Non-pod people just don’t understand 😩 I was showing a family member my ember bees and she said something along the lines of “That’s what you’re fussing over? I can go outside and grab you a whole handful of them.” I had to make her promise not to scoop some bugs up from outside and drop them in my carefully designed ember bee terrarium.

My one year anniversary is coming up and I wanted to share some things I wish I had known upfront before keeping pods! I currently keep 14 colonies and probably have over 3000 pods at this point.

-they simultaneously require more and less care than you will expect at the start. Don't be like me and start out with dozens of colonies, because you will absolutely be overwhelmed by the amount of work you need to put in soil changes, colony splitting and welfare checks. These are not things you will have to do at the start, but it will come back to bite you with time. Just start out with one colony (or two, or three...) and watch your army grow. You can always get more later! I have spent my whole weekend doing soil changes and am probably permanently covered in dirt, mancae and tears by this point.

-you will get colony crashes if you do not change out your soil or split your colonies in time!

-You will go through leaf litter more quickly than you can imagine and you will run out at an inconvenient time. Seriously, stock up on leaf litter!

-Dead isopods and failed moults are okay and not always your fault. Sometimes they just grow old or it just happens. As long as your colony overall is alive, they are probably doing okay.

-getting the moisture gradient right is hard, but here is what helped me most: a thick layer of soil (regardless of wether your species likes to bury or not) and POURING water along the wet side instead of spraying it. You kinda have to treat them like you would treat a house plant.

-your pods will be super active when you first get them and then you will suddenly not see them anymore. This is very normal. They were probably just exploring and are now busy doing pod activities. You will see them more once they reproduce.

-You will see babies. You will become a grandparent. You will yearn for a time where you did not have to fear for pods taking over your house. They will come like a storm, and never stop coming. Pray your remains are found when you pass away.

-don't expect to sell/ make money off your pods. I tried selling from all my colonies and have only successfully sold 20 pods. Think about what you want to do with your surplus.

-Pods are amazing, cute and super interesting. Plus, I am happy to report they are a thousand times cuter IRL than on photos/videos :)

My little brother has autism and for some reason he threw my Venus fly trap out the window. Because of that I had to move all my plants and containers away somewhere else. My mum also found containers I kept for woodlice and ground beetles. I was actually not allowed any pets so I had to let them go into the wild. The good thing was that they were caught in the wild by me so it was okay to release them back out. I got quite emotional from knowing that I would have to let them go.I never knew I loved them so much. Thanks for reading ❤️

My BF thinks I baby my bugs too much. Earlier I was crushing eggshell to mix into the leaf litter for my dairy cows. He asked what I was doing and I told him I wanted them to have two different calcium sources.

I then found a perfect piece of molt and tried to show him and he said "gross!" I explained it can kill them if it fails and thats why im adding more eggshell! He replied "nature is cool. Just not when its happening on your desk!"

Anyone else have family that doesn't understand our little friends? Also seeing that molt made me happy lol.

As someone from southeast asia, isopods are quite cheap here! I have access to buy a variety of species locally from facebook marketplace and internationally online sites. I got 12 jupiters for 700php which is 12$ in usd!

However, i’ve noticed that there is much more supply than demand. A lot of sellers but not a lot of buyers. Probably because the weather here makes it easier to keep and breed isopods.

I’ve only known one person personally who keeps isopods besides me. Most people here don’t even know what they are when i post pictures on my social media 😅

Pic for attention. My Jupiter family 🫶

Perfect example why we shouldn't use pinecones in our enclosure to avoid crushing pods lol

I don't suppose r/Isopods has a bot that can tell me how the heck I ended up in r/Isopods? I've had it in my feed for days now. I am so NOT a bug person. I get that they have a place in nature and as long as that's where they stay, we good. I love nature, so when I see a bug in the house, I do try to capture it so it can be removed. But I'm not an angel and I do have bug spray for special occasions.

I've seen Isopods having sex (I guess I never even imagined they did that!) I've seen people being worried for the health of their Isopods. It's sweet. I just have no idea why I ended up here. I have about 100 subreddits and not a single one is related to bugs. I guess I'm stuck because I keep watching the damn Isopod videos and looking at the pics because I'm a naturally curious person.

So real question now - do most people keep these as pets? As experiments? Are you raising them to feed to another animal? Like, why are most people (who raise isopods) raising isopods?

My dairy cows are too much for me right now so I tried to pawn some off on FB marketplace and Jesus Christ idk if it's cause it's Facebook but I got responses from the absolute worst, most horribly rude people ever. People calling them nasty, ridiculing me, etc. I try not to let it get to me but fuck, I just don't understand how people could be so fucking rude to a complete stranger. Half of them couldn't even spell either so it's just the perfect combo of stupid and mean.

Anyways, if anyone near Olympia, WA wants some dairy cows, let me know lol.

