Isopod breeding?

A

AlexW

Eudicella
Currently my oak leaf fermentation box smells horrible and the leaves are more wet looking but at the same time have grown small amounts of mold.

Can anyone show some pictures of their setup and describe the substrate composition?

Also how do I prevent them from staying hidden 24/7 without compromising substrate depth/quality?

 
I keep all my isopods on coconut fiber, with dead leaves on top. Isopods are very secretive creatures, and it would be very hard to stop them from hiding. Even if you made the substrate extremely thin, they will hide under the dead leaves. I put pieces of wood/bark on the surface of the substrate, and they will usually hide under that, so if you want to see them you can just lift the bark. Also, once your colony reaches a decent size you will see many on the surface. When I open my cages there are always at least a dozen running around in plain site.

 
Orin says something about a 1 inch layer of leaves being needed to cause reproduction.

I saw your cages on Roach Forum and there were only several leaves on the surface.

So they will breed automatically as long as there are enough leaves present to eat as their primary food, right?

I am currently keeping them in 100 percent rotten wood chunks.

Also is a stale smell and small amounts of mold normal when leaf fermenting?

 
Yeah I just keep about a dozen leaves on the surface, then when they eat them all, I replace them. I am pretty lazy about it, and they sometimes go a few days without leaves, but they have been doing good for 2 years now so I think its ok. I do not know about the mold or smell in your leaf fermenting box, as I have never tried fermenting my own leaves. I just get old leaves in my back yard.

 
It depends on the weather outside, if it recently snowed or rained, they are moist, if it hasn't they are dry.

I use leaves that are dark brown.

 
One last question, on average how long does it take for a mature adult to start producing young after being put in good substrate?

Of course, it is different for every species, but what is the approximate time? Thanks in advance!

On a separate note the smell from the leaves has ceased, mold has stopped growing, and last night when I popped a leaf in the enclosure experimentally a Trachelipus was later seen chewing on it.

 
For me when I start a culture it takes about two to three weeks before I start seeing young. Hope this helps!
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Nice pics! I have lots of isopods around me, I even have found wild orange porcellio scaber! Just a tip, A.vulgare need lots of ventilation, or else they start dying.

 
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