Porcellio scaber ‘Wild’ Isopods - Woodlouse Culture
An extremely beginner friendly species! P. scaber have rough textured bodies with smooth skirting, and come in a variety of morphs like wild, lava, calico, ghost, dalmatian and orange. All morhps are hardy, active and bold and can tolerate a range of environments from dry to humid. This culture will include ‘wild’ and occasional other morphs like ‘calico’
Porcellio scaber are a cosmopolitan species which are believed to have spread from Europe. They are considered an anthropophillic species as they can be found living in great numbers around houses, gardens and greenhouses, as well as parks and forests. Individuals of this species have a rough tuberculate body and two pairs of pseudo-lungs. This species does well with a good layer of leaf litter and lots of surface area where they are active and prolific if conditions are right. This species is a very popular clean-up crew due to their ravenous appetite and tolerance of a variety of conditions, whilst not being so protein hungry as porcellio laevis.
Adult size: 1.7cm
Lifespan: 2 years
Status: captive bred
Place of Origin: Europe, cosmopolitan distribution
Temperature: 18-23˚C
Humidity: 70-80%
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, carrot, and sweet potato), sepia/ calcium supplement, protein source (fish flake, shrimp pellets, nutritional yeast)
The EntoScapes Way
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Return & Refund Policy - Live Inverts
- We suggest keeping P. scaber between 20-23˚C and 70-80% humidity for best results. These can tolerate big ranges in temperature and are a hardy species, ideal for the beginner hobbyist. We keep a large colony of isopods in a 40x20x20cm storage tub with vent holes across the lid. A smaller colony will do just fine in a 20x15x15cm enclosure.
- 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 on one half of the enclosure as a 'hydration station' and keep this constantly moist. We suggest keeping the substrate moist (not soaking!) and 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 and carrot 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!
