# woodlice breeding



## arnie23 (Jan 3, 2010)

i think this is the best place to put this but yeah 

how long does it take to get a nice colony of woodlice i could only find 6-7 of them so i dunno if there male or female but yeah how long does it take for them to breed and whats the best size tub to have them in 

atm i have them in a cricket tub with some damp cocofibre and some large wood bark is this ok 

when should i see that they mating ?

sorry for all the qs


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## TheMetaphysicalNinja (Aug 18, 2009)

You probably wont see them mating, I'd put them in something bigger and find a few more to up the chances. the females have a sac on their underside which they carry the young in, then they hatch out into the coir. It can take a while, depending on how many you start with, hence I'd suggest a few more to get going. Maybe about 20? I have mine in the inverts tanks as a custodian, and they tend to breed of their own accord when they want.


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## arnie23 (Jan 3, 2010)

cheer for the repley i will try and get more every day hopefully have 50 by the end of the week


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

you want to give them some rotten leaf litter as well, they will eat it.


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## arnie23 (Jan 3, 2010)

iam trying to get an eco eath thing going but i havent a clue where to start so any help would be great 

should i just put the woodlice in the tokays viv now (dont have the tokays yet) 

and add some rotten leafs and bits of rotting wood ?


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## kevhutch (Feb 18, 2010)

i have a cricket tub half filled with coir

small pieces of bark in there with some potato peelings and keep it moist

it took the 10 or so about a month to breed

now i have almost got a constant supply of them when i need them

every now and again i add some more from the garden to add new blood to it, but it is working

if you get a bigger tub add more your colony will quickly grow

cheers Kev:2thumb:


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## rep666 (Apr 1, 2010)

hi why do you want woodlice:2thumb:


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

I'd add some fish flakes too, they appreciate them and eat them quite quickly. Good for gravid females.


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## kevhutch (Feb 18, 2010)

rep666 said:


> hi why do you want woodlice:2thumb:


they keep the bottom of tanks free from dead crickets, fungus mould, etc


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## Oderus (Nov 24, 2009)

rep666 said:


> hi why do you want woodlice:2thumb:


They are great company, mine talk to me quite a bit aswell.


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## Baldpoodle (Apr 18, 2007)

rep666 said:


> hi why do you want woodlice:2thumb:


 because head lice are a little bit itchy: victory:


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## snowgoose (May 5, 2009)

OK, I know my reply is late but here it goes.

I currently breed 5 species of woodlice.

I use 3 tanks for my woodlice. 2 are large faunariums and one is a RUB style tub.

I half fill my faunariums with damp coir as substrate topped with a mix of leaf litter and bark.

I would personally suggest starting with as many as you can find, the more you start with, the sooner you should have a constant supply.

Keep them moist and you can use fish flakes for food as they will eat this.

Anything else about keeping woodlice is on my blog in my signature.

Anything else, just ask.


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