White duckies and magic potions arrive (+ small update)

Decided if I’m going to have a future business selling isopods I need to do this right. I might make a post about the types of isopods I think might be best to invest in, but that’s for a later time. For now, I thought it would be a good idea to get two species of isopods that I guess you could call “rare-r,” i.e., “more expensive.” First, I bucked up for a very small colony of white ducky isopods—5 of them for $120. Pray for my wallet! The other species was magic potion isopods—10+ for $37.50. I think I got a pretty decent deal on them from the bug hub, and shipping was affordable. The only downside was that it took over a week to ship, and then 2 days to arrive, but they left a disclaimer on their website about shipping delays so it’s fine. All isopods came alive and happy, so I’m happy!

I set both species up the way I set up my latest zebras and clowns—in a 6qt container from Target filled 1/3 of the way with eco earth, sphagnum moss, leaf litter, and cork bark. In the white ducky container I also included garden lime (I’m not really sure if it helps, but I put it in my panda king enclosure when I set it up and they’re doing just fine).

I’m hoping one day to buy some orange koi isopods, but like my friend Bob told me, I need to make some money from these creatures before I start investing more money into the hobby. He’s probably right. I’ll probably buy the orange koi anyway.

For a quick update on the rest of the pods, the pandas have been very prolific in reproducing. I had read it could take upwards of around 6 months-1 year before they reproduce. Well, I started with 6 back in September, and 8 months later I have at least 20 now (that I’ve seen). The zebras have also been “getting busy” (if ya know what I mean). I haven’t noticed anything new with the clowns other than they’re just livin’.

3/6 of the zebras I put in the open-jar terrarium died, unfortunately. I have been very good about the upkeep with it and not letting the moss dry out, but maybe they’re just not creatures suitable for open-jar terrariums? I could swear I saw a baby zebra in there a few weeks ago, though, so more updates to follow.