Makes me appreciate more of the world that we usually don't look at much.
ANO NYM You are welcome! Isopods are definitely an underrated creature. 😊👍
fun is how isopods are not even bugs as their names imply, they are crustaceans!
Rodrigo Gonzalez true!
The zebra ones are stunning!
Yes! One of my personal favorites.
Just one question...
do different species breed with each other or stay separate?
kliro man I don’t know of any confirmed hybrids, so it must not be very common, but I can’t rule it out completely. On the other hand, morphs will easily cross with one another.
Thank you for for answer🙏 So that means for example that porcellio breeds with each other but dont breed with cubaris? I have two porcelios, orange and dairy cow, in that case they will breed right? or will they stay separate too?
kliro man cubaris shouldn’t be able to breed with Porcellio, now should Porcellio scaber ‘Orange’ breed with Porcellio laevis ‘Dairy Cow’, although Porcellio laevis ‘Orange’ could. At any rate, I wouldn’t recommend keeping two different Porcellio species together, as one would likely outcompete the other eventually.
Thank you again. I brought Isopods for my tortoise terrarium and end up loving this creatures and building homes for them. Do you know where can I find more in depth information about them? Are you going to do more videos too?
kliro man this video should help: ruclips.net/video/-FmHLIFHGDk/видео.html and I will definitely make more.
I raise dwarf purple and dwarf white isopods as occasional dart frog snacks but also as pets. They hide a ton and they're very small but when you do see them they're very entertaining.
Cowboy Dan I agree...they have an appeal all their own.
I would def love to use iso pods for my tarantulas but I’m scared they’re just gonna eat them tbh. One species I own eats everything and idk if it’s a good idea
Gareth Harlan I would recommend a dwarf species of isopod, like Trichorhina tomentosa. An adult tarantula is not likely to be interested in such small prey. 👍
I would recommend putting a few of them in first, see how it works, and decide whether to add more or not.
I'd keep a seperate colony of whatever you get, and add a few each month and see hhow they do. Free food for your taeants is a good thing, and isopods are not poisonous like millipedes that have arsenic in them.
These little guys are great! Especially for cleaning up my gecko terrarium. Thanks for making this video!
Charles Adams They are definitely elan excellent cleanup crew! Thanks for watching! 👍
I watch ONE Isopod video and now you youtube thinks that's all I watch!
Random Videos the power of SEO and the Algorithm at work! 🤣
My mom thru mine out 40 years ago. Good show.
Losaiko Vote!!! Sorry to hear that, it is never too late. 😊
People in 2019: Everything is a pet!
CitrusTV basically, but i mean whats wrong with that? If you can properly care for it any animal can be a pet.
And now in 2020, that's even more true since everyone is looking for something to do
I used to Eat Them when I Played in My Old Sandbox as a Kid! ...Yeah, You Got Me! It was just 5mins ago!
I can´t actually / objectively tell why, but for some reason, I find isopods in general kinda cute.
Andrés Coronado I agree!
Well, that was an education, and a cheerful material too. (love the "find a needle" comparsion in the end)
I’m glad you appreciated that! 🤣 I think you are the first to have referenced that!
Hey can you do a mourning gecko tank update
Tropical Exotics Good idea! Maybe next livestream!
Just thinking about starting some colonies. I love the little guys as cleanupcrew in my snakes enclosure (Local wildcaught european, and white tropical dwarf-Isopods). I am so fascinated with all the varieties and the colours. They are just extremely cute.
Pyromite You should try it! There are a vast array of beautiful European species available! 👍
Java moss grows like a weed
In Australia the common grey woodlouse (slater) is endemic. Blue-grey species that appear to be armadillidium valgare are also common.
andrew strongman Some species are nearly cosmopolitan...they spread with agriculture long before anyone thought about that sort of thing. 👍
@@Aquarimax I can't find any indication that they are introduced species. Although the oldest fossil evidence is 50 million years old, the worldwide distribution would indicate that they evolved at least 160 million years ago. That would make them 'living fossils'.
andrew strongman it may well be that the species you encounter has been there since its beginning!