How to Culture Isopods

How to Culture Isopods

The warm time of the year is the best time to look for isopods in the local parks and gardens.

 Though isopods stay active even in the middle of New York winter, as I showed in previous videos.

Isopods feed on rotten organic matter such as tree bark, leaves, and animal waste. 

Look for isopods under the bark of fallen tree branches and such. 

A dozen or two of isopods is enough to start a couple cultures.

Put isopods in a container with a lid.

Make sure the lid has holes for air circulation.

Pick up leaves and tree bark in the same place where you collected isopods.

That's will do great for the initial setup.

This is the way I found and culture different types of isopods native to NYC.

I prefer to use shallow 16oz food-grade reusable containers for culturing isopods.

Containers can be stocked on top of each other for space-saving.

Poke holes in the lid for air circulation.

Fill up each container with wilted leaves and tree bark.

Moist everything - dry leaves and tree bark take in a lot of water.

Most types of isopods like humid environments.

And water helps to break down organic matter necessary for feeding isopods.

Drop dozen or so isopods in each container.

Close the container with the lid.

All set and ready on May 1st, 2022.

I check on isopods once a week.

Moist the culture if it looks dry.

Add eggshells - isopods need a source of calcium for healthy growth.

One months later on May 30th, 2022.

It takes about one month for newborn isopods to grow big enough to be noticeable.

Most common types of isopods found in NYC have a high reproduction rate.

I usually split the culture on two every other month or so, simply by moving half of the bark to another container.

Add dry leaves, tree bark, and slices of some vegetables (potato, sweet potato).

Make sure the culture is moist.

And so it goes month after month - checking on each culture once a week.

I prefer to remove spoiled food from the containers as soon as possible.

Even isopods feed on rotten matter - it could be too much for them to consume it quickly enough.

Adding more dry leaves or tree bark helps to reduce the humidity if necessary.

Here you can see a bunch of tiny white critters.

Those are springtails.

Springtails are totally harmless, and I keep them together with isopods as they benefit each other.

Here is a nice example of how well isopods consume soft parts of wilted leaves.

Now, here is an example of what happens if we keep spoiled food in the container.

The mold starts growing.

Mold is harmfull.

I remove the mold immediately.

Many people say that isopods and springtails feed on mold.

I believe what I see - and I've seen well-established isopod and springtail colonies get destroyed by fast-spreading mold.

Check my previous videos about mold for more details.

Here you can see the same, now a year and a half old culture in October 2023.

Many generations of isopods and countless springtails all coexist peacefully with very little maintenance on my part.

Tree bark, dry wilted leaves, and weekly misting - that's all it takes to keep them going.

 Have fun and happy isopods :)