We have a new feeder insect offering!
Dwarf tropical woodlice (Trichorhina tomentosa).
These soft bodied dwarf lice will be relished by your frogs, from thumbnails to tincs. Lice range in size from approximately 1/8" for the adults to the size of a springtail for the newly hatched.
The culture you will receive is a starter culture seeded with approx 40 adults, you will also receive a care sheet with tips on how to maximize production of your culture.
This item has not been posted on our website, please contact us to place your order.
Starter cultures are $16.95 ea. plus shipping.
Shipping will be dependent on weather.
Try some today, your frogs will thank you for it!
O.K. Wood Lice? Could you give me more info or point me in the right direction. The whole Growing "LICE" thing just freaks me out a little. Lice have never been something that you wanted, growing up. haha But if they are good for the darts ok just educate me. Thank you.
Voodoo,
they are cultured similar to springtails, we feed ours on fruits and vegetables.
What else would you like to know?
O.K when you say lice the first thing I think of is parasites like the ones you get in your hair. I don't know about bringing such things in my home. Springtails ok, Flightless fruit flies ok, if they get out a little pain but LICE just the name freaks me out a little. Do not want to sound ignorant but what if these lice get out what infestation risks are there?
Lice is the plural of louse.
These are small arthropods that are not parasitic, they feed on decomposing material, and they cannot crawl up glass.
they look similar to pillbugs.
could a viv be seeded with these like how many do with springtails?
or could the population end up growing out of control and result in fat frogs due to their larger size?
zaroba Wrote:they look similar to pillbugs.
could a viv be seeded with these like how many do with springtails?
or could the population end up growing out of control and result in fat frogs due to their larger size?
All I can say is try 'em, you'll like 'em!
Yes, seeding a viv with them is a good idea. Even my picky tincs will eat them.
i just dread waking up one morning a few weeks after seeding and finding the viv (and surrounding area) swarming with them
I very highly recommend these. They are actually one of the less "gross" bugs we feed and are very much springtail-like. They culture very nicely , faster than springtails in most cases. Don't let the lice label scare you. They are really nothing like head lice.
Rich
I find that these are fairly self regulating. Once the population gets too large it crashes and then starts again so you don't tend to end up with millions of them in your viv.
makes sense. most populations of things will do that.
like snails in a freshwater aquarium.
RichFrye Wrote:I very highly recommend these. They are actually one of the less "gross" bugs we feed and are very much springtail-like. They culture very nicely , faster than springtails in most cases. Don't let the lice label scare you. They are really nothing like head lice.
Rich
I don't know if I'd say they culture faster, but I have found that once you get a good sized culture going, they are more reliable than springtail cultures.
This last summer, my springtails all fell to mites, the fall before that, fungus gnats were the problem, my woodlice got the mites too, but the woodlice still reproduce enough to feed/seed from the culture around once a week.
You're welcome for the bump, Cindy
We have a few WELL established cultures available at this time.
Get 'em before they are all gone!
I have a culture of tropical woodlice that is doing nicely. My question is, how do I get them out of the soil and into the tank? Fran
Just transfer small sections of the soil into the viv.
Same can be done with springtails...just dump some culture medium (as long as it's soil type and ok with frogs) into the viv.
I keep my Isopods and springs in a coco/Spaghnum/soil mix that is the same as my viv....pretty easy.
If I do that, won't I eventually end up with too much soil in the tank? Part of my problem is I only have a 20g long. It isn't very high, so for part of the tank I put moss/plants right on the hydroton. On less than half I have a cocofiber/peat moss mix. It is also covered with riccia, java and tropical moss in a pretty solid mat. I don't have any spots that are just covered with leaves like some people do. With springtails, I flood the container with water and they float to the top. I pour that water on the moss. Of course then I have to siphon the extra water out of the pond area! Fran
These are great feeders and viv janitors, but they are not like springtails where you can shake a bunch out almost every day to feed froglets ect. Isopods are more of a "longer term" cultured feeder and a supplemental feeder - if that makes sense.
I have at least 6 or so of these cultures ready to go, and shipping season is right around the corner !