Woodlice breeding

[susurrus]

Anyone here breed woodlice? (sowbugs, pillbugs, etc) I've captured a bunch (~50) and would like to start breeding them as my cham goes crazy for them. Seems to be a great source of calcium also. I would love to see pictures or read some descriptions of what has been successful for breeding woodlice.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Yes I do. Chams love them. Highly recommend using captive born ones over wild caught!
Here's a previous thread on how to breed isopods: https://www.chameleonforums.com/isopods-16457/

 

[susurrus]

I seem to have found Porcellio Scaber and Oniscus Asellus. What woodlice species do you breed? I see both of the types I listed above in those pics though the article mentions separating different species.

 

[cpgrower]

Woodlice culturing is extremely easy. Just put them in moist soil and slightly bury some fish food pellets, and let nature take care of the rest. You need to replenish the pellets every 3-4 days. It takes about two months for the culture to establish and explode.

 

[jojackson]

I assume these would be a treat food, to be given rarely?

 

[cpgrower]

I assume these would be a treat food, to be given rarely?

Actually, they are way too small to feed to chams. Maybe newborns. They're supposed to be very rich in calcium.

 

[albacheck]

Actually, they are way too small to feed to chams. Maybe newborns. They're supposed to be very rich in calcium.

No, they're actually perfect prey size.

 

[jojackson]

Is the shell difficult to digest? I was thinking they may be like mealworms in this sense?

 

[sandrachameleon]

They are not too small - my adult panthers love them.

Yes, the shell is somewhat hard to digest, thus you would not want to offer these on a regular /daily basis. Unlike mealworms, they do have a good nutirional value so they are worth it. Ive been using these as an enrichment feeder (about once or twice a month in winter, once a week in summer and fall) for over ten years and have never had any problems resulting. In nature chameleons do eat beetles and things with shells. So long as there is balance in the diet and enough water, a hard shell now and then is no problem. Plus chameleons do LOVE eating these. These and stick insects are by FAR the favourite of EVERY chameleon I have ever owned. They love these more than moths, more than hornworms, more than silkworms, more than roaches, more than everything else. This alone is reason enough, I think, to offer these now and then.

Of course I advocate for not offering any one insect on a regular daily basis, but rather mixing it up with a different bug each meal. So for me (or rather, for my chameleons), there's no staple feeder but rather as wide a variety as possible. Isopods are just one of many choices.

I have found that if you DONT mix the keep the types of isopods in a container, they breed faster. I dont know why. I have a tank with the type that rolls up into balls (often called pill bugs or rollie pollies) only, and another container with flatter wood lice only, and these two tanks produce much better than the container in which I've got three types mixed. There's always plenty of food, so that's not the limiting factor.

If using fish dog or cat food or any other high animal protien/fat stuff as part of the isopod diet, remember to switch to a veggie gut load for several days prior to feeding off the isopod to the chameleon.

 

[jojackson]

Intresting stuff Sandra, we have the ones that ball up here, thousands under any given log etc in the garden. I know beardys love them, just never thought of trying the cham.
You'd have to bowl/cup feed them though i think, they shun the light.
I might just try a few yet!

 

[susurrus]

Yeah, I'd like to get away from insects that don't like to crawl around the tree like cockroaches, superworms, etc. I think silkworms, flies, and cuban banana roaches would be more fun as he's notice them and then hunt them down. I'm not a huge fan of making life too easy on them.

I do like how pillbugs are crustaceans, though, so they mix things up a lot and are good for calcium.

 

[sandrachameleon]

... we have the ones that ball up here, thousands under any given log etc in the garden.

Please dont give your cham or beardie pillbugs from the garden. One or two wont hurt, but more might. Isopods are heavy metal bioacumulators. They wall off nastiness inside themselves - not a problem for them as they are short lived. But you dont want to transfer that to the chameleons. Gather a bunch, put them in a plastic or glass bucket, organic safe soil and food, let them breed, feed off the babies.

