Zebra Isopod 
Zebra Isopod 
Powdery Orange Isopod 
Powdery Orange Isopod
In my latest trip the local pet store for more supplies, I picked up a culture of Zebra isopods and a batch of springtails as well. The two existing isopod farms sprung up in white mold a few days after their inception, which sent me scrambling to figure out whether this was an indication of problems or a call to action. I have since been letting them air out during the day with their lids off, which is reducing the humidity and beats back the mold each day. My hope is that this will eventually slow down or balance out as moisture and nutrient levels work themselves out. It’s been interesting to watch this mold appear overnight, then disappear over the course of 4-5 hours as the farm sits with its lid off, airing out. By the time the condensation on the side of the container’s walls has evaporated, the mold has retreated back to where ever it came from.
My research also led me to invest in some springtails, as they are recommended for controlling mold. Even though I don’t expect them to survive in the final vivarium, it made sense to me to buy some just to help maintain the isopod farms, if nothing else. I picked up a deli dish of these tiny beasties and distributed a few teaspoons of them and their substrate into the isopod farms, then replaced the removed substrate with fresh material, leaving a few teaspoons of the original substrate plus a bunch of springtails in the dish in hopes that they’ll move on to the new substrate and reproduce. The springtail populations within the isopod farms is very scarce– I seldom even see one when I’m interacting with them, but hopefully they’ll also thrive inside the isopod farms and eat as much mold as they want to.
I also picked up a culture of Zebra isopods to supplement my two existing isopod farms, which are reported to do well in arid vivariums, so a 3rd isopod farm container has been set up for their habitat. The Zebras seem to be pretty active and tend to stay on top of the substrate where they can be watched, and are certainly eye catching with their black shells with white pinstripes.
Today was the isopods’ first feeding of something other leaf debris, I placed a small piece of squash and a bit of dried shrimp into each enclosure, and even witnessed a Zebra snacking on the shrimp already.
I also bought another 20 large dubia roaches to continue to build out the dubia farm, which came with my first nymph (which got stuck in with the larger roaches), and got to watch my first molting yesterday. Today they’re being fed the same items as the isopods: squash and shrimp. I’ve ordered some roach chow, which should provide them with the protein they need to thrive.
Finally, the main reason for the latest trip to the pet store was to pick up the Low Boy aquarium that I intend to use as the vivarium. It is bigger than I expected, and has prompted moving some furniture around to accommodate it, but I’m excited to be able to get it set up this weekend, and that it appears it will be prominently located in our living room. The Low Boy fits well on a Korean table that we own (and eat at daily), so we’re sacrificing our dining table for our hedgehog vivarium to sit on (I’m sure we’ll buy a replacement soon)!
Several breeders have announced babies on a local hedgehog group that I’m a member of, so I’m encouraged to see that getting a new hedgehog this fall seems feasible.