# Tropical Woodlice?



## abadi (Jul 25, 2010)

hi everyone

i have got my delivery of reptile supplies yesterday for Northampton reptile centre, and i also got a ''free'' additional colony of tropical woodlice due the order of 60 quid +, i didnt really need them and dont know anything about them i know they are meant to be put in phibs soil but what for? and how beneficial are these? as for my phibs i only have a fantasy horned frog and 3 WTF's

didnt manage to put them their till i get some advice on how to keep, raise them but also didnt want to put them their for some reasons.
what i think ill do is just raise them as a colony and dont wanna throw them
i thought about giving them away but it is complicated i dont know any phibs keeper in the neighborhood but anyways ill give it a try to keep em.

what do they eat? and how humid they should be? i have them in a bucket with lid to make sure its quite dark for them,
also, WHAT ARE THEY MEANT FOR? are they like live food? or meant to clean the soil? how beneficial are them and could they be harmfull?

are they used for specific amphibians or can be kept in any arboreal phibs?

thanks


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

They can be used to clean the soil, eat the feacies, and as a live food depending on the frog speices. 

I have them in all of my vivs as cleaner crews along with common woodlice and spring tails. 

You can culture them at home or just throw them strait in a viv. 

Hope that helps
Jay


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## matt_mcmahon77 (Dec 3, 2009)

Where are you based as I need some of these and would be happy to pay for postage if you don't want them.


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## abadi (Jul 25, 2010)

Spikebrit said:


> They can be used to clean the soil, eat the feacies, and as a live food depending on the frog speices.
> 
> I have them in all of my vivs as cleaner crews along with common woodlice and spring tails.
> 
> ...


oh, nice
i think they are bred offsprings as i can see most of them as tiny white babies, i think ill culture them or atleast when they are grown be4 using them, what do they eat in captivity? i mean what do i feed them if they are not in any vivs atm?

also, i never knew common woodlice are also used for vivs, i thought they were only tropicals anyway thats a good point.
do i need to spray them or/and keep it humid and dark all the time?

thanks

@matt_mcmahon77:
im in NE Essex in a middle of nowhere near Harwich.
sorry i think i will give them a try rather than give them away atm, i never though they are as beneficial, however aren't these popular sold in most pet stores with reptiles and phibs supplies..

cheers


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## Spikebrit (Oct 23, 2006)

abadi said:


> oh, nice
> i think they are bred offsprings as i can see most of them as tiny white babies, i think ill culture them or atleast when they are grown be4 using them, what do they eat in captivity? i mean what do i feed them if they are not in any vivs atm?
> 
> also, i never knew common woodlice are also used for vivs, i thought they were only tropicals anyway thats a good point.
> ...


have a read here for care info, it's pritty good.

Poison Dart Frogs - culturing whiteworms



and yep woodlice cultures are vailble from various places, though they are often a little bit hard to get hold off. 

Jay


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## abadi (Jul 25, 2010)

Spikebrit said:


> have a read here for care info, it's pritty good.
> 
> Poison Dart Frogs - culturing whiteworms
> 
> ...


thanks very much for the link it was very helpfull

hopefully ill work on making a proper cultural habitat for them,


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## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

my tank is full of them one of my ferns started to rot for some reason and it was crawling with tonnes of them if i'd known someone wanted them i wouldnt have just thrown the plant in a big bag and lobbed it outside :whistling2:


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## abadi (Jul 25, 2010)

andaroo said:


> my tank is full of them one of my ferns started to rot for some reason and it was crawling with tonnes of them if i'd known someone wanted them i wouldnt have just thrown the plant in a big bag and lobbed it outside :whistling2:


ahh, how sweet :no1:


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## matt_mcmahon77 (Dec 3, 2009)

andaroo said:


> my tank is full of them one of my ferns started to rot for some reason and it was crawling with tonnes of them if i'd known someone wanted them i wouldnt have just thrown the plant in a big bag and lobbed it outside :whistling2:


Noooo, if you do have any extra then send them my way. I want some for my dart tanks. I cant seem to find them anywhere. I ordered some from someone on here along with some other bits and bobs but we wont go there. I wont be going back to them put it that way:whistling2:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Yep, if you are going to throw any, throw them my way too- I'll happily introduce them to my tanks, although the native ones seem to do pretty well. Biodiversity and all that...


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## brysaa2 (Oct 11, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> Yep, if you are going to throw any, throw them my way too- I'll happily introduce them to my tanks, although the native ones seem to do pretty well. Biodiversity and all that...


Yeah same here haha. How do you know if you have enough if your tank? Mine kinda vanished once I'd popped them in


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## gray1 (May 24, 2010)

Woodlice like to stay humid and hide. There'll be times when you think they all must be dead and other times you'll see plenty of them out and about.

They are like natures clean up crew so they'll just eat basically whatever they can. Rotting wood, bits of lettuce, feces, dead animals etc.
The UK native ones I have seem to especially like dead animals though, within a few minutes they are swarming all over the body (I'm talking insects before someone thinks I've gone crazy and feed my woodlice dead rabbits or something) :whistling2:


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## abadi (Jul 25, 2010)

gray1 said:


> Woodlice like to stay humid and hide. There'll be times when you think they all must be dead and other times you'll see plenty of them out and about.
> 
> They are like natures clean up crew so they'll just eat basically whatever they can. Rotting wood, bits of lettuce, feces, dead animals etc.
> The UK native ones I have seem to especially like dead animals though, within a few minutes they are swarming all over the body (I'm talking insects before someone thinks I've gone crazy and feed my woodlice dead rabbits or something) :whistling2:


my older ones are always found deep deep in the soil, whilst most wood, rotten leafs, flat rocks to hide under are on the surface
while the babies are found everywhere, i pick up a little hard piece of dried rotten soil finding like 6 or 7 little babies.

also, will they eat little fungi and bacterial swarm development in the soil or rotten wood that grow from humidity?, i have noticed some teeny tiny muchroom-looking like fungi on my rotten leaves.

i wonder how much in a bucket of woodlice


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