# Janitors for my Cresteds viv...



## GeckoElements (May 15, 2011)

So I got to talking with Mike NE herpetoculture telling him how im a gecko breeder but new to the VIV world (we meet at a reptile expo in ma). So after a bit of talking during down times, he asked if I was keeping any isopods or springtails (I stared blankly back at him). He was in awe and told me how they are almost like the cage janitors cleaning waste and fungus and eating up the old materials in the tank. Awesome I pick up some springtails put them in my tank but now im looking for Isopods Mike didn't have any at the time.

Here is what im torn with now about isopods, I notice a lot of these bugs plan on becoming food for frogs down the road while in cage doing there duty. I do not have frogs just geckos, so there for Im wondering if I will end up with an explosive population of this micro fauna and they will start eating the plants (I have been reading that isopods turn on new plant growth when no old dieing plants are around). 

Should I fore go on the isopods load up on more springtails? Or is there an Isopod that is big enough you think a crested might go after it as food? Or an isopod that has no interest in plants... if that is even possible.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

I don't know geckos but maybe this will help anyway. The Giant Oranges will sometimes turn on plants if not enough food is present. They get to be 5/8" overall size NOT including antenna. I don't know if that's big enough to be considered food or not.
Dwarf Whites stay quite small but I've have not heard of them trying to eat plants at all. 
I culture both.


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## mainbutter (Sep 2, 2010)

I'm going to be giving isopods and springtails a shot in my crested vivs that I'm currently building. I don't know if I'm going to have issues w/plants (or even worse, issues with eggs), but it's an experiment.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

mainbutter said:


> I'm going to be giving isopods and springtails a shot in my crested vivs that I'm currently building. I don't know if I'm going to have issues w/plants (or even worse, issues with eggs), but it's an experiment.


Do you mean isopods eating eggs? I have Dwarf White, Dwarf Gray striped, and Giant orange in a Pumilio and and an Escudo viv and the isopods have not bothered the eggs at all.


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## mainbutter (Sep 2, 2010)

Yup that was the worry! I would imagine risk is minimal, particularly with the fairly decent egg-shells that crested gecko eggs have, but then again I imagine it's not impossible for just about any immobile biological material to possibly be fair game for a number of quarter inch and bigger janitor bugs.

I don't know of anyone with isopods in crested gecko vivs, much less in vivs with gecko eggs in the substrate, and even much less with gecko eggs that may not be found despite careful and thorough digging and go full term while still buried in the viv for months.

Everything points towards success, but as I don't know of anyone who has done isopods around crested gecko eggs, I'm not going to rule out possible conflicts until I do it for myself 

It's great to hear that you haven't had any bugs attempting to eat your frog eggs. How long do your eggs stay in your viv? Where are they layed?


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## Logqan (Sep 24, 2008)

I have the dwarf striped isopods and lots of springtails in my crested gecko tank and they do just fine. Both seem to have found a level population and they do their job great. Waste is cleaned fast and my plants are never harmed. I do like to keep leaf litter at the bottom to add more for the little detritus feeders though. 
Logan


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

mainbutter said:


> Yup that was the worry! I would imagine risk is minimal, particularly with the fairly decent egg-shells that crested gecko eggs have, but then again I imagine it's not impossible for just about any immobile biological material to possibly be fair game for a number of quarter inch and bigger janitor bugs.
> 
> I don't know of anyone with isopods in crested gecko vivs, much less in vivs with gecko eggs in the substrate, and even much less with gecko eggs that may not be found despite careful and thorough digging and go full term while still buried in the viv for months.
> 
> ...


Sometimes they are lay on broad leafed plants, sometimes on brom leaves, but sometimes down in the leaf litter, too.


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## Logqan (Sep 24, 2008)

my female makes it easy to find eggs. She digs a big pit over a few hours and then lays the eggs at the bottom. She then covers the two eggs but with leaf litter and the pit never being filled all the way back in you can always find where she laid. I usually get the eggs out right away but sometimes she lays under the cork tubes and I never find those I just find little geckos basking under the lights.
Logan


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## JJhuang (Feb 5, 2010)

Your adults never take a snatch at the babys confusing them as food?



