Cristarmadillidium Muricatum 'Spiny' Isopod - Woodlouse Culture
Cristarmadillidium Muricatum commonly known as European Spiny isopods or Crystal Pineapples, are a rare, small, peachy coloured species from Spain. These only grow to around 6-7mm as adults, but their amazing spiky appearance makes up for their small size! These are fairly slow growers with smaller brood sizes which is reflected in their price tag. This species tends to gather in groups in crevices and under bark, and will quickly roll into a ball (conglobate) if startled. A truly wonderful species to keep and breed and extremely cute!
Adult size: approx 6-7mm
Lifespan: approx 2 years
Status: captive bred
Place of Origin: Spain
Temperature: 18-26˚C
Humidity: 50-65%
Diet: Hardwood leaf litter (oak, beech, hazel etc), rotten hardwood, flake soil, organic waste/ faeces, sphagnum moss, mushrooms, variety of fruit and vegetables (favourites include cucumber, squash, and sweet potato), sepia/ calcium supplement, protein source (fish flake, shrimp pellets, dry mealworms)
The EntoScapes Way
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Return & Refund Policy - Live Inverts
- We suggest keeping C. muricatum between 21-23˚C and 50-60% humidity for best results. This species comes from Spain and prefers it on the drier side, so a well ventilated container or faunarium can be used. A smaller colony of 10-15 will do just fine in a small braplast tub with vent holes across the top.
- Like other isopods, these need a humidity gradient which can be achieved by making sure there are dry and damp areas in their environment. The best way is to provide sphagnum moss or live moss in 1/3 of the enclosure as a 'hydration station' and keep this constantly moist. We suggest keeping the substrate moist (not soaking!) under the moss and dry on the other. Provide plenty of bark pieces and leaf litter to allow them to seek out dryer spots.
- Make sure you use a high-quality substrate (no coco coir!) such as our Premium Millipede Edible Substrate as this will be the main food component for your isopods, and provide crushed cuttlebone or eggshells for calcium, as well as a good quality protein source once a week for optimal health. We prefer to feed vegetables to our isopods to help deter fruit fly and fungus gnat infestations, but that’s just our choice! Like many invertebrates one of their favourites is cucumber which we provide in slices and replace once completely eaten, which is around once a week.
- We recommend NOT keeping any protein-hungry isopods with millipedes as they can sometimes nibble on them whilst molting!
