Arstood

I see them mating occasionally. I'll have to disturb them next time I see it and see if the male grabs onto the female like this. It is rather amusing to watch the female lumbering around with the male on her back.

Do you think you'll be able to get them to breed?

They sure tear through wood like nothing I've seen. I put a log that was barely even rotten in their tank, and a week later it was like swiss cheese. Has anyone bred them successfully? Why are they so hard to breed?

Never bred them, but they seem to live at least 6 months in captivity, if not longer. They are very active, with lots of personality. I find them under logs in Hemlock stands. Anything in particular you want to know about them? I think they can squirt some kind of chemical out of their mouths that smells like cinnamon. Never pick them up and point their faces at your eyes. It stings for about 15 seconds.

Some are upper intertidal and others are lower intertidal, where they are essentially underwater 90% of the time. The upper intertidal Ligia sp. get quite large, they can hide a nickel underneath them.

Welcome to the forum. What Isopod species do you keep? Are you interested in trying to breed marine isopods? I can collect them by the hundreds at the beach, but I've never managed to get a colony to thrive.

Welcome! Did you keep beetles over in Korea? What race do you play on Starcraft? I prefer Zerg, though I haven't played in a while.

Instead of sterilizing the substrate, is there any merit to the idea of inoculating the soil with leaf litter from outside, in an attempt to create a stable mini-ecosystem without any single dominant mold or mycelium? That seems to be what the beetles encounter in the wild, and it might prevent a single mold species from taking over quickly. Maybe that's a terrible idea, and it might be why I've never been able to raise a wild-caught larva to adulthood. (That, or the months of neglect. Or a mixture of both).

Collecting season is just starting to ramp up here in OR. I'm convinced I'll turn up some relatively soon. If I do end up raising them, I'll be sure to give them a second chance if they look sickly, Thanks for the info.

Welcome! It's good to see a fellow generalist hobbyist. I have bugs of all kinds coming out my ears (this is literally true. Ask me about getting stung in the ear by a killer bee if you want to get the heebie-jeebies).

Welcome! I majored in biology too. I managed to turn my passion for insects into a career, good luck on doing the same, if that's what you are looking to do. Does your institution have a decent bug lab?