MEAT EATING isopods

[little leaf]

hmmm - it seems we better not leave isopods in w/ our chams either- I never knew they were meat eaters !!! this was a test I did tonight to see if they would eat meat - because the HOLE in my cham is not pretty -

 

[Lathis]

hmmm - it seems we better not leave isopods in w/ our chams either- I never knew they were meat eaters !!! this was a test I did tonight to see if they would eat meat - because the HOLE in my cham is not pretty -

Wow! That's crazy. Poor little guy - is he doing okay?

 

[little leaf]

I think he will be fine- but he has a good hole in him - I NEVER thought these things would eat flesh

 

[fluxlizard]

Any roach feeder species, mealworms, superworms, crickets, etc will eat a bit of meat left out like that. Isopods are scavengers and it doesn't really surprise me. My lobster roaches will devour any sort of dead meat given the chance, yet I've never seen one bother a live lizard, even when I have many roaches in with baby lizards sometimes. I don't think your experiment is cause for alarm.

The bite on your lizard, however, is another matter. I'm kind of wondering though with the hole beneath the scab if the lizard already had an unnoticed injury and infection and the isopods were drawn to the odor of the infected flesh.

Either way- it's good to know we should be cautious at this point with isopods.

 

[little leaf]

no, he had nothing on him before it bit him- I had to pick the isopod off , and then the mark was there in the am - and grew to the scab -

 

[fluxlizard]

That's scary. Kind of wierd too- many folks have been using isopods for many years as part of bioactive substrate in terraria with various lizards and frogs where the isopods are a constant part of the organisms living in the substrate.

I'm just starting to culture these myself.

What species of isopod are the ones that attacked your lizard? I am thinking will avoid them and choose a different species. I was thinking of trying one of the larger species anyway, so if yours are the normal ones found outside in my yard I guess I drop my starters and order some exotic variety.

 

[little leaf]

That's scary. Kind of wierd too- many folks have been using isopods for many years as part of bioactive substrate in terraria with various lizards and frogs where the isopods are a constant part of the organisms living in the substrate.

I'm just starting to culture these myself.

What species of isopod are the ones that attacked your lizard? I am thinking will avoid them and choose a different species. I was thinking of trying one of the larger species anyway, so if yours are the normal ones found outside in my yard I guess I drop my starters and order some exotic variety.

it was the gray one - not the spotted -
yeah, they are food/ part of the"maintenance " crew in the ter/ - some are cup fed, but these just ran around in there - and there is plenty for them to eat - they are part of a colony I stated about 2 yrs ago - but thankfully, there is only one ter/ that has them in there - now I put a big mantis in there- LOL this has really caught me off guard, and I do not feed crix hardly every just because I dont want any getting my chams at night ( and they STINK ! ) so now I will only cup feed these thing - I used to let some lose just so they had something to hunt - even the big male panthers like to hunt them- lol

 

[little leaf]

I was thinking of starting the cave isopods - but now I don't know

 

[Dooley1]

I don't know Cheryl. Accidents can always happen but you can't prevent everything. I have them in my cages and even with this wouldn't worry at all. Most feeders can pose a risk (crickets too as you pointed out). If this is the only incident in 2 years I'd say they seem pretty safe.

 

[little leaf]

I don't know Cheryl. Accidents can always happen but you can't prevent everything. I have them in my cages and even with this wouldn't worry at all. Most feeders can pose a risk (crickets too as you pointed out). If this is the only incident in 2 years I'd say they seem pretty safe.

yeah, out of the 1,000's I have feed over the time- this is the only time I have ever seen this- the bite- and I use these everyday , they were one of Bubbles all time FAV!! and she had free range ones in her ter/ all the time- even slept on the ground ! and was never bothered by them - I just try to be so careful that they dont get hurt - but you are right, all we can do is what we can do

 

[Dooley1]

Oh yes, that reminds me Cheryl-let me know if you want a boy carpet in the upcoming next few months. I just had another clutch hatch out

 

[Carlton]

Any roach feeder species, mealworms, superworms, crickets, etc will eat a bit of meat left out like that. Isopods are scavengers and it doesn't really surprise me. My lobster roaches will devour any sort of dead meat given the chance, yet I've never seen one bother a live lizard, even when I have many roaches in with baby lizards sometimes. I don't think your experiment is cause for alarm.

The bite on your lizard, however, is another matter. I'm kind of wondering though with the hole beneath the scab if the lizard already had an unnoticed injury and infection and the isopods were drawn to the odor of the infected flesh.

Either way- it's good to know we should be cautious at this point with isopods.

It could be that most isopods stay in the substrate where our chams don't spend time. Odd, because I've used isopods in my frog terrariums all the time and didn't see them getting bitten. But, frog skin is very different than a cham's), and I always had some gutload available for wandering feeders. Kept it in small plastic prescription bottles laid on their sides on the substrate.

I fed isopods to my jax, but didn't have them in the cage as clean up crews...not enough organic matter to need it. I offered isopods in feeding bins rather than loose. The jax loved them!