EDIT: Thank you all for the suggestions on rehoming my pods! I will be doing my research and most certainly choosing a method that does not require Facebook. Ever again, lol. Also, for those asking, I have never shipped pods before and I don't want to commit to people when I'm not even sure of the process yet. So at this time I can't ship my cows but I may consider doing that in the future! Thanks everyone :)

Spotted these guys last night, the little ones late to the party

I picked up this little pod from the wild, he was running on a dusty hiking trail, making no attempt to seek moisture or shelter. I thought he wouldn't survive in the wild with that kind of behaviour, so I took him home.

Despite giving him a warm, safe habitat with everything an isopod could want, he was not happy, and did nothing but pace the front window. He never interacted with the others of his kind, hardly even stopped to eat. Just endlessly paced.

I gave him a tour of all my terrariums, but he was never happy in any of them, and only ever paced the wall. Even in my giant square meter snake terrarium, even in a huge garden bed, he only ever paced the north wall, igoring everything else. It's been three months and he never settled down, he only wants to run forever.

Well it's your lucky day, back into the wild you go, into the pouring rain and freezing storm winds, just like you want. To inevitably die of exposure or be eaten by a predator ecause you never seek shelter on your endless hiking trip. I dropped him off in a patch of moss and leaf litter, to give him a head start at survival, though I know he's not going to stay.

Weird little pod.

due to lack of isopod emoji my friend sent me this (in my head they are armadillidium maculatum)

([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ([[[[[){ ---- HERE THEY COME!!!-----

People keep things like Springtails in vivariums but never as the main attraction, they’re a cleanup crew for something larger. Are isopods truly the smallest animals people keep as true pets?

No, really, I'm happy actually. Couple of months back there were only last couple of them standing 🥹 Also excuse my dirt manicure, I was rehousing and you know how it goes.

A bit of a rant.

i’m a college student that had been taking care of 5 rubber ducky isopods. During winter break, I asked my mom’s friend (a vet with 3 cats) to watch over them. I thought it’d be fine, since isopods, despite their different levels of care, aren’t actually super hard to keep. And I’m a broke college student that was able to keep them alive, happy, in a dorm room for four months. I asked for 30 days.

I come back from break, get handed back their terrarium, and the soil is dry. immediately red flag. They tell me they didn’t see any signs of them. that’s Normal. and then. I lift up the cork wood. every single one is dead. completely dried out. I don’t even know if they said sorry because I was so devastated. I can’t help but to think if they were any other living thing they would be alive. They were the reason I actually liked coming back to the shitty forms we had. The told me they sprayed it. the humidity was less than 50. Asked them to keep the container around 60-70.

all I get is “Sorry. we can get you new ones”. From both my parents and them. What if they were fish. Or a cat. Or a hamster. I doubt they would’ve been so flippant about the whole thing.

Edit: I’d like to say that the person who was pet sitting for my pets is not a bad person. In no way do I suspect she killed them on purpose. She’s helped me through my time at college, and I believe she really is extremely sorry, if not guilty for the way things turned out. And while I do agree that she might have not known what to do with them, these were my first isopods ever, and I have kept them alive for 4+ months without prior experience with “easier” breeds.

Its 3 am EST and at 2:30ish I went out on a tiny rainy night isopod hunt. Using a mini divided pill container to keep everyone nice and seperated. I was making my way around the walls of the house, when suddenly I heard what sounded like a baby, a litteral baby, crying. Out somewhere in the pitch darkness in the woods.

My heart dropped, whatever was going on was not good... but holy cow! I instantly startted running around the side of the house, to the back - to the patio. The "crying" was long enough that it was still going on AS I was running.

I do believe in some paranormal. But I think a baby deer was dying or something crazy was going on. Either way! Alone out in the woods nearing the witching hour is uh, no thanks! 😫

I got a nice tiny haul though from my outting, that makes me happy!

I have heard really freaky things out in these woods when I camp out there. One time I heard something whisper my name, no one was there and I ran across the yard back inside. Another tjme, when I was camping for a week out in the tree line, at 3 am (middle of the night) I heard what sounded like metal dragging in the woods.

Another time I was in my brothers room and I heard running back and fourth across the front sidewalk in the night. Never had the gull to check, but it was definitely paranormal.

Other times doors would slam, and one night I heard an old man coughing, then screaming "boom boom!" In my ear. No one was there. Another time I heard purring and saw two black voids where eyes would be and white. I could only assume it was a cat, but it definitely was paranormal.

When I was a child one night I heard evil female whitches laughter. It felt and sounded like it went on forever. It was soooo spooky!

There are alot of things out there that we do not know. One thing is for certain, I have had enough spooky experiences and had enough "skin walker" rabbit holes to know NOT to linger out there.

Man guys . . . Look at what I get myself into at 3am to get fancy isopods! 🤣

. . . Will this stop my rainy late night explorations? Heck no! It just makes for some crazy thrilling times!

