How to Care for Isopods! 

My dad walked into my room when I was watching the 'Meet All Our Isopods" and he said "Why do they have so many rollie pollies?"🤣🤣😂

Found an isopod crawling around on my stairs today. Guess I'm now living in a bio-active enclosure.

💡Okay idea time! This might be a cool idea for the retail side of your zoo. Consider putting QR code’s next to items or pets, the QR code’s can link to your care videos on RU-vid. So if someone is considering purchasing a new pet, they can just scan the code right there and see your care video for accurate information. It may help!

I actually keep isopods and springtails in my greenhouse! A few years back, when I built my greenhouse, the high humidity inside caused a lot of mold and mushroom growth among my plants, but now my little bugs take care if that for me!

Emily: “isopods” Me: *rollie pollie*

One of the things I really like about you guys, is how much effort you put into giving even your feeders and substrate creatures the best living arrangements possible.

I as a mom appreciate your videos! My son recently has gotten super into Holy molys (that's what he calls them) and started keeping an basic little incloseure. Well my mother in law is getting him zebras dalmatian and orange smoothies and a better set up for his birthday in a few weeks, so your videos are good for me and him so that he knows how to properly take care of them

I think isopods are an excellent "first pet" as well! Much less work than fish, rodents or reptile species-but absolutely help teach responsibility! They are also amazingly budget friendly vs other animal start ups

I'm buying isopods later tonight. Uploading during my lunch break- you could NOT have had better timing!

Andy and Ollie the isopods. Still a better love story than twilight.

I’d definitely like to see a video for springtails as well. I want to eventually switch all of my animals to bioactive so anything on that topic would be awesome!

This is perfect timing! I've been wanting to get pet isopods ever since I learned about their maternal behaviour and how cute fancy isopods' colours can be.

Let’s be real..70% of us don’t own a reptile..because our parents say ew,but we think it’s still interesting and literally LIVE for the facility updates . :)

Is this anyone else’s favorite YT channel!?

Thank you for adding celsius degrees in editing as well! ❤ one google search from Ed/Emily literally saves thousands of people searching the same thing over and over again. Greetings from northern Europe!

Thank you! As a relatively new person to the naturalistic side of the reptile hobby (~2 ish years in to natural setups, but have had reptiles my whole life) I really appreciate the detailed explanation on how to keep these guys. I have had a lot of trouble previously with my colonies disappearing because I was given some bad advice in the beginning. I am currently trying again following the advice in this vid and hope to have better results 🤞🏼

I'm so glad you made this video! I've been having trouble keeping my isopods alive, and I couldn't figure out why. I'll try a thicker leaf litter to keep them safe :)

i’m so excited to move out, i’ve already got this amazing bio active enclosure planned out!! y’all have given me so much inspiration, i’m so excited to give a rescued reptile a good home 🥺💗💗

Thank you for the information. I was working near my compost piles and found a huge amount of isopods of two kinds, one that rolls up and one that doesn't. So I half filled a container with the material they were living in and added a dozen of each. I ordered food and now I'm learning all I can about them. I'll probably end up collecting every terrestrial variety I can. They are quite relaxing to watch.

Ive been considering keeping isopods for a while now, so this just makes me want them even more! (I would also like to see not just a springtails care video, but some hognose, rat snake, etc. care videos too!)

Ed purposely handing Emily the mistyped sticker only to whip out the correct one was one of the highlights of this episode.

Glad to see the orange and dalmatian ones again, they were my absolute favorite in the last video. We dont have any other pets right now, hoping to adopt a snake this year. Im thinking a culture of isopods would be perfect. My kids already have a little "roly poly house" going on outside. They would love this.

What timing! I just upgraded my corn snakes habitat with The Bio Dude's kit. The isopods arrived on Saturday. Of course I watched all of your videos on bio active and cleaner bugs before I ordered the bugs. I got spring tails first, added plants, then the isopods and finally a humidifier yesterday. Nagini loves his new setup and so do I. Thank you so much for all the information you supply. By the way I've had Nagini for 8 years.

