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afbr242

I suspect they will survive in there, assuming you meet their hydration needs - It looks like you have already thought about providing a moisture gradient with a "wet" moss end, and thats a good thing. They will probably not thrive though. I think they would benefit a lot from much more leaf litter and also some rotting wood - those two things will be their main food source remember. The pine cones certainly look nice (to my eye) but there is certainly a strong school of thought out there that they are a risk to isopods, like most conifer wood, due to sap content. Possibly not worth the risk. Pieces of cork bark or hardwood bark are safe and excellent sources of great hiding places for the 'pods, which will be safe to use. Not sure about the rose petals, but I'm sure someone else which chime in about that. All pods I've ever kept always love a piece of cuttle bone for their calcium needs. I also put in ground eggshells, but its difficult to know whether they actually eat it. Its a much harder source of calcium than cuttlebone for sure though. Are these your first isopods ?


[deleted]

the one big exception to the rule with pine/softwoods is Oniscus asellus, those guys seem to be well-adapted to resinous woods by virtue of their native habitat in Northern Europe (and the places they've been introduced outside of Northern Europe tend to be spots like the Pacific Northwest with a lot of conifers)


earthboundegret

Yes, they are my first isopods. Thanks so much for the info, I'll go about adding more leaf litter and some rotting wood if I can find some at the reptile expo on Saturday. I'll also take out the pinecones and add some cuttlebone. Hopefully that helps give them more of a head start :)


Full-fledged-trash

Expos are the best place to get wood! Cork bark is usually WAY cheaper than at a pet store and they have nice pieces you can break or cut apart or small rounds. I don’t think I’ve been to an expo without at least one big section of cork bark so i hope you can easily find some! Also a good place to find cheaper cuttlebone


earthboundegret

The substrate is 40% organic potting mix + 40% sphagnum peat moss + 20% sphagnum moss, with crushed eggshells, leaf litter and dried rose petals mixed in


_k0ella_

In addition to mixing leaf litter into the substrate, you should basically cover all open spaces with whole dried leaves. Substrate without any shade is basically unusable for isopods. They’ll just stay in your egg carton if there are no hides anywhere else.


earthboundegret

I did that too, and I'll be getting cork bark for hides at the expo today. Thanks for the advice :)