# Giant orange isopod size?



## Hornet (Sep 29, 2010)

Just wondering how big orange isopods get?


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## Zoomie (Jul 3, 2011)

I have read from multiple sources up to 3/8" with a couple of beasts going to 1/2."

You can always PM Doug (Pumilo) and ask him to break out his micrometer and measure a bunch from his parent colony culture. He has some monsters that he likes to dress up in Barbie clothes.


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## Wallace Grover (Dec 6, 2009)

They're about the size of the common pillbugs you find:


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

They are very nice looking as well. What I like about them is that the adults are too big for anything but manybe terrilibis or bicolor, but their offspring are small enough for newly morphed pumilio.



Hornet said:


> Just wondering how big orange isopods get?


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Hornet said:


> Just wondering how big orange isopods get?


I measured my biggest ones at a whopping 5/8"! That is the body length, NOT including the antennae. She was dressed in a Barbie business pant suit at the time.


Zoomie said:


> I have read from multiple sources up to 3/8" with a couple of beasts going to 1/2."
> 
> You can always PM Doug (Pumilo) and ask him to break out his micrometer and measure a bunch from his parent colony culture. He has some monsters that he likes to dress up in Barbie clothes.


Dude you bust me up! I laughed out loud at that!


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## Zoomie (Jul 3, 2011)

Pumilo said:


> I measured my biggest ones at a whopping 5/8"! That is the body length, NOT including the antennae. She was dressed in a Barbie business pant suit at the time.
> 
> Dude you bust me up! I laughed out loud at that!


Just payback for you getting me hooked on bugs. I spent 70.00 on BSS (bug support sytems and media) yesterday. I put the hurt on the Zip Loc containers at Wally world. 

We're supposed to be having fun with this. There is plenty to stress about so we need to get some laughs in when we can.


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

Pumilo said:


> I measured my biggest ones at a whopping 5/8"! That is the body length, NOT including the antennae. She was dressed in a Barbie business pant suit at the time


But, how did you know 'it' was a she? Were there eggs underneath or bug balls?


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## ryan10517 (Oct 23, 2010)

fishr said:


> But, how did you know 'it' was a she? Were there eggs underneath or bug balls?


uhh it was wearing a woman's business pant suit duh! hahaha


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## Hornet (Sep 29, 2010)

Cheers guys. Being in australia i cant get hold of the giant oranges, was just curious on the size. Must see if we can get anything of similar size in aust. Collected some yesterday which are about 1.5cm, maybe a little larger. Hopefully get a few cultures going


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

As I understand, Australia has the oldest rain forest on Earth. I'm sure you mus have some really amazing isopods/microfauna crawling around =]


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## Wallace Grover (Dec 6, 2009)

hypostatic said:


> As I understand, Australia has the oldest rain forest on Earth. I'm sure you mus have some really amazing isopods/microfauna crawling around =]


Ehhh, I don't know if what he finds there would do well in a viv. The rainforests are sub-tropical...


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## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

OK I wasn't sure of the name before, but I looked it up: Daintree Rainforest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The wiki says that it is tropical, and a good portion of Australia actually lies in the tropics (including where this rainforest is in).

Also, as I understand giant oranges are really just a morph of Porcellio scaber, aka the common European woodlouse. Here is a paper I found for your reading pleasure  http://labs.csb.utoronto.ca/larsen/pdf/Sowbug.pdf. 
There is even a "dalmatian" morph!:









This is not a tropical species, but they seem to do pretty well in vivs. And according to Porcellio scaber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Porcellio scaber is the most common species of woodlice found in Australian gardens. 

So although I have no idea what the local microfauna is like, I'm confident that there would be some suitable candidates lying around.

Another aspect worth considering however, is the introduction on novel pathogens to the frogs. South America and Australia haven't seen each other since the time of Gondwana, so there might be some pathogens that he might now want to introduce maybe?


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## Wallace Grover (Dec 6, 2009)

Oh god, this thing looks disgusting:


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## Hornet (Sep 29, 2010)

hypostatic said:


> OK I wasn't sure of the name before, but I looked it up: Daintree Rainforest - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> The wiki says that it is tropical, and a good portion of Australia actually lies in the tropics (including where this rainforest is in).
> 
> ...


I have a small culture of P. scaber that i started from a couple i got out of the garden. Just using a chinese container with cocopeat and magnolia leaves but they are doing quite well and increasing numbers steadily. I cant see why tropical or subtropical species would not thrive in a viv. I am doing my vivs to emulate an aussie rainforest so they should do well.

What do you mean by novel introduction of pathogens? Also most of my vivs will be made for plant only, inverts or reptiles, all with added microfauna to aid in decomposition of deal plant matter and food for the inhabitants.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Hornet said:


> I have a small culture of P. scaber that i started from a couple i got out of the garden. Just using a chinese container with cocopeat and magnolia leaves but they are doing quite well and increasing numbers steadily. I cant see why tropical or subtropical species would not thrive in a viv. I am doing my vivs to emulate an aussie rainforest so they should do well.
> 
> What do you mean by novel introduction of pathogens? Also most of my vivs will be made for plant only, inverts or reptiles, all with added microfauna to aid in decomposition of deal plant matter and food for the inhabitants.


It means that if you have a frog from, say, Costa Rica, and you put in a bug from Australia, you could be introducing a pest or disease that the frog has no natural defense against.
Of course, didn't we all take that same chance when we introduced bugs from USA or Europe?
The entire hobby is a risk and you just have to weigh and minimize the risks.


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## Hornet (Sep 29, 2010)

Pumilo said:


> It means that if you have a frog from, say, Costa Rica, and you put in a bug from Australia, you could be introducing a pest or disease that the frog has no natural defense against.
> Of course, didn't we all take that same chance when we introduced bugs from USA or Europe?
> The entire hobby is a risk and you just have to weigh and minimize the risks.


Cheers. Doesnt really affect me, the only fauna living in the tank will be native or naturalised australian species


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## MrFusion (Jul 18, 2011)

That dalmatian morph is fantastic! Even if I couldn't put them in with my frogs I certainly would love to get a culture of those. Anyone have them in the US?


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