Thank you guys for such an awesome video on isopod care! This is just what I needed as I am starting to keep these for cleanup crew 🙌🏽 I for one would LOVE to see a care video for springtails ♥️

Have you considered adding crushed eggshell to your substrate mix? It's a great source of calcium and some trace proteins that isopods go nuts for (I also add some fish food on the odd occasion as a supplemental feed since they do benefit from protein based foodstuffs and do seek it out naturally)

Snake discovery: how to care for isopods Me who is never planing on having or feeding isopods

YES Springtails video!!! Also, literally the "what, where, when" BLEW MY MIND!

Repashy makes a food mix specifically for detritivores as well called “Morning Wood” but basically any of their food mixes are good for isopods, they can eat fresh food as well, mine enjoy occasionally eating bits of carrot or zucchini

ROLY-POLIES! I used to play with them when I was little. I didn’t know you could have them as pets. The ones we have in Florida were just a really pretty silver color. I would love to know the genus name for them.

Great to see some isopod love getting out there! My Biology students are always equal parts amazed and freaked out to see them and learn I just grab them from a few steps outside the classroom.

Emily and ed you guys are truly amazing and inspiring keep doing what you love stay safe and healthy 💖

Very cool! I'm setting up new isopod colonies this very morning. Have 6 new types on the way. A few tips: It's better not to mist the tanks, but instead por water against the side in the moist area only (the one side that is padded heavily with sphagnum moss), this gives them a humidity gradient. The cork bark lasts longer, but that's because they don't enjoy eating it as much, punky oak wood and things like that will feed them better. If you don't have good wood to add (like I don't since I'm in the desert) you can buy bags of wood pellets used for bbqs. Get them wet and they'll turn to mush that you can mix in and it gives them lots to eat. You can also ferment the wood pellets to turn into rotting wood (which is their preference), but it takes about a month and yeast, look for recipes online. Never give your isopods pine, cedar, yew, or other wood or leaves from resinous and potent-smelling woods. You can set isopods up in aquariums if you want to watch them better. I did it for my Dairy Cows, Calicos, and Zebras, while my P. laevis Orange and Giant Canyons went into Exo-Terras, and my Scaber Lottery Mix went into my ball python's bioactive enclosure. They are all doing great (I need to do update videos to add to my colony-building videos), but the aquariums are heavy to move regularly (mine are on a rack where I have to lift them out to water) and I had some Orange escapees from their Exo-Terra. Today I'm doing storage bins just because I have so many different types. If someone is interested in isopods, they can easily start with just finding them outside under planters and putting them in a spare container inside with some dirt and leaves. No need to buy anything if you can't afford them. Use some clean, dry, and crushed eggshells for calcium, add some fish pellets regularly and they're very easy to keep. Check out Aquarimax for so much good information on raising isopods.

I always love when you guys talk about costs for buying isopods and springtails...my brain is like "don't you just go to the forrest and pick them up?" I guess not everyone used to work in a soil entomology lab FULL of bins of springtails, isopods, cockroaches, and the occasional confused salamander.

This brought back happy memories, of when I was at my senior school ( in the UK) I was a member of the entermology club, run by our biology teacher, I love looking after the reptiles, isopods, Beatles, and we also had chinchillas, quite a collection. Great video thanks 💖💖😊

Thak you for making this! i have roughly 16 of these guys, all of them a nice grey colour. all leaves i use come from a huge oak tree in my backyard.

Love this! Kept some of these guys for a while. Surprisingly enjoyable.

Emily: Isopod Me, an intellectual: L A N D S H R I M P God, I love those orange and white ones.

Me: "Whats it called??" Emily: "SNAKE DISCOVERY AWESOME MIX!!!!"

We just got our first culture of springtails. I would love to see a video on how to care for them! I love your videos. They are so fun and educational! 🐍🦎🐢❤️

This is crazy. I just recently had a two hour conversation about isopods with someone, just totally out of the blue. Now I think the world wants me to get some because I keep seeing stuff about them!

Very informative video! 😎👍 When I started my isopod collection, I use containers and poked small holes in them for ventilation... Then I noticed that fungus gnats were making their way into the containers through the drilled holes and the lid area (tiny gap between the lid and actual container). So I got rid of those containers and now have 23+ different kinds of isopods in air tight sealed containers; haven't had an issue with fungus gnats since! I dont worry about lack of oxygen because I literally open the containers almost everyday (I Love watching them and seeing how each culture is doing). So the point i am trying to make is: Regular tupperware containers work just fine, and there is very little/to no chance of those pesky gnats getting in there and laying larva. (And yes, even my cubaris species do fine as well) 😎 But do your own research and see what kind of set-up works best for your situation!

