Wood lice???

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:29 pm

I used to have OCD, the severe kind you take anxiety medication for. it was not the normal arranging things OCD most people have, it involved something...err...rather weird. but thankfully after intense therapy and with meds it is down to a managable level.

so would having wood lice or book lice in the tank make it okay to have longer periods between deep cleans?

Caroline

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:36 pm

Hermit_of_Hermit_Crabs wrote: Also, my movies have to alphabetized along with all of my books.

Which makes you an honorary librarian, but not OCD

I actually have a classification system for my non-fiction books and alphabetize books, DVDs and CDs, it's an occupational hazard for librarians.

I don't do deep cleans because my tank keeps itself clean with the help of woodlice, booklice and microorganisms brought in with moss and leaves, so i guess that with just woodlice you would be okay taking a longer time between deep cleans.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 12:43 pm

Wouldn't a deep clean kill all the woodlice and you'd have to start your little eco-system over from scratch?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:36 pm

With the woodlice would it be best to have an all EE tank? Also how would you get ahold of some booklice? And would it be better to get them and the leaves from the country to make sure they hadn't gotten into anything weird?

jordan.eth · Post by **jordan.eth** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:01 pm

Would the woodlice be able to live in my playsand if I threw a few leaves in the 'tat or do they need the EE to munch on?

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:23 am

You would need to gather the woodlice out of the substrate when doing a deep clean or at least leave some of the old substrate.
I have a half EE and half sand tank, but the woodlice definitely prefer the EE side. I'm not sure how well they would do in an all-sand tank, most bugs seem sto prefer EE, if not for feeding on then for living in. But it's worth a try, maybe you can make them a leave/moss corner.

Booklice are often found in leaf litter or on tree bark. If you know that the trees are not sprayed with pesticides, then you can collect them in the city (although not next to a street or something) - I get most of my leaves, moss and bark for my terrariums either from a park or a huge cemetery and I live in a fairly big city.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:49 am

Hi Guys,

There are many species of terrestrial isopods and they obviously all need organic material which is why they tend towards eco earth but saying that in Britain we have shore species too.
We call them slaters Ligia oceanica they are slightly bigger than woodlice but they may be more tolerant of a play sand substrate. I would be very surprised if you did not have a variant species around the U.S. coastline too.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 4:28 am

OK this morning I introduced about 20 woodlice into the crabitat. I will keep you all posted as to their progress.... hopefully my guys wont eat them all lol

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:15 am

Hmm....Woodlice and Booklice? Wonder what can they do?

Seriously to tell the truth I am somewhat terrified of bugs, mostly small ones like ants, cockroaches and maybe lice...I am scared of them!

Crabs eat them? Wow! I don't know where to get woodlice because I think almost every tree in my city is already sprayed with pesticides...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 2:08 am

Ok, one more question. I expanded my substrate with salt water, will the saltwater kill the woodlice?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:45 am

My substrates expanded with salt water so far woodlice are having no problems.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 3:22 pm

Thank you^^

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:42 am

Ok quick update

One month on and I have lots of tiny tiny baby woodlice on the food bowl. They do look a bit icky until you look at them closely, they are really little white versions of the adults. The hermits don't seem to be bothered at all but then they are still being shy (and moving stuff about destructively) lol. I have noticed that mold is not getting as much of a grip on the food now either. I usually leave the fruit and veg part of their diet for a maximum of 3 days before totally re freshening it up due to mold. I'm at day three and the mold is noticeably absent.

Will keep you posted

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 5:40 am

Ok this is mostly for Zoidbergrocks

This is what a woodlouse or Pillbug looks like.

and believe me there the devil to photograph

won't keep still

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:12 pm

WOW

Maybe we are all OCD and didn't know it.
I wash my hands alot more than 8 times a day, I compulsively check my crab mail (PM), and honestly I don't even know how many times I check on my herms in a day.
Now, if you are washing your hands 8 times in a row in ordrer to keep a piano from falling on you when you leave the house, that could be OCD.
I am sorry, I don't mean to minimize this if you really believe that you have a problem.