After another couple of days of research, I’ve found some resources specific to isopods that can thrive in arid environments, and have ordered another 4 varieties of isopods to farm:
- Porcellio dilatatus ‘Giant Canyon’ – apparently this variety can grow over 3/4″ long, enough to earn the mantle of ‘giant’ in the isopod world
- Cylisticus convexus – called the “curly isopod”
- Armadillidium nasatum – I got the peach variety as they were the most affordable option
- Armadillidium vulgare – the “gem mix” was the most affordable in stock option at the time, so that’s what I went with
I also bought some more springtails for good measure.
A dig through the most barren looking of my isopod farms, the Dwarf Purples, revealed that they are still indeed in there. They seem to like to stay down in the soil rather than on top of it, and I’m not sure why they are called purple, as mine appear to be all white with a faint dark spot on their backs. Maybe I’m just catching them during a molt or something! They’re very active when I can finally locate a few and observe them with the aid of magnifying lens, as they are maybe 2mm long at best! I’ve also seen them referred to as “micropods,” which seems appropriate. These isopods were an impulse buy and probably a poor choice for a hedgehog vivarium, but I’m going ahead and raising them for the time being as it’s just one more small plastic bin in the growing stack, and they could be useful someday.