Help with pill bugs

[Zubi]

Hey everyone, I just got my order of P. laevis, I'm currently keeping them in a cricket keeper with moist topsoil and a bunch if twigs and leaves. My question is, are they supposed to burrow into the dirt? Because they aren't, they are just sitting there

 

[Zubi]

Here are some pics

 

[Zubi]

Please hurry, I don't want these babies to die

 

[sandrachameleon]

They sometimes burrow, often times dont.
The first picture shows water pooling - you dont want that. You want moist, not wet. They drown if they are in water too long. Likely they are not going underground because it is too wet to do so, and moist enough at surface not to have to.

 

[Zubi]

Ok thanks Sandra you're the best
How can I dry it out a little so they don't drown? I wiped some of it with paper towels, but there's still a some pooling going on

 

[pssh]

Add more dry dirt. Mine usually hang out on/in the cardboard I give them. The cardboard has fallen apart, but they dont care. Most of my P. laevis dont burrow too much.

 

[Zubi]

Alright thank you, do they usually just sit there?

 

[sandrachameleon]

You could soak up a little more water with a towel, pour some off, or just get a bigger container with a layer of sand at the bottom (for drainage) and dump your current stuff into that.

I dont recommend using much cardboard, as it often is full of chemicals (like formaldehyde) that you dont want the pillbugs to eat and pass along.

Well sometimes they hang out under a piece of bark for awhile. They dont usually just stay still in the open for lengthy periods of time.

 

[pssh]

Well, good thing these guys aren't feeders! I'll start using more natural wood so the next generation wont have any. Hopefully the colony will get bigger and I can start using them as feeders. I've been neglecting the colony a bit.

 

[Zubi]

hmm.....Thats weird my bugs have been just sitting there for a few hours. I hope nothing is wrong. Does the extra water eventually go away by itself?

 

[sandrachameleon]

hmm.....Thats weird my bugs have been just sitting there for a few hours. I hope nothing is wrong. Does the extra water eventually go away by itself?

it will evaporate, sure, depending on your ambient conditions

 

[tkilgour]

Zubi, I have about a million of these if you end up needing more.

 

[Zubi]

Thanks tom, I'll definitely let you know

 

[Zubi]

How many and for how much would you be willing to sell them for?

 

[pssh]

They're the same species? P. laevis?

 

[Zubi]

Wait who is that a question for?

 

[pssh]

Tom. Just curious.