Logqan said:


> my female makes it easy to find eggs. She digs a big pit over a few hours and then lays the eggs at the bottom. She then covers the two eggs but with leaf litter and the pit never being filled all the way back in you can always find where she laid. I usually get the eggs out right away but sometimes she lays under the cork tubes and I never find those I just find little geckos basking under the lights.
> Logan


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## GeckoElements (May 15, 2011)

I have had all my crested gecko eggs hatch right in my viv. I just wake up every morning to mist and sometimes I see babies. I have never seen mom go after them yet. I love having my cresteds hatch all natural with out me handling eggs.

So who has dwarf striped isopods for sale then?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

GeckoElements said:


> I have had all my crested gecko eggs hatch right in my viv. I just wake up every morning to mist and sometimes I see babies. I have never seen mom go after them yet. I love having my cresteds hatch all natural with out me handling eggs.
> 
> So who has dwarf striped isopods for sale then?


I do, pm me. I have Dwarf white, dwarf striped, and giant orange.


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## Logqan (Sep 24, 2008)

I can't say without a doubt that I have never lost a baby to the mother. I sometimes only find one baby and then I search for another egg and never find it. It could mean there was a bad egg or it could mean that I just can't find the egg shell and she ate the baby. I would like to think this never happens but that might just be ignorance. One of my females does eat live foods but the male and other female don't even give bugs a second glance. They will only eat MRP.
Logan


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## mainbutter (Sep 2, 2010)

Ditto here for a female crested that doesn't chow on her babies. She doesn't go after any other live food however, I seem to be about 50/50 with adults in my collection of crested geckos who will actively hunt live prey.

Other females haven't had the opportunity for me to find out if they eat their offspring.

The first female mentioned is a particular nuisance when it comes to eggs and substrate. I kept her on paper towels in a tub last year because I got tired of having a terrible time finding where she layed her eggs.. Always in a different place, always surprisingly deep, always well hidden. She just loves to dig, and spends most of the egg-laying season planning and practicing burying her eggs.


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## mainbutter (Sep 2, 2010)

GeckoElements said:


> So who has dwarf striped isopods for sale then?


I got my springtails and giant orange isopods from Pumilo, USPS took an extra day in shipping and they still arrived 100% healthy, well packed, numerous and happy.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

mainbutter said:


> I got my springtails and giant orange isopods from Pumilo, USPS took an extra day in shipping and they still arrived 100% healthy, well packed, numerous and happy.


Thanks Mainbutter, but we aren't supposed to leave feedback anywhere but in the feedback section provided. Mods will probably remove this.


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## deathspeed (Sep 15, 2012)

I have had Crested Geckos hunt down and launch after the young that hatch in the my tanks. I consider myself lucky to have found the young before they were devoured.
I also have crested geckos in adjacent cages eying younger smaller geckos. I don't think I have offered a mom her own young as food but I am sure she would chomp it up.
Now I thoroughly scour the substrate monthly for eggs. I have all live planted community vivariums and one large community egg laying adult tank. I have even seen hatch lings biting each other, mistaking any movement as prey. I highly recommend separating eggs from any geckos much larger than a hatch ling.


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## Hatmehit (Jul 9, 2012)

Since you allow the baby cresteds to hatch in the viv, you should know that the babies will absolutely eat the mini isopods, and will probably give the big ones a shot. The adults will be only too pleased to eat the large ones, although they might ignore the small ones. Cresteds, especially babies, have a dumb tendency to faceplant when hunting and get a bunch of dirt in their mouths in the process. Just something to take into consideration. I've had problems with babies getting dirt in their mouths and having trouble spitting it out. If you have a bunch of leaf litter and moss that will cut down on that problem a lot.


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## Hatmehit (Jul 9, 2012)

Oh, and I do recommend hatching the young elsewhere as a general rule. Even larger juveniles will chomp on a younger or weaker sibling. The parents do not know that those are their own offspring. In the wild, they would rarely encounter their own children, just someone else's. It's in their interest to harass or predate on them. You've been lucky thus far. At the very least, tails will likely be lost.


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