# Powder orange isopods - personal experience pls!



## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

I bought these little guys for my first Viv build. I love how active they are and seem to have the zooms more than others I saw. I like themz 😊

I'll be getting 2 azureus. After getting them, I did read the powder oranges breed quickly and occasionally bite froggos 😳 🥺 obviously we don't want that. But I do love that they are active and brightly colored (the 5 year old is already making friends with them). I don't plan to culture them or anything. Just keep them in the Viv with my froggos. Will they be okay? 

Would it be a good idea to feed them banana or zucchini once a week or so and when I get too many just take whatever they're munching on and chuck it in the garden with them on it or something? Should I grab some repashy morning wood to feed them inside the tank? Or will it be fine and I'm over thinking? 

I have an 18" cube btw. If that makes a difference.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I would not keep these Isopods in with dart frogs. They will scavenge on whatever they can find and enjoy protein (I feed my Isopod cultures with dehydrated minnows and they pick them clean).

You should NOT release Isopods into your yard.


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

fishingguy12345 said:


> I would not keep these Isopods in with dart frogs. They will scavenge on whatever they can find and enjoy protein (I feed my Isopod cultures with dehydrated minnows and they pick them clean).
> 
> You should NOT release Isopods into your yard.


Well crap. Lol dwarfs only? I haven't put them in yet. Still working on layout for now. I was going to add isos tomorrow... Buuutttt back to the store I guess lol. 
P. S. Any imput as far as the plant placement goes? How big will that lemon button fern get in the corner foreground?


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I only use dwarf Isopods with my frogs. 

I keep 25+ types of Isopods for fun .


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

Karen S. said:


> View attachment 301077
> 
> I bought these little guys for my first Viv build. I love how active they are and seem to have the zooms more than others I saw. I like themz 😊
> 
> ...





fishingguy12345 said:


> I only use dwarf Isopods with my frogs.
> 
> I keep 25+ types of Isopods for fun .


Do you find that the dwarf isopods like banana or zucchini? Cause that's what I bought for them until my tank is established enough for them to find stuff to eat 🙃


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

fishingguy12345 said:


> You should NOT release Isopods into your yard.


Just to clarify, this is illegal in the US without a permit, as they are regulated plant pests.


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## connorology (Oct 6, 2018)

I have these isopods (powder orange = P. pruinosis) in all my enclosures at the moment, I have not had any issues with them biting animals. I have them in a roach colony too and they don't even seem to eat the stationary ootheca (given how prolific the colony is). My Phyllobates terribilis definitely eat them, and the fact that they are particularly bold seems to single them out for consumption faster than other isopods (the terribilis seem to hunt them to extinction - I'll add a lot of them, see the numbers dwindle over a period of weeks, and then eventually add more when I do not see any. Other iso species have stable populations in the enclosure). I can't say for sure they would never bite a living animal, but I'm a bit skeptical about it - I read concerns about it on this forum and bought a bunch of P. pruinosis and P. scaber to see if I could weaponize them against the bush snails I accidentally introduced to my chameleon enclosure. No dice. The snail numbers have maybe slightly decreased due to increased competition, but the change has been very slight. It's not like they're devouring the snails (Or even their eggs) as I had hoped they would. 

As is the case with many failed biological controls, the twist is the larger isopods have been harder on my plants than the snails were to begin with. I have P. pruinosis, P. scaber, and A. vulgare in my vivariums, and I do see a decent amount of isopod damage to more fragile plant species. I can't say exactly which is the main culprit, though I have for sure seen P. scaber eating fittonia and jewel orchids. This damage is most pronounced in my chameleon enclosure, as my panther chameleon is large enough that he doesn't really actively hunt the isopods. I've also seen P. pruinosis actively eating plants in my arid vivarium. 

TLDR - I like them as a food source for larger frogs, I don't personally like them as a clean up crew.


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

Socratic Monologue said:


> Just to clarify, this is illegal in the US without a permit, as they are regulated plant pests.


Noted. No releasing of the buggys. Thank you ❤ I guess I was chalking it up to them basically being Roly polys. I'll just be taking them back to the Viv store tomorrow & hoping they let me switch them out


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

I have Powder Orange, Powder Blue and even the massive P. laevis inhabiting my *adult* P. terribilis tanks. I know from stripping 1.5 year old vivaria for re-fit, that they never go extinct, but they tend to be very heavily predated by adult P. terribilis to the point where I don't see them often. I know the P. pruinosus hang on long enough to reproduce, but the P. laevis are extirpated before they ever reach close to adult size.

These populations are not the result of an attempt at 'clean-up crew', but rather escapees from feeding time. They will eat Fittonia and the odd Selaginella, but personally I've only seen very minor damage if any.

I wouldn't introduce these to smaller frog tanks since their would be little to no predation pressure to control them, but remain skeptical about them being a threat to healthy frogs, at least larger ones.

In this particular case, however, I would also advise @Karen S. to exchange them as her scenario (and frogs) are different.


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

Fahad said:


> I have Powder Orange, Powder Blue and even the massive P. laevis inhabiting my *adult* P. terribilis tanks. I know from stripping 1.5 year old vivaria for re-fit, that they never go extinct, but they tend to be very heavily predated by adult P. terribilis to the point where I don't see them often. I know the P. pruinosus hang on long enough to reproduce, but the P. laevis are extirpated before they ever reach close to adult size.
> 
> These populations are not the result of an attempt at 'clean-up crew', but rather escapees from feeding time. They will eat Fittonia and the odd Selaginella, but personally I've only seen very minor damage if any.
> 
> ...


Thank you for the advice ❤ I'll bring them back today.


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

I ended up returning the powder oranges & got dwarf whites instead. Just got everything setup today (minus leaf litter which didn't make it in the shipment and will arrive soon). 

Whatcha guys think? It's my first vivarium build


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## mikemakesapps (Mar 11, 2019)

Not an Azurus keeper myself so I don't know about specific habitat requirements for that frog, but I think your viv looks good! I like your placement of the rocks / wood / general hardscape and how ti breaks up the viv. 

What's the big blue/gray thing in the front right?


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## Karen S. (Jul 30, 2021)

mikemakesapps said:


> Not an Azurus keeper myself so I don't know about specific habitat requirements for that frog, but I think your viv looks good! I like your placement of the rocks / wood / general hardscape and how ti breaks up the viv.
> 
> What's the big blue/gray thing in the front right?


The big ugly blue grey thing was a $2 impulse buy until I can find a little soaking tub for the froggos that I like 😂🙈 I hate it, but I wasn't seeing any that I really liked yet. I want to have at least a tiny water puddle so they can take a dip if they accidentally become too hot or the tank becomes too dry, especially since I'm still learning. It only holds 1 tablespoon of water and is 1/4" deep so I can easily dump it into the substrate whenever I'm misting & refill it so it stays nice and clean


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## Nina Bolen (Nov 22, 2020)

I keep a ton of different isopods. Only ones I wouldn’t use with frogs are dairy cows or some of the really large or expensive species. I’ve keep powder orange with my darts with no issues. And the frogs for sure eat the smaller ones. 
oh and the plastic water bowl (ugly blue grey thing lol) I like using petri dishes, since they are clear they just kind of disappear.


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