Perfect timing!!! I just got some dairy cow isopods ❤️

Yes! Please do Springtails! I am wanting to start culturing them myself for my mantis enclosures especially since I am adding a new enclosure hopefully soon.

I started raising isopods last fall and theyre breeding like crazy!! I’m amazed!

I am terrified of literally everything you own as a pet. I mean EVERYTHING but I want to get over my fear plus its fascinating to watch and learn about all of them

I'd love a how-to on keeping springtails! My colony always ends up getting gnats (i think because I overfeed them)

The year is 2022 and the channel has just been rebranded to Isopod Discovery

Absolutely amazing video! I need this for a school terrarium project

Can't believe I'm so early omg! I have a bunch of isopods and adore them, hopefully this'll help me better their care!

I’ve always been so interested in the springtails!! I would love a video on them :)

There is littoral tons of isopods in my back garden there really easy to find this video helped my terrarium thanks 👍

Thank you so much! I've been taking care of Powder orange for my Leopard Gecko & Bearded dragin bioactive enclosures. They seem to do well. But the carrot shavings I was feeding them seemed to attract a lot of fungas gnats. I added some springtails & that seemed to work out great. I'll try repashy for sure! But it seems like the idopods gave exhausted all of the leaf litter, I added some southern palm leaves, that they really seem to enjoy & mix up the substrate once it starts to seperate.

Gecko: oooooOoOoo Isopod:skert

8:06 reptiles have such beautiful eyes! When they stare at you like that you just melt a little bit inside! Also thanks for the video i've been waiting for that one for a while! ❤

Thanks to you guys I started reading the wings of fire and I am really enjoying it thanks

I saw someone wearing a snake discovery shirt yesterday and it just made me so happy like, Me: sneke? Shirt: I love the noodles

Emily shares the pet peeve of every science major: Species are never capitalized. That gets engraved in your brain forever

This was very helpful I wanted to start my own culture of isopods because I’m obsessed with things like millipedes and isopods (and I have a ivory millipede) so thank very much for making this and I will check out your leaf video.

Thanks for the help ive had a colony of woodlice for almost 2 years

Hey Emily! I am donating a water bowl that my ball python outgrew to y'all for either zoo or personal use!

Emily teaching kids what a Isopod is: “ It’s called an Isopod “ Kids” Isopod! “ 5 year -old Me: “ ROLLIE POLLIE! “ 😂

Drove by the new zoo and it's looking amazing I can't wait till it's open.

This was very helpful. I felt bad for some of the wild common louses on my cement front steps and I wanted to give them shelter until the winter is over cause they got rained on yesterday and today and weren't really moving. So I wanted to give them a winter home basically. Normally id leave wild animals be but I have a soft spot for these and I felt bad just leaving them there- I had a set up from another thing before hand and its ready for them. I just wanted to know what they can eat, what they need and the like I'll release them once the winter ends and then look into getting one of the species featured here!

Hey Snakediscovery, do you know where I can get the type of mites that live on hissing cockroaches to keep them clean? I have six of the little mold factories in my ball python's bioactive viv

Me: *Is not planning to ever get isopods whatsoever* Also me: *Hmmm... interesting*

Thankyou for a wonderfully informative video. I found your video very comprehensive and well delivered in every sense. Im researching to keep them in my hermit crab tank as well as a host colony as pets 😀 Also looking into springtails, epsecially after you mentioned they eat knat eggs, will happily be seeding them into all my inside plants for summer heat. Knats are such a persistant pest destorying my fruit within days and i very much appreciate a natural control.

Very informative video, thank you! I just started with a few powder mix isopods, but eventually I’d like to keep more expensive ones. I’d even like to make a setup with just some wild isopods that show up in the summer, and see how they do.

I've been very curious about spring tails. Hopefully by summer I'll have my first snake and I want to do a bio active enclosure

Please do springtails! I keep them for my mourning geckos and I'd love to learn more tips!