 

[CNorton]

If using fish dog or cat food or any other high animal protien/fat stuff as part of the isopod diet, remember to switch to a veggie gut load for several days prior to feeding off the isopod to the chameleon.

Sandra, what's the reasoning behind switching back to veggie gutload before feeding to the cham?? I've heard lots of keeper feeding their crickets, roaches, etc. dogfood and fish food and then feeding them to the cham right away.

As always, thanks for shedding light on the pill bugs! Very interesting!

 

[bbqandtinyb]

Sandra, what's the reasoning behind switching back to veggie gutload before feeding to the cham?? I've heard lots of keeper feeding their crickets, roaches, etc. dogfood and fish food and then feeding them to the cham right away.

As always, thanks for shedding light on the pill bugs! Very interesting!

Sometimes if you have a skinny cham you can give them some high protein/fat gutloaded feeders to get their weight up, and then switch the feeders back to a more balanced gutload after you've gotten them back to a healthy weight. Diets too high in protein for extended periods of time can cause gout and may make your cham more susceptible to MBD because they grow too fast.

http://www.ukchameleons.co.uk/calciummbdd3.htm

 

[cpgrower]

No, they're actually perfect prey size.

Are you talking about pillbugs or woodlice? I was referring to woodlice.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Sandra, what's the reasoning behind switching back to veggie gutload before feeding to the cham?? I've heard lots of keeper feeding their crickets, roaches, etc. dogfood and fish food and then feeding them to the cham right away.

Dog food and such wont hurt the bugs, but it CAN cause issues for the chameleon. Im finished my coffee break at work, so cant go into detail. But Do a search on the word "Gout" and you'll learn more.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Are you talking about pillbugs or woodlice? I was referring to woodlice.

Nothing wrong with either of these - very little difference in size

 

[jojackson]

Please dont give your cham or beardie pillbugs from the garden. One or two wont hurt, but more might. Isopods are heavy metal bioacumulators. They wall off nastiness inside themselves - not a problem for them as they are short lived. But you dont want to transfer that to the chameleons. Gather a bunch, put them in a plastic or glass bucket, organic safe soil and food, let them breed, feed off the babies.

Thanks for that info Sandra, I had no idea about them accumulating undesirable elements. Fortunately I have only ever fed a few to beardys once, purely as an experiment and I have no real intrest in using them as a food source in any long term way, They creep me out

Im in the midst of a superworm breeding attempt at present so thats enough for now. You certainly know alot about insect life, have you always had an intrest in entomology? Bugs do fascinate me, but from a distance!

 

[sandrachameleon]

...Im in the midst of a superworm breeding attempt at present so thats enough for now. You certainly know alot about insect life, have you always had an intrest in entomology? Bugs do fascinate me, but from a distance!

Ya, strangely I've always had a strong interest in insects. As a kid (a weird kid) I spent hours watching ants, learning about honey bees, bringing home whatever I found and reading about it. Thankfully I had understanding and supportive parents, rather than the "get that thing out of this house" type

And Im fortunate that my life partner is also understanding (though he dislikes "creepy crawlies" himself) and supportive of my strange hobbies.

If I could afford more schooling and had more time, I'd probably take more biology and some university entomology courses. But luckily there's a good library at the College i work at, a good public library, the University allows my College staff card, and the Internet is a wonderful resource for stretching the brain

Chameleons, as fantastic as they are, are actually third place in my pet addiction/interest heirarchy, with the frogs on top, and the bugs second.

 

[jojackson]

I like frogs myself, I have a pair of 5 yo tree frogs that im quite fond of.
Amazingly, a close freind and well known herpetologist here, has a male that has now reached an incredible 30 yrs old.
He bought it from petshop when he was 15, hes now 45.
I recently saw this frog, which is an exhibit animal, and it shows no sign of age, apart from being the size of a housebrick.
Its name is (rather unimaginatively, i tell Anthony) 'Freddo'.

©Freddo frog is a popular childs chocolate here for many years.