HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I was misting my tank last night for a little boost of humidity and I noticed something crawling on a large chunk of cork. I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me so I ignored it. Now over 12 hours later, I saw another one. I think these are isopods in my tank even though I haven't ever added any. The last thing I put in my tank before noticing these was some new zoomed terrarium forest moss. Can someone tell me what this is? If its an isopod, what type of isopod is it? Heres the (probably dead at this point) isopod I found in the open.

It looks like an isopod to me, but I am not familiar with the different types of them. They should be harmless to your crabs, and if you have more, don't be surprised if they feed on the isopods.

You haven't added any new wood to the tank? That would be interesting if there were isopod eggs in the moss that somehow survived packaging, if that is possible...

Rebecca C wrote: You haven't added any new wood to the tank? That would be interesting if there were isopod eggs in the moss that somehow survived packaging, if that is possible...

Nope! I also just bought the moss on Sunday so I highly doubt that that's what they're from. I did rinse the cork off a few months ago outside where I had a lot of isopods and let it dry for an hour in the sun. It might be from then and I never noticed them until now. Well hey, I was planning on adding some isopods anyways so I guess they already added themselves!

Judging by the pic it does look like an isopod; however if you got a good pic on a clear (white) object then i will be able to tell for sure, it is blending into the wood too well!

I haven't seen any out in the open since the one on the cork. I'm a bit afraid of lifting up any pieces of cork around where I found the isopods because all the pieces are very large and my crabs love grabbing onto them. I know I have a lot of Porcellio Spinicornis isopods around my house, so I'm just going to assume that its one of those.

I wish isopods would invite themselves into my tank! I've had no luck finding any outside this year.

gotta-crab-em-all wrote:I wish isopods would invite themselves into my tank! I've had no luck finding any outside this year.

My parents were against me putting isopods in but hey, they just wanted in!

Funny story, I have isopods in my PP tank but not in my E tank (I'm planning on up grading them soon so I was going to add them then). Well, somehow a few isopods ended up in the E tank lol. I'm not sure how it happened since I don't swap dishes or anything between the two tanks. They disappear for a while and then I'll see them again. The last time I saw some they were definitely younger ones so it looks like they might be breeding.

PS I wish I had porcellio spinicornis in my area.

Wow you are so lucky. I wonder if their numbers will stabilize in your tat or if they will die off. I am so jealous. What region of the globe do you live in? Is your tat near a window or outside? Did this happen as the weather started getting cold?

I put 16 or so isopods in a couple of months ago and haven't seen any since...I wonder if they all became lunch?