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Pill Bugs



>Has any body ever tried to culture pill bugs?
>
>                                                 Michael


Hey Michael,
I've never cultured terrestrial pill bugs (Isopods) but I have reared 
their aquatic counterpart.  I am assuming that you are talking about the 
little hardshelled critters (actually crustaceans) called basketball 
bugs or sow bugs as well as pill bugs.  I imagine the terrestrial forms 
would be very easy to raise, although I'm not sure what would be 
interested in eating them as they have a tough outer coating and can 
commonly have repugnatory glands which can create a bad taste in a 
predators mouth.
I imagine these isopods would do very well in a terrarium or other 
container (maybe a rubbermaid box or something similar) with lots of 
debris such as cardboard for them to hide under---actually, carboard egg 
cartons would likely do the trick very well like they do with crickets.  
For food, pretty well any vegetable matter, fish food etc.
would do.
The aquatic forms are quite similar in their needs.  I am currently 
keeping a number of them in an old fridge crisper drawer with some 
aeration (airstone).  I have a number of old waterlogged leaves in there 
for shelter and food.  I also feed them fish flakes and some yeast 
pellets as well.
Hope that helps.
Sincerely,

Bentley

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