Make sure you check out our new Isopod Store- supremegecko.square.site/shop/isopods/5?limit=180&page=1&sort_by=price&sort_order=asc

"why are your bugs on the counter again?" "For the last time they're crustaceans Marie!"

If you are constantly transferring in new nutrients and transferring out old poopy soil in small quantities (10% or so of the substrate), you can keep crashes from happening. It's the equivalent of small water changes in your aquarium. I scoop out soil and leave it in another container for a couple of weeks with bark on top so that I can return any babies that are still in the removed soil back to the main colony before using the old substrate as potting soil or top dressing. My plants go nuts for old isopod soil! If you don't garden, give it to friends who do.

I’m an isopod breeder from Taiwan, I absolutely agree with your opinion with the accumulation of Amonium over plenty of months which leads to the crash of colony, nice video, wish to see some renewal soon!

You can also use a small plastic cup and make a pitfall trap for your isopods when transferring, just add protein on the cup and they would go right in but cant climb out

I’m new to the hobby.. building my first enclosure (no isopods just yet) I am enjoying all of the education you are giving.. thank you

Thank you for this info. I started 10 different isopod cultures in 6 qt bins at the beginning of January. I learned most of what I know about them today from you and Russ. Keep the great videos coming. They are GOLD for a novice isopod keeper like myself.

Great information as usual Podfather!!! Great to see you back on the tube. CONGRATULATIONS ON 6K SUBSCIBERS!

I was wondering if this would be an issue with mine. Thank you for putting this great video out.

Thank you Wally. I imagine that is what happened to my powder orange isopods.

I have always tried to use some of the old substrate when I upgrade my colonies. Probably a carry over from my years of aquariums where you never want to add animals to a new tank because of ammonia spikes. Sounds like this is a similar situation and I was unintentionally doing it correct.

Wally you're HIRED!! LOL what date would you like to come over and do mine?😂

Old is good... sometimes! WooHoo I have value! Awesome video Wally! I couldn’t agree more

WOW!!! Wally I have had several colony crashes and now I wonder if it was because they needed a new enclosure. Thank you so much for teaching us all some new things!!!

I am guessing this is what happened to my Dairy Cows and Powder Oranges, they were booming and then crashed soon thereafter. Wish I had known this sooner but I am glad to have figured it out. Thanks for sharing!

ive had my colony for years, as they inevitably outgrow an old bin i simply upgrade them to a bigger one, keeping the old dirt but adding more to fill up the new space. this way i keep 100% of them (no losing babies in the soil). I used to keep them in something shoebox sized, but now they are in a large storage container meant to fit under a bed. Of course, I cant keep upgrading forever, so if i ever need to change the soil i think re-using the old soil as dirt in a bioactive enclosure would be a great use for it! Its already got clean up crew and springtails

Good info Wally. 👍 What are your thoughts about removing and replacing partial substrate and reusing the same enclosure rather than moving all the isopds to a new bin?

I know this vid is old but thank you. My first colony (Dairy Cows) is now over 6 months old and there are a ton. So I figured it's time to learn about the problems that can come up with large colonies.

Hi new friend, we talked on FB cant wait to try your product!!!

I just watched more of your vids and this one. It helped me a lot. I like this one not only for the tips on to avoid isopod colonies from dying but I can now see several of the bins you have and try to find similar ones.

Hey Wally good to see a new video! Been missing your videos!

I'm so happy you put this video out that help ppl like me that dint know alot

This was so helpful! I am looking to change my substrate of my bioactive terrarium set up. Can I used dirt from outside? do I really need to cook it?

I’m looking to get into isopods as a low cost low maintenance hobby I can participate in with my physical health limitation. I’ve been reading and watching as much content as I can to gain an adequate understanding of what’s involved. This video was very informative but raised a question I’ve not seen asked or anything elude to anywhere else… how does one dispose of used substrate and so on which may contain isopods so as not to introduce them to your local environment as a non-native species? We have severe issues here in south Florida with non-native animals and fauna and barring an unintentional escape/release I’d hate to simply dump old substrate with isopods into the local landfill or garden.

This was also a fun way to show us the process

Another great video Wally and I am sure it has helped many isopod peeps.

Thanks for the great info Wally. I have a few bins that are overdue so I suppose I should find something to watch and get to it!

Very awesome information wally thanl you so much for the tips

I wonder if you could set these bins up with some moss, or small, low light plants, to help keep the substrate more cycled. Maybe some small worms and springtails too? What does everyone think?

Very valuable information!! Thank you for posting!

I started the colony in May for a science class lab. Just had a massive die-off this month. The timing fits. It also got very dry (winter apartment heating) but even after heavy misting before all were completely dead, the numbers seem to keep going down. Thank you for providing another possible condition to take into consideration!

I have a large variety of trees on my property. What leaves do you find are best.

