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Orange Isopods - Not sure if I saw what I saw......
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Orange Isopods - Not sure if I saw what I saw......
#21
Probably any insect, isopod etc. will become cannibalistic, carnivorous if starved for protein. I have raised crickets for many years and never had any problems with cannibalism. However, if crickets escaped for any length of time and were caught and put back in with other crickets they would immediately start to cannibalize the other crickets. Once they start they never stop.
I like blue frogs!
Tom
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#22
Not protein in this animals case....calcium.
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#23
Bit of a stretch becoming carnivorous to obtain calcium, from an insect that doesn't contain a great deal of it, don't you think? In this case it is probably deprived of a lot of different nutrients. In the wild isopods don't eat just dead leaves. Also they get a constant source of calcium from the soil.
I like blue frogs!
Tom
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#24
The isopod needs calcium to grow. Most vivariums have a distinct lack of calcium. The isopod can sense the calcium on the dusted fly, I think. The shell of the isopod probably needs a good deal of calcium to grow.

IMO.... that's why the isopod is so aggressive with the dusted flies.

Someone should experiment with non calcium dusted flies and see if the giant orange go after them with equal gusto.
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#25
I had a number of madagascar hissing cockroach babies at one point. I found one of them with its back half eaten, still crawling around alive. Gave them fish food with protein and calcium, and they didn't do that again. Not sure which they were after.
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#26
My fruit fly cultures always overproduce any way so if the isopods eat some that's a good thing. At least they don't go to waste.Smile
I like blue frogs!
Tom
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