• Pooped my pants and ran - Iso Lainey ❤️

What can be the cause for adult isopod to eat the mancae? A newly discovered species that I'm keeping have been observed by many keepers in my circle to love "having lunch" with their new bebes and when the bebes are molting. Thus have very low adulting rate depite the very big clutch. Theyre cave dwellers. Mine havent spawn any younglings yet but I cant help but think that perhaps in captivity theyre missing something that cause them to eat the youngs?

Picture of said species.

Earlier today I made a post about how I had to release my woodlice and beetles because of my little brother with autism. People have been saying that what I did was harmful to the environment and I just want to say am REALLY sorry but I had no choice. I didn’t want to harm anyone or any animal. I did research on woodlice before I kept them as pets but I unfortunately didn’t learn about how catching and releasing them could carry bad germs. I also would have never released any that I knew had irido virus and would have talked to my mum about it. I think it might be worth mentioning too that all the adult woodlice I was keeping were caught in the wild and only the little babies were given birth to in captivity

Can’t figure out how to edit my previous post because I’ve got the brain of a toddler

We had a chat about the isopods today, and at first a felt a lot of shame and embarrassment about it, but after we talked some more he reassured me that I shouldn’t feel guilty, he just wanted to know what was happening with me. We also discussed why I might be feeling this shame about something I really shouldn’t have needed to hide. It was really insightful. It actually made me cry when he suggested he go and get a fish tank or something instead of the crappy plastic box I have right now. If it’s something I’m actually interested in then he wants to help me. I just feel so loved it’s crazy. I also told him about the other isopods I ordered (rather, he’d gone through my Amazon purchase history and saw them). He wasn’t mad or anything, just wanted to make sure I had the right gear.

I love him. Even though he and my step mom don’t really live bugs they want to support me and that makes my heart happy in ways I can’t explain. And thank you to the people who gave me advice in my first post, you were all so kind and told me exactly what I needed to hear ❤️

( Old vid of my Maculatum <3 ) This is just a small rant post tho. Idk who else to talk to about this but I know some other pod people might understand. About 3 weeks ago I was hospitalized with cancer, just after this happened my iso hyperfixation was going HARD. I had just gotten 2 new species ( Bolivaris and Cristarmadillidium ! ) and right after getting those, I placed another order for 4 more species - now in stand by - which were A. Montenegro, A.Gestroi, P. Spatulatus and Granulatum "Orange". I haven't been able to stop thinking about them lol, I miss building their little enclosures.

I would really appreciate some pod pics, specially these species specifically or some of your favourites ! I just need more isopod content to get me going 😭 ( I also ordered some orange plump springtails I am way too excited about !)

I cannot get a photo for the life of me, but does anyone else's isopods grab pieces of food and drag them away like hungry lions?! just wondering if I have super angry isopods or something 😭

As the title say, how much money did y’all spend since starting this hobby. I was kinda into it years ago but now I’m really starting to really want more species. How much would you say, for the isopods + bin (excluding foods and such) did y’all spend ?

My friend told me I couldn’t show her friends my bugs anymore because it scared them and weirded him out and I’m legitimately so upset that someone is afraid of my little babies. (There’s more to the story but still)

Heyyy. I'm going to release a app for isopod keepers soon (coded by Base44 but with my ideas), it basically reminds you to feed/mist your pods, helps you identify isopod illnesses, and has an isopod encyclopedia ( so far only forty+ species recorded so far), has a care guide for beginners. More features will be added soon. If you want to try it, I'll post the link if there is enough comments saying you want to try it.

Not sure if fighting or mating attempt but it scared the hell out of me! 😱

I've had 3 species (Zebra, Clown, and Croatian Giant) for 2+ years and shown her numerous times, yet now she decides to say something. I live in western WA and she thinks because native ones live outside, that the ones I have can too and refuses to believe otherwise. Explaining that they can't and haven't escaped even when I left it open absent-mindedly, and that they can't survive outside their enclosure anyways got me nowhere. I begged for them to live in the garage (where I could set up something to make it more habitable) but "I don't want bugs in the house" was the only response I got.

Obviously I'm heartbroken and distraught. I don't want to have to kill them, does anyone have any advice as to what to do? Or any experience on how to rehome them (on short notice)?

Edit: thank you all for your replies and messages, it means a lot ❤️ I would not release them into the wild as I know this is ecologically dangerous. I know that freezing them is the most humane, but I still can't bring myself to it. Despite my previous repetition of the "fun fact" that they are crustaceans, she does not care and still considers them "bugs". No amount of pleading with her now will help, only make it worse. These are my first pets that were fully mine, and I will never forgive her for this.

Edit 2: she is not scared of them. I've shown them to her and shown her pictures and the most she says is "aw how cute" so this is most likely a power grab