bugs are often a lot hairier than you might think, even apparently smooth ones like isopods! this Porcellio ornatus’ legs have a brush of stiff bristles that help move soil when digging, and also give him a better grip when trying to mate with females

a little post on molting in isopods:

uniquely among arthropods, isopods shed their skin in halves: first the back, and then the front (biphasic molting). for terrestrial isopods, this helps to split up the energy strain of molting across the body and allows them to recover and eat their exuvia quickly to regain calcium. most terrestrial isopods usually complete the molting process in a day or two, with some time separating the halves.

if you see an isopod that’s a slightly different color on its different halves, it’s probably not a mutation, but just in molt. conversely, an isopod that shows very different coloration from normal ones probably isn’t just teneral.

unlike insects, centipedes, and some other arthropods that often show wildly different colors when teneral (soft-shelled), recently molted isopods keep the same coloration they have between molts, like this piebald P. scaber demonstrates. an isopod in premolt may appear chalky due to the exuvia separating, and a teneral isopod could appear a bit pale and matte like the A. vulgare. isopods with a wax coat like P. pruinosus take time to secrete a new one, so they may appear half-powdery and half-shiny sometimes.

young isopods gain a lot of size with each molt, and this can sometimes result in them having much larger teneral back halves until their head catches up.

sometimes breeding isopods means you have to move tiny, fragile babies. a fluffy soft paintbrush is often a good way to pick up flatter isopods, since the babies get wedged in the bristles and are easily dropped off.

pillbug-type isopods work best with flexible “featherweight” forceps that give a firm grip but are built to not crush small animals. the forceps work well since pillbugs are a little sturdier but also because they have a tendency to curl up around brush bristles, and they become bothersome to pull off individually.

I’m moving all these baby P. scaber since the original culture was infected with a bacterial pathogen. I gathered all gravid females, put them in one cup, and every few hours I check for hatchlings to pluck out before they start feeding on their mothers’ feces to gain gut bacteria (and ultimately getting infected with pathogenic bacteria as well). it’s tedious but I hope it will save the culture.

this is Cylindroniscus sp. Miami 2, probably the third-smallest species of isopod I keep. yep, this as much as this elongated freak looks like a millipede or pauropod, that’s an eyeless, pigmentless isopod!

they’re probably also the worst at being isopods out of all the species I’ve kept. they can’t move faster than a walk, top speed sprinting perhaps a spirited mosey. it took 30 of them to eat a crumb of fish food. they get bullied by springtails. most of their relatives can only survive in caves.

I found them under a rock in Florida & I love these little bumbling fools so much

most terrestrial isopods mature well before reaching maximum adult size. these are two female Trachelipus rathkii with brood pouches, but one is roughly two months old and the other is well over a year.

smaller isopods have smaller clutches, and you can see that while the old female is carrying over 20 the younger one can only fit under 10, and they’re pretty packed in there!

in some bizarre coincidence I found mutant albino isopods from three different species this last May! complete albino isopods have no pigmentation at all, not even in their eyes

Armadillidium nasatum, Trachelipus rathkii, Porcellionides pruinosus

some more isopods! these are Porcellio laevis “Dairy Cow” with an additional mutation that removes pigment from almost all of the body (compare a normal cow pattern baby… calf? in the backround).

the morph has been isolated to form Porcellio laevis “White” by multiple keepers. I have a fairly low incidence of solid white ones, so I haven’t bothered to breed for these, but I’ve isolated the handful I have to see if it’s possible.

these few are probably the most massive isopods I’ve kept. laevis can get huge in old age on a good diet, and holding these you can really feel their weight!

Lumbricus castaneus may be one of my favorite local earthworm species for its small size, active nature, and strong iridescence, which varies in color from deep blue to yellowish green.

found on the surface under leaf litter or old wood, when you uncover one of these spirited little worms it’ll sprint off to safety, shining all the way.