HCA: Hermit Crab Association

ant wrote:Just a quick question. Are millipedes crab safe? I have allot of them around my house and since my mom won't let me have a gaint millipede this is the next best thing.

Are you taking about the tiny ones? Like that one (sorry, German site)
http://www.natur-in-nrw.de/HTML/Tiere/M ... /TD-9.html
Those are safe, they are so small that they cannot harm the crabs. Make sure you don't add a centipede by mistake, they are fast hunters and will prey on the millipedes, woodlice ect.

ya, those are them.

i used to collect rollie pollies as a kid. i'm excited that i get to start doing that again for my tat!!

thanks for the tip!

Hey Thoughts--any news to report on the pill bugs? Did they do what you expected?

yes they did their job very well but I had to get a LOT of them

I went out and found a bunch of pill bugs for my tats. I actually have a small separate tank for a bunch because I've fallen in love with the little isopods, lol... I suppose I grabbed a few females carrying eggs because I now have an entire colony living in my little pill bug tank with tiny white baby pill bugs!!! They are way too cute!!! My pill bugs are thriving in my hermie tanks and in their own tank... I never thought this would work out so well!

Wow, I am totally putting a bunch in my tank!!

golsama wrote:I went out and found a bunch of pill bugs for my tats. I actually have a small separate tank for a bunch because I've fallen in love with the little isopods, lol... I suppose I grabbed a few females carrying eggs because I now have an entire colony living in my little pill bug tank with tiny white baby pill bugs!!! They are way too cute!!! My pill bugs are thriving in my hermie tanks and in their own tank... I never thought this would work out so well!

That's cool. I don't expect them to live too long in my hermie tanks because mine keep eating them if they can catch them.....

Will they eat parasites like mites?

ondra wrote:Will they parasites like mites?

There's a possibility.

I have been trying to find some of these guys to do the same job in my tarantula tanks. But I can not find these guys anywhere! I have looked under logs,rocks, plants, you name it but I have not seen a single one! I used to find them all the time when I was a little kid...

Where else would you recommend looking?

Other tarantula enthusiasts say they are great little clean up crews disposing of food remains as well as eating mold spores and decaying wood. Which basically eliminates huge mite infestations and other nasties.

I actually heard that in some places they are called 'Cheese Logs'..... O_o

http://www.wormman.com/search1.cfm

There are regular sow bugs as well as a neat red version.

Silent Protagonist wrote:I have been trying to find some of these guys to do the same job in my tarantula tanks. But I can not find these guys anywhere! I have looked under logs,rocks, plants, you name it but I have not seen a single one! I used to find them all the time when I was a little kid...

Where else would you recommend looking?

Other tarantula enthusiasts say they are great little clean up crews disposing of food remains as well as eating mold spores and decaying wood. Which basically eliminates huge mite infestations and other nasties.

I actually heard that in some places they are called 'Cheese Logs' O_o

Occasionally some of the more "exotic" varieties might be posted for sale on the classified section of petbugs.com (unless you are already familiar with that site.) Otherwise, it's pretty much luck when trying to look for them (ie. some houses in So. Cal have 'em, while the neighbors might not.... )

Cheese logs, eh?



...

I hunt for rollie polies every time we're outside, and so far, we've come up with a grand total of ....6!

All that hunting, and all I have are 6...

Next time we go someplace woodsey, I'm bringing a rubbermaid container with me. I'll be turning over rocks, logs, and sifting through leaf litter until I find what I'm looking for!!


HEY! What about earthworms? Just your regular garden variety dig 'em up in the backyard kind of earthworms?