Informative and fun to watch. Always look forward to your videos.

Ooooo thank you so much Em and Ed! also thank you for the tarantula care video to! I'm thinking of getting a curly hair for my birthday

I would love to see a video on springtails. I'm actually looking to swap to bioactive enclosures for my reptiles but my husband is concerned that springtails would escape.

I really love ur channel even though I don’t have a reptile so I decided if I do I will name one Emily and the other Ed

Yes plz do a vid for springtails! I garden and keep houseplants in humid Austin, TX, and I’m constantly fighting mold and fungus gnats, even when I have the moisture level perfect for my plants. Cinnamon helps with the gnats, but I’d love an organic option for the mold!

i seriously love isopods. i set up my second glass terrarium and i find myself sitting there on a stool watching the little critters! there fascinating btw i got 10 powder oranges and they are awesome i cant wait for them to breed. 😊😛🤟

You should make a video where you set up the big isopod enclosure :0

Hope your friend is recovering ( the one whom you had to pick his reptiles)

Before I found this channel, I used to be pretty scared of snakes and everything like that, but now that I’ve watched you play with the snakes and feed them, I’ve started to really like them. Thank you

a springtail care video would be amazing!

Isopods are great when you have 50 until one day you realize it's now about 500 🤣

Would you ever consider selling isopods online. Id love to get some of your "Lava" Isopods.

Very interesting, I wondered what they were for, thanks for an informative video.

Brilliant video and you make it really easy to understand 👏

Emily and Ed : “ Ico “ Me: “Ico” Emily and ed: “pods” Me: “pods “ Emily and Ed: “now say it altogether! , isopods! “ Me : “ rollY PoLlieS :D !” Thanks for the likes!

I will repeat what I said in the last isopod vid You guys should really make a isopod t-shirt that says “there’s no use crying over spilled milk-back” with a carton of milk that has milk back isopods pouring out of it

You guys are the Martha Stewart of the reptile world. I mean that with the utmost respect. You don’t miss a beat , so impressed

Isopods are just really great animals, lovely to take care of.

Has anyone noticed that on the background when you see Emily talking there is a ditto in the background xD

Emily: upset about a capitol letter Me: upset that Dalmatian is spelt wrong 😭

Yes! Springtail video, please! I actually commented a few months ago about wanting a springtail care video. 😊

Isopods are my favorite lil critters, they're so cute, I'd always let them crawl on my hands. Seeing different species is awesome.

This was super helpful just got my self some isopods for tortoise habitat

I'd not really thought of isopods before. I have springtails for my tarantulas. Well I got new tank for my crested gecko & set it up bio active. I got dwarf speckled isopods to be a clean up crew with the springtails. Well have I not fell in love with the pods, they are so adorable. I now watch substrate for ages to see the little guys appear from under leaf litter. They are fascinating. I put left over pangea feeding cup on ground & they come eat it. Now I want some different species for pets, maybe dairy cows. I'd love rubber duckies but they cost a lot here in the UK xx

THANKS FOR THE CARE GUIDE IT WOULD HELP ME TAKE OF MY ISOPODS

I was doing some potting yesterday and emptied one of my old pots, and at the bottom of the pot there must have been 20 or so isopods! Until I started watching your channel, I'd give them a glance and keep on working, but now THANKS TO YOU, I have a new appreciation for these cool little beasties, and I simply cannot just brush them aside and keep going, I have to scoop each of them up and find a good place for them to have a good life! With this new awareness, I have to ask for advice on finding them a new home. Is it as simple as finding a dark, damp for them is there other things to take into consideration? I've known these little guys all my life, having always called them "rolly-poleys", but now I see that they are really cool little animals. Thanks in advance for any advice! Love you guys, and love your channel! I'm from South Carolina and hope to stop by your zoo is ever we make it up to the "Great White North" LOL!!!

Would love to see a video on springtail care! Just got my first culture and would love any extra information that I can get my hands on!

I love my isopods. Great video 😊

Yasss! I was waiting for this vid!!! ❤️

I just got some isopods. I found them outside but they are doing good! I have Armadiliidium vulgare and Oniscus asellus.

Liked this video as soon as you talked about ‘Genus species’ Uppercase lowercase 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