recommendations for isopod sources

[Natures Gems]

hello all,

need a few recommendations, especially from the experienced long term dart keepers for which type of isopod they recommend to seed 2 pumilio tanks. would also appreciate member contact names for sources of isopods.
also with your suggestions would you let me know safe shipping temps for the particular isopods recommeneded. i never have anything sent by UPS to my house due to very late delivery times in my area. on hot days it would be disastrous. fed ex comes earlier usually by 10:30 but it gets very hot here in south carolina and can be over 80 by 10:00 some days.i have always picked up any animals from fed ex hold facilities myself for obvious reasons. so i'm not sure how temp sensitive the isopods are and whether anyone shipping to me would probably be much better off sending to a hold facility and i'll pick up there.
my daytime temps are way to high for truck deliveries. hold facilities because of early arrival would mean nightime lows would be the factor and we wouldn't have to worry about daytime high as much.my fed ex hold facility has the package inside by 8:30 am.
any help greatly appreciated. i don't know anyone in my immediate area that has isopods. also i'm guessing the isopods would have to be set up in a larger culture containers as would springtails. suggestions on medium also appreciated.thanks in advance.

tom

[Philsuma]

Wait till late Sept to Oct for shipping.

I seed with as MUCH and Different microfauna as possible and then re-seed every so often. The bugs jockey for colony supremacy and whoever succeeds....makes it. No worries there.

I use an ABG "type" soil mix....some bark and Cork Cardboard on top. Several good threads here on Isos...the sticky is good.

[Natures Gems]

Wait till late Sept to Oct for shipping.

I seed with as MUCH and Different microfauna as possible and then re-seed every so often. The bugs jockey for colony supremacy and whoever succeeds....makes it. No worries there.

I use an ABG "type" soil mix....some bark and Cor Cardboard on top. Several good threads here on Isos...the sticky is good.

phil,

thanks.your always a help. i appreciate it.

tom

[gary1218]

I culture the dwarf whites - which seem to be everybodies favorite, greys - which I recommend for bigger frogs, purples - which are the smallest of the three and I recommend for thumbs and pums, and orange - which are good for helping to keep the substrate clean.

I've had good luck shipping during the summer months with the adition of PCM gel packs added to the box to keep the bugs cool & alive during shipping.

[Stu&Shaz]

Hi Tom,as a novice i can't help on the best for pums side of things,but i can offer a bit on culturing,we now seem to have a really really successful method,we have been culturing the dwarf white for nearly 2 yrs now,but this summer numbers have jumped from a few cultures to over 30 3liter,I'm pretty sure warmth is the biggest factor, they are up top in the frog room and above the lights on our racks.we also keep fast grey and giant orange . I also ventilate all iso cultures,use a mix of leaf mould and rotten fruit wood which are sterilised in the micro wave and all edible to the iso,as our substrate,oh and a bit of charcoal to keep things sweet.We always water at one end providing a humidity grad,and use Phil's excellent bit of cardboard to monitor this. Feed: fish flake and ready break,and bit of eggshell(organic). don't pop them in 2 big a container at first,so they can find each other easy to breed,but above all keep them warm. Giant orange specifically,split out the adults after a month to start a new culture,and again a month later,we started with 24 adults 3 months ago on these and now have i guess a few hundred, a method i found elsewhere but def works.The upcoming adults we will use to set breeding colonies in each viv once I'm sure they are big enough to not be eaten.

just a little bit hope it helps,

Stu

[JimO]

The above are all good recommendations. There is a guy named Doug who goes by Pumilo on DB that sells cultures. You get a good value for you money from him and he ships with phase 22 packs (you pay a deposit and can either keep them or return them and get the deposit back). The phase 22 packs were still solid when I received some cultures this summer.

There is also a website called bugsincyberspace.com (http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Isopods_c15.htm) that sells a half dozen different types of isos. They tell you about how many are in each starter culture and the prices aren't bad. They don't ship much media, so you'd either need to dump the whole culture in your vivs or have some media ready before you receive them.

Good luck.

[Michael Lawrence]

Tom if your still looking when I post my next round of bugs, let me know and I will set you up free. They aren't quite ready yet.

Michael

[hkspowers]

There is also a website called bugsincyberspace.com (http://shop.bugsincyberspace.com/Isopods_c15.htm) that sells a half dozen different types of isos. They tell you about how many are in each starter culture and the prices aren't bad. They don't ship much media, so you'd either need to dump the whole culture in your vivs or have some media ready before you receive them.

Good luck.

I ordered from him in the past All of my bugs arrived in good health. I think he has the most variety as well, I ordered one culture each of what he had and man some of those grey ones are HUGE! They make the orange ones look small which is good because your frogs will leave them alone (Except terribs :evil: ) and they will really help keep your tanks tidy.

[Natures Gems]

Tom f your still looking when I post my next round of bug let me know and I will set you up free. They aren't quite ready yet.

Michael

Michael,

that is quite nice of you. i'll keep an eye out for your posts. thanks.

tom

[Natures Gems]

hey guys thanks for the suggestions i appreciate it.

tom