Great Video! Thanks for Sharing all the amazing info

Good points! I'm pretty sure that's what happened to my powder blues a couple of times.

You should make a video about your trusted places to buy isopods.

You guys have a lovely home.

great resource as always! thanks!

very helpful. Such good information!

Different sizes of strainer might help speeding up! Just a thought. Thanks for this education!

Great video Wally and excellent information... good to see you back on air... 😎

This is so much helpfull information about how to properly set up an isopod enclosure, even after I already watched and read a lot about it for weeks now. Thank you.

I seriously appreciate your content!

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge 🙏😊

I have a question- I am using isopods as a cleaner crew (with springtails) in a 40 gal snake vivarium. Due to the size of the enclosure, how would I go about "refreshing" the substrate to avoid crashes? Would it be similar to a 20 percent water change in an aquarium? And if so, how often for that sized habitat? Once a year? Or longer, 18months? Or even sooner, every 6-8 months?

Thanks so much this is a question that needed answering

Great video as always!

first off its great to see you putting videos up ....I have to send you some of my substrate so you can review it for me .. I love your vast collection of Isopods wow and I know you remember when my culture died off after 10 to 12 months and I think this is what happened to mine and you told me that when we talked what a great video and awesome editing I love how you used 2 camera angles wow you have risen to a new level I love how you compared it to fish keeping and you do fish keeping old school you now can cycle and aquarium with a liquid out of a bottle now they sell bacteria in a bottle for that but I like the old school way that's what I do sorry for getting off topic lol..great video and information....and no ball game put on Hockey lol I sent you a message on instagram

I wouldve just dumped it all in there and mixed it up good before i counted them 1 by 1 like that. Or maybe put the old substrate in a container small enough to fit into the new bigger container, then force them to migrate by not feeding the old smaller container.

You Made Excellent Points wally

So they basically ate all the nutrients off the substrate or there's a lot of frasse

Great content

That comparison with the cycling of an aquarium reminded me of some recent videos by Chris ' The Mad Aquarist ' Biggs. He made some good points in that regard as well...

I really love your videos Wally!

makes so much sense. I wonder if when I add my isopods to my bioactive if I will have the same problem in months and months. I know I wont want a crash (I do plan on making another 4x2x2 bioactive in the next year and then when I move my boa I will make her an adult 8 foot enclosure bioactive so I guess as long as they last until then without crashing.) I will have cultures set aside in case of a crash though.

Would just having a good bottomw layer of springtails at the bottom take care of the ammonia build up?

That was helpful, thanks

Fun video, Thanks Wally

Do you add springtails to your colony? I’ve found this can help with the ammonia build from the isopod waste.

Where’d you get the new containers?

PERFECT VIDEO SIR

I needed this video so bad today!

Great video Wally! Just a thought here but could the possible addition of any plants help combat the ammonia buildup? Specifically I am looking to build a bioactive snake enclosure thats 100% sustainable, with isopods in it so a crash in a culture would set off a crash in the enclosure ecosystem!

A. Depressum sounds like my kinda critter 😂

Hey Wally you're the man!! I'm really looking forward to updating/splitting my cultures but I'm just out of space for bigger or more tubs. Lol.

Thank you for the information , btw im from Philippines

Nice pointers!

I use a sorting screen with a frame on it and sift the old soil through it and isopods are left on the screen..... its how I sort my really small Dubai Roaches also

What about using a sifter like we use for worms (1/8 inch probably) so that the dirt sifts to a container below, but the pods stay on the sifter?

Good to know. Great video

I put my kiddos isopods on a window screen mesh over a new tank. That's how we sort them out of the substrate from our catch tank. Seems to work.

Thank you. What size are the NEW containers you are using?

I think my diary cows are crashing as I had hundreds of babies a few days ago but now I can only find a few. I don't know if they died naturally or if the dirtimus beetle larvae killed and ate them, I'm hoping that they're just burried in the substrate (as I forgot to turn my heating off this morning so the substrate dried out) and will come out again soon.

Heya Wally :)) What did you cover the ventilation holes with on those blue lid bins?

my substrate is only dirt, so i use a strainer to move them = >

I still don't understand why you wouldn't use all of the old substrate. There's so many benefits to using all of that old, and adding new to it, when moving them over into a larger bin.

You have lots of isopod bins. May i have one? 🤔

Wally, 5001,5002,5003 - just couldn't resist :-) Seriously though I presume that you would advocate sticking to a two size system and not PERPETUATE the increasing tub size - just checking :-) Regards, Jim.

I have some rubber duckies that I’ve had for months. I stopped seeing them so I uprooted the box, could only find 3. I have no idea what happened. Really bummed.

About a month ago I put approximately 30 slate grey white mottled adult isopods from my yard in a container and now they are overwhelming the enclosure. I used compost that must have been filled with tiny babies.

So do you change the isopods to new bins every 6 months?

You should have setup two new totes. Split the old tote in half and made two colonies out of the one old colony. It would have saved you all that sorting from the old soil. Sure you are using the old waste soil but considering you will have two new clean totes that waste wont have that much of an effect on the new colony homes. Trying to dig them out of the soil without some sort of sift is way too much effort for me.

Brand new to isopods. Like brand spanking new. Just got a culture of milkback and blue powder yesterday and tossed into my Guyana BC bio-active 5x2x2 enclosure. How long should it take for the colonies to take off? The enclosure has plenty of humidity, a wet, and dry zone. Spaghnum moss, leaf litter, bark, and snake sheds. Was told I didn't need springtails, though I'm thinking I need some.

YESSS PURGE THE STEMS!

Hey Wally, very helpful video! I have been having some die off troubles with some of my cultures, so looks like I'm doing a transfer this weekend. Was very curious to ask you, what purpose does the garden lime serve in your tubs? I considered getting some clay to mix in with my P. spinicornis, but never would have thought to add lime. Thank you for sharing such helpful information!

Newbie isopod enthusiast here- if you don't move all of the soil over, and are doing it by hand, how can you be sure you get all the babies that burrow in the substrate?

so is this the equivalent to needing a water change in a fish tank? sure sounds like it- ammonia build up, changing the substrate but keeping some of the original, building bacteria colonies, etc. would it be possible to, like in a fish tank, do more frequent (so every month or something) partial “water changes” of the substrate instead of one big change every 6-10 months? related question: when you water the substrate to get it more humid, could you use established fish tank water since it already contains ammonia-eating bacteria that could help out?

Greetings, I wanted to ask why my Pumpkinhead Isopods are dying? They are a local species in the philippines with high humidity requirements, and I just rehoused them a week ago. It's still a small amount dying but I want to stop the deaths as early as possible. Most I found dead are half-molted, bottom side still has molt and the substrate is still damp but not soggy. I have also tested if the substrate I have made is safe by using superworms as test animals and they did not die at all in two weeks in a sample of said substrate. There are multiple calcium sources such as cuttlebone and eggshells, and they have been doing great for me at least until after the rehouse. EDIT: Most of the deaths were also mancae and juveniles but there was also one adult dead, I wish that they are the only ones but I also saw a couple more juveniles struggling with half a molt

I just had to move my p. Bolivari to a huge bin after starting with 12 and now having 100’s!

I am sure the answer is "depends". I have started everything in 6qt containers. I have 5 different species. I have most of the powder blues and dairy cows. Probably somewhere in the 30-50 range of each. How many is to many in a container?

What does one do when you don't want to go to a bigger container.?Guess there is no way in controlling the population levels. I moved them to a bigger container but what happens when they over populate that one? I don't want to keep splitting it to create more because i don't need more.

Hi Wally! I've had my magic potions in a large bin for over 6 months now. They've taken off and had lots of broods, but don't seem to be fully crowding their enclosure. However, I noticed that other than their wet and dry spot leaves, their substrate is pretty digested up with frass. Should I move them to a new container? Should I top off with fresh soil or rotted wood? How do I know when my substrate is entirely spent/too high levels of ammonia

I currently have a infestation of fungal gnats living in my terrariums. All my poor isopods have died slowly over three months, (i had the isopods for probably 5-6 months) i am wondering if gnats can kill isopods when in large numbers I kept my isopods with my snails, they live in a humid environment. I usually don’t kill any little critters even flies but i have 13 sticky fly traps in my room and they are full of flies. The infestation is pretty bad I am going to buy spring tails and hope this controls it a bit. I was thinking of buying 40 isopods and adding them at once to see if they could out compete the gnats, but it seems that its recommended to start of with a small colony first I also have houseplants in my room so they are just living in everything terrorising me!! Thank you for the awesome advice, i wanted to gain more knowledge before buying anymore isopods. I feel terrible knowing they died under my care.

My dairy cows babies and juveniles were gone, I found some of them dying and died... I think I should move my dairy cows to a bigger enclosure...

I lost a thriving orange smoothie colony cuz I gave em a baby carrot that was washed but still had some pesticide on it😕

Instead of trying to get them all, why not split the culture? Or instead of picking the last few out, add new substrate, etc, and let them repopulate? I'm new to iso's, but what I generally do when creating a new colony. I save some of the original and top it off, just in case something doesn't go right in the new enclosure. Unless of course, you are trying to free up the smaller bins for different cultures.

Oi dont throw tape and pens at us how dare you!!! Lol but 2 questions if someone doesn't have a second container is there another way to manage ammonia levels? The second question is where did you get the label printer that thing would make things so much easier for labeling snakes for shows

To get to the point 7:20

Can I feed my white dwarfs isopods a whole dead walking stick ?

I think you need to share some of these cuties with me lol, and check your spelling ol man! Comming?! 😁

Wally I thought